Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Juvenile delinquents--Iowa--Longitudinal studies; Juvenile delinquency--Iowa; Juvenile detention homes--Iowa; Juvenile delinquency; Juvenile delinquents; Juvenile detention homes; Iowa; Longitudinal studies;
Abstract
It is unclear what the relationship is between juvenile delinquency and adult criminality. Many people assume that an individual who commits several crimes as a juvenile will also commit crimes as an adult, yet most juvenile offenders do not become adult offenders. It is also unclear what role institutionalization of juvenile delinquents plays in arresting or intensifying criminal careers. Some reappear in the adult correctional system while others become lawful citizens. The current study looks at one set of the most serious juvenile delinquents, those placed in a state training school in Iowa. In order to determine the relationship between juvenile delinquency and adult criminality, two matched groups of males were compared. The first group of males continued their criminal activities into adulthood and were placed in the men's reformatory in 1981. The second group apparently stopped their criminal activities since they had not been sentenced to the reformatory. The records of these males from the state training school were used to look for factors associated with being convicted of a crime as an adult. The results indicate that boys of parents with low levels of education were more likely to become adult criminals. The marital status of the boy's parents had no effect on his future criminality. Boys who were not placed in the academic classes while at the state training school were also more likely to be in the men's reformatory as adults. In addition, boys who were at the state training school because of a serious offense (e.g. burglary) were more likely to become adult criminals than were boys who committed less serious crimes (e.g. operating a motor vehicle without the owner's consent). Lastly, the longer the boy was institutionalized and the more severe his punishment, the more likely he was to continue his criminal behavior. However, since the most serious delinquents received the most severe sanctions and spent the most time at the training school, it may be that they were already on their way to becoming adult criminals. The training school may have had little, if any, effect on these boys. There were also factors not included in the present study that may be important. For example, no data existed on the peer relationships, quality of family life, or what happened to the boy after release from the training school. Nonetheless, the findings do contribute to our understanding of the relationship between juvenile delinquency and adult criminality.
Year of Submission
1988
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
First Advisor
Gene Lutz
Second Advisor
Thomas Keefe
Third Advisor
Clement Bartollas
Date Original
1988
Object Description
1 PDF file (81 leaves)
Copyright
©1988 Kristin Renae Baughman
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Baughman, Kristin Renae, "Factors Associated with the Relationship between Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Criminality: A Sample of State Training School Residents in Iowa" (1988). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2020.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2020
Comments
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