Republican Monsters: The Cultural Construction of American Positivist Criminology, 1767-1920

This dissertation examines the history of and cultural influences on positivist criminology in the United States. From Benjamin Rush to the present day, the U.S. has produced an extensive corpus of empirical and theoretical studies that seeks to discern an objective, scientifically-grounded basis for criminal behavior. American positivist criminology has drawn on numerous subfields and theories, including rational choice / economic theory, biology, and psychology, but in all cases, maintains that a purely scientific explanation of offending is possible. This study proceeds from the perspective that divisions between scientific and non-scientific thought are untenable. Drawing on scholarship in literary criticism and sociology, I argue that positivist criminology confronts an inherent contradiction in purporting to develop a purely scientific account of phenomena that are defined by the moral and cultural sentiments of a society. I thus hypothesize that positivist criminology is in fact reliant on the irrational and fictive cultural tropes and images of crime that it claims to exorcize. The dissertation proceeds by reviewing the literature on the history of criminology, developing a set of functional types or tropes for character analysis, and then examining four separate periods in the development of scientific criminology: eighteenth century studies of rational action, nineteenth century studies of defective reasoning, early twentieth century studies of race and crime, and the development of scientifically informed criminalistics programs. Each of these cases captures a different period and focus in the development of scientific criminology. In threading continuity between these cases, I show how criminological positivism is consistently reliant on culturally informed tropes and characters to render itself sensible and coherent

Portraits of adolescence/juvenile delinquency: something written, something said, something constructed, something read

The purpose of this research is to examine the dominant narrative of adolescence/juvenile delinquency and to question what makes this discourse possible. I use a poststructuralist perspective that thoroughly questions, dismantles, reveals, and analyzes this discourse in order to uncover hidden or obscure motives that shape how we understand adolescent individuals. Keeping in mind that everything is a construction, I investigate how the discourse works rather than what it means, and in the process I search for whether or not power or some type of oppression is involved. While conducting the interrogation and analysis procedure of the dominant narrative, I compare the term scarcity, which implies close-mindedness, manipulation, and control, and abundance, which implies open-mindedness, flexibility, and generosity, in terms of which the dominant narrative more clearly represents. As this ongoing analytical process takes place, I also consider the desirability and need to write a new narrative of adolescence/juvenile delinquency With qualitative research as the framework, I adopt a methodology grounded in narrative inquiry: open, flexible methodology promotes new understandings and different meanings. Narrative inquiry involves stories—it is a space for understanding experiences. This study inspects different types of stories: historical stories, stories related to the influence of constructed labels and identity formation, a story presented in poetic form of an individual who spent time in a juvenile prison, and my story; an autoethnography of my experience during the thirty-three years I worked in a juvenile prison. As the researcher, my endeavor is to develop greater self-understanding, a better understanding of others; to give voice to the stories of marginalized adolescent/juvenile delinquent population that are seldom heard; and to promote an expanded social awareness in readers that will help them develop more empathetic thinking. Having concluded that the dominant narrative of adolescence/juvenile delinquency is steeped in an attitude of scarcity, I suggest that a new narrative based on abundance is needed. This new narrative will not know the meaning of scarcity. It will only recognize the concept of caring and encourage positive relationships, an aura of plenty, open-mindedness, generosity, tolerance, understanding, forgiveness, and individual dignity

Lost Youth: A County-by-County Analysis of 2011 California Homicide Victims Ages 10 to 24

Homicide is the second leading cause of death for California youth and young adults ages 10 to 24 years old. In 2010, the most recent year for which complete data is available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), homicides in California were outpaced only by unintentional injuries -- the majority of which were motor vehicle fatalities -- as the leading cause of death for this age group. Of the nearly 700 homicides reported, 85 percent were committed with firearms. Nationally in 2010, California had the 14th highest homicide rate for youth and young adults ages 10 to 24.The primary goal of this series of reports is to offer localized information on the county level in California to better inform citizens,advocates, service providers, and policymakers. This third edition of this report includes a new section that begins with an assessment of the known impact of "tough on crime" policies (the all-too-frequent default response to violence in general, and youth violence in particular), reviews current national and California-specific prevention-focused violence-reduction efforts, and concludes by highlighting three local California programs that have demonstrated success: Second Chance Family and Youth Services in Salinas; Youth Alive! in Oakland; and, the Gang Reduction and Youth Development Program (GRYD) in Los Angeles.All too often, the devastating effects of violence are little recognized outside of those who are directly affected. By comparing on a county-by-county level the homicide rates for youth and young adults in California, it is our goal to add a new, ongoing context for information to be presented while helping support discussion, analysis, policy development, and action. Above all, this work is conducted in the belief that information aids in the development of sound prevention strategies -- on the local, state, and national levels

A History of Future Crime: Prediction, Youth, and the Organisation of Suspicion in Criminology and American Society, 1900-1960

