In 750 to 1100 words (3 to 4 pages), thoroughly examine each of the following topics. Be sure to use APA style and properly cite and reference your sources, whether from the textbook, supplemental material, or outside research. To organize your document, use short headings (3 to 5 words) representative of the question you are answering. Each response should be a minimum of half a page in length.
Examine the structural functionalism, social process, and conflict theories. Next, select one of the theories and defend it against the other approaches. Explain why this theory is the strongest.
Outline each of the following three approaches: the major and minor ideas of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime, Elliott’s integrated social process theory, and Thornberry’s interactional theory. Typically, people support parts of a theory, not the entire theory. After identifying the components of each theory, integrate, paraphrase, and personalize the ideas, choosing parts of each theory, to create a whole theory you support.
Review the labeling perspective’s definition of why adolescents become delinquent. Outline the strengths and weaknesses of the theory, choosing to defend or refute the theory. State and explain your position, supporting your statement with at least one professional source, not including your textbook, written within the past five years.
Discuss the benefits and limitations of juvenile courts applying the concept of free will and rationality to violent juvenile criminals. Choose to defend or refute this approach. State and explain your position, supporting your statement with at least one professional source, not including your textbook, written within the past five years.
Investigate and discuss the biological, psychological, and sociological causes of the behavior of delinquent girls. Find a recent delinquent girl case occurring within the past three years. Research the case, using more than one professional source. Apply what you have learned about the biological, psychological, and sociological causes of the behavior of delinquent girls to the case. Explain why the delinquent girl committed the crime. You might find the Girls Study Group (2013), Hannah (2015), and iResearchNet materials to be helpful.
Apply the feminist theory to the changes in patterns of crime by females. First, investigate delinquent female crime patterns and trends for the past five years; then, share your findings. Next, choose a side. One group argues that changes in delinquent female crime patterns and trends is the direct result of the women’s liberation movement. The opposing side holds that delinquent female crime patterns and trends is an indirect result of the feminist movement, creating more criminal opportunities, growing group support for illegal behavior, and weakening social controls, especially by parents. Support your statement with at least one professional source, not including the textbook, written within the past five years. You might find the Green (2016), Hannah (2015), Princeton University Future of Children, and Sexton (2015) materials to be helpful.
Additional Materials
● Huizinga, D., Miller, S., and Conduct Problems Prevention Research
Group. (2013). Developmental
sequences of girls’ delinquent behavior. Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Girls Study Group.
● Green, E. L. (2016, December 16). Lost girls: Young women face harsher punishment in
Maryland’s juvenile justice system. The Baltimore Sun.
● Hannah, L. (2015, October 1). Girls are the
fastest-growing group in the juvenile justice system.
● iResearchNet. (n.d.). Juvenile
delinquency: III. Major theories of juvenile delinquency.
● Princeton University. (n.d.). The
Future of Children website.
● Sexton, J. (2015, October 3). On the rise:
Percentage of girls in America’s juvenile justice system.