Juvenile Justice System As A Form Of Crime Control

Social control has been a central concept in sociological discussions of law for the past century (Black, 1976), the juvenile justice system as a form of social control is no exception (Blomberg, 1977). Juvenile justice has a rich history in early British Law, but as a separate entity in the US, its history is relatively short but no less important. What began as a movement to separate youths from adults to shield them from contamination of incorrigibility (Fox, 1996), appears to have become another way of legal segregation and control of the underclass, impoverished, minority youths living in disorganized neighborhoods (Staples, 1987). Is the juvenile justice system as social control a form of crime control or control of the underclass? In Donald Black’s The Behavior of Law (1976), Black maintains that law is the governments’ way of attaining social control, and law is â€Å"the normative life of a state and its citizens, such as legislation, litigation, and adjudication (p .2).† For Black, law is a quantitative variable that varies across time, and the structural and cultural aspects of society can predict the style, form, and quantity of social control at any given time. Law is predicted by the conditions under which various types of control systems develop, the kinds of people who use them, and the case outcomes that emerge. The social structure of cases, including the social characteristics of offenders and their victims, supporters and adjudicators, can explain theShow MoreRelatedCrime And Crime Of The United States1389 Words   |  6 Pages Recent surveys have indicated that crime rate in the United States is on the rise. Crime in the U.S. is classified into property crime and violent cri me. 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