This thesis explores the relationship between juvenile crime prediction and the human sciences in the United States during the early twentieth century. Modern predictive policing and risk assessment technologies have received increasing public attention for their discriminatory potential but are frequently presented as novel disruptions, as tools and methods without a history. This thesis addresses this oversight by offering an expanded view of historical crime prediction and its development from 1900-1960 by criminologists in collaboration with courts, school, clinics, correctional institutions, and welfare agencies. Meeting the shared practical concern of future crime and its anticipation in these settings, criminologists attempted to synthesise varied, conflicting, uncertain perspectives on children’s futures into useable predictions and recommendations for practitioners. Working with the juvenile courts of Chicago and then Boston in the 1910s and 1920s child guidance collaborators William Healy and Augusta Bronner claimed prognostic authority to advise on a given delinquent’s behavioural antecedents and expected trajectory but were, in practice, dependent on networks of official and familial informants, whose priorities and anxieties had to be accommodated. Subsequently, Harvard criminologists Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck used statistics to critique the failure of clinical psychiatric approaches and promote their own ‘predictive instruments’, tables quantifying and computing background factors to score criminal propensities and guide fallible decision makers. Using the Gluecks’ archival research materials from 1930-1960, I then trace the assumptions, prejudices and negotiations which informed their prediction tables and their subsequent modification in practice. Through these episodes I reveal how crime prediction, by psychiatric expertise or actuarial quantification, organised widespread extant suspicions and provided various practitioners with technical validation of prior prejudices and expectations. In this way criminological crime prediction ultimately contributed to the further criminalisation of poor, urban, racially marginalised youth

Reconciling childhood and deviance: an historical analysis of media depictions of young 'deviants'

The shared meaning and value placed on children impacts how institutions respond to juvenile "deviants." This study explored ways in which news media constructed images of young "deviants" and corresponding conceptions of "childhood" across two key historical time periods. The key areas of focus included: first, the ways in which the print media reconciled the contradictory notions of "childhood" and deviance; second, power dynamics across sociocultural contexts; and third, how depictions of young "deviants" were reflective of their historical context. Data consisted of 157 newspaper articles from The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, ninety from 1960-65 and sixty-seven from 1980-85. Dual methods of content analysis and critical discourse analysis yielded telling results. First, there was a distinct shift in focus across the two time periods from older juveniles to younger ones. The age of the "deviant" played a role in setting the tone of the articles regarding institutional responses and punishment approaches. Second, use and types of predications were found to be important tools across both time periods that contributed to negative depictions of young "deviants" while also trying to individualize and normalize them. Third, the attribution of responsibility was used to reconcile "childhood" and deviance, where the power of the family and social class were significant factors. Lastly, an emphasis on workforce involvement was used across both time periods as a romanticized concept and as a way to gauge a young person's societal value. Such an emphasis was shown to reconcile deviance with adulthood. Similar findings from both time periods were specifically interesting considering their differing sociocultural climates towards juvenile "deviants." This study also provided useful knowledge regarding narratives about "deviants" provided by the media and the importance of critically analyzing them

MCF-Togo - Thistledew Camp. A historical analysis examining a specialized juvenile residential correctional program.

This is an historical analysis of a specialized residential Minnesota youth program, Thistledew Camp, governed by the Minnesota Department of Corrections and approved by Minnesota Department of Education. This program served at risk youth ages 13-17 (age 18 if they had a birthday while at the camp) who were court ordered to the program because of behaviors, truancy, or probationary violations. Additionally, some students were placed in the facility by social services or their families because they were chemically dependent youth in need of addiction counseling services. The students assigned, or court ordered to the Thistledew Camp facility, were taught essential skills to meet both societal and legal expectations in their educational and personal lives. Even though this is chronicling the history of a single small Department of Corrections program for juveniles, it is important in contributing to the research regarding best practices for juvenile justice and examining non-punitive, relationship based programing for disenfranchised youths. The timeframe for the research is from 1955 to 2015. Thistledew Camp was originally established as a Youth Conservation Commission (YCC) to teach the logging trade to trouble males ages 19 to 21. Upon its closing, it was servicing juveniles ages 13-17 who had problems with truancy, chemical dependency, and behavioral issues. The study chronicles the changes in programs, funding, and the age group it serviced until 2015 when the Department of Corrections closed the juvenile programs to expand the Challenge Incarcerated Program (CIP) which created more bed space for adult males. The literature review analyzes global, regional, and local juvenile justice systems. It also examines special education ties to juvenile delinquency and truancy. A historical look at Outward Bound which influenced the Wilderness Challenge portion of the Thistledew Program is reviewed. Analysis of the archive materials and discussions were chronicled for dates and important events throughout the formation of the program. Various studies that were conducted by the Department of Corrections were gathered and reviewed. The major influencing factors regarding the development of Thistledew’s programs were the following: lack of education or illiterate youth; so an educational program was established and grew to include special educational services, credit recovery, and GED testing. Many of the juveniles needed chemical dependency counseling; due to their addiction, many of the juveniles made poor choices or demonstrated a lack of judgement. Drug and alcohol counselors were hired on staff and chemical dependency programs were created. Initially, there was no trust between staff and the incarcerated youth which created barriers to the juveniles’ learning and understanding of the negative criminal thinking which brought them to Thistledew; cognitive skills, wilderness programs, and relationship building through activities and open communication created a foundation of trust. This opened the door to a willingness for the juveniles to try new experiences. Character building and personal confidence of the delinquent youths was reinforced through the Wilderness Challenge Program. Finally, Thistledew’s Program was examined and proposed to be cut to save $300,000 annually in the Department of Corrections budget in 1972-1973. An emergency senate committee meeting was called and funding resources were established, making the juvenile program self-sufficient

The Punishment of Other People\u27s Children: An Investigative Look at Our Juvenile Justice System and its Structural Shortcomings

The juvenile justice system has been criticized for its inability to curb the trend of juvenile crime and its continued ignorance to the valuable resources of community-based rehabilitation and treatment programs. The goal of this research paper is to discover new solutions to the structural shortcomings of the juvenile justice system and present my findings on the reasons for its contradictive structure and practices