Despite more than a century of legal precedent in the founding, development

Criminal Justice:Grad school
Theory/Analysis Exam DUE 10/04/2015 AT 12 PM.
Despite more than a century of legal precedent in the
founding, development, and institutionalization of separate and specific
practices for juveniles in the justice system—the past two decades have
witnessed significant increases in the criminalization and institutionalization
of youth, particularly youth of color. While many jurisdictions exercise
greater reliance on transfers of juvenile cases to the adult system, many young
people are labeled “dual-status” or “dual-jurisdiction,” i.e. simultaneously
entangled in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, a
disproportionate number of those being youth of color.
Critics have derided these practices as harmful, expensive,
and evidence of a “poverty-to-prison” pipeline, while supporters of juvenile
transfers contend austere get tough responses are both efficient and effective
in combating juvenile offending.
Drawing from such courses as ‘Nature of Crime,’ ‘Law and
Social Control,’ ‘Race, Crime, and Justice’ and, ‘Issues in Ethics, Law and
Criminal Justice,’ broadly discuss the use and application of theory. Then,
discuss how theory is useful to explain the criminalization and
institutionalization of youth, specifically the legal treatment of juveniles as
adults and “dualjurisdiction” status as they relate to a possible
“poverty-to-prison” pipeline.
This question has two parts: you must respond to both A
& B. As you answer, be sure to discuss the benefits and challenges to the
application of theories when seeking to understand criminal justice-related
issues such as treatment of juveniles as adults, “dual-status” or
“dual-jurisdiction” juvenile cases, and “poverty-to-prison” pipeline.
Part A
How do criminologists theorize about deterrence and the role
of poverty in offending from the classical (individual) and/or positivist
(social) perspectives? Choosing one theory from each school of thought, compare
and contrast each theory’s core propositions and discuss their respective views
of human nature and the need for institutionalized responses to criminal
behaviors. Compare and connect the theoretical propositions of each theoretical
approach to at least two empirical works of relevance to the topic of juvenile
transfers or “dual-jurisdiction” juvenile cases while providing an overview of
those studies as well as the caveats and limitations of the research. How may
these theories and the corresponding research affect policy decisions related
to the treatment of adolescents as adults and the disproportionate incidence of
incarceration for youth of color?
Part B
Related to the issue of juvenile transfers to the adult
system are an underlying historical and criminological foci on the role poverty
plays in crime and the assertion that poor, neglected, and abused young people
of color might be more disposed to break the law. Compare and contrast two
theories of offending that focus on the role of poverty, structural strain,
institutional breakdown, or labeling to explain how each approach the social
nature of offending, the framing of structural forces such as poverty,
stratification, and/or mobility, and identifies and critiques the nature and
scope of legal responses, such as juvenile transfers and “dual-jurisdiction”
cases.
Finally, discuss how and why more recent criminological
perspectives, such as critical-race and feminist theories address history,
economy, race, gender, class, and other structural considerations that
influence juvenile transfers and “dual-jurisdiction” cases.