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Schools and Delinquency |
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reviewed by Nermin Aydemir |
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Author: Denise C. Gottfredson |
ISBN:
978-0521626293 |
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Publisher:
Cambridge University Press |
Page:
330 |
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Type:
Paperback |
Price:
$ 29.99 |
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Review: |
Research on school safety and security mounts as incidents at schools increase around the world and schools and communities are increasingly concerned about the issue. Numerous studies have been put forward that schools are full of stimuli eliciting delinquency as well as educating the youth (Akiba et.al. 2001: 829-30, Johnson 2004: 199-202 , McEvoy 2000: 130-31). In fact, schools become training grounds for illicit behavior unless effective prevention strategies are implemented.
Gottfredson succeeds to deliver a profound work in the literature on delinquency prevention with Schools and Delinquency. The book appears to be an inclusive handbook for those who are interested in delinquency and/or crime prevention at schools by thoroughly analyzing the effectiveness of various prevention strategies. The scholar goes through 174 research studies which focus on problem behaviors among pupils, such as substance use, dropout, and truancy, and tries to find the best practices to cope with the safety and security issues at schools.
The author starts by stating the possibility of schools to become training grounds for delinquent behavior and underlines the role of schools in combating delinquency. Afterwards, she goes over the existing literature and explains the mechanisms triggering problem behavior in the first chapter. Research focusing on the impacts of individual characteristics, attitudes, and experiences along with school effects are examined in the second and third chapters respectively. Practices changing school and classroom effects and those giving attention to student personalities are given later on after a short section on methodology. Gottfredson underlines the existence of a gap between research and the real world and the underlying factors of this gap in the sixth chapter. The author concludes by giving ideas about new horizons.
The studies analyzed in Schools and Delinquency are collected through a library search by using keywords as 'delinquency,' 'prevention,' 'intervention,' 'school-based prevention,' 'drugs,' 'drug education,' 'youth,' and 'juvenile.' The author used all studies except those which focused solely on preschool-aged children. School-based prevention programs are defined as any intervention to prevent or reduce problem behavior that is either located in a school building or implemented by school staff, or under the auspices of a school or school system (Gottfredson 2001: 95).
The scholar starts by underlining the presence of multiple causes of safety and security problems at schools. She gives a general overview of five profound theories: strain theory, Marxist theory, social disorganization theory, social control theory, and routine activities theory. The scholar accepts the crime definition of Hirschi and Gottfredson and regards it as the use of force or fraud, acts of defiance and disobedience, and acts that deliberately causes harm to self or others. A comprehensive literature review comes afterwards. The shortcomings of crime statistics in terms of telling the proportion of individuals of different ages who are engaged in crime or the level of offending to those who are engaged in crime, the higher occurrence rates of 'less serious' crimes like lying and cheating, age effects on problem behavior, and the link between dropping out and problematic behavior are the most remarkable issues in this inclusive literature review. Gottfredson also claims that sending 'difficult students' off is not a valuable solution, as those young people cannot find opportunities for productive engagement.
When it comes to school-related individual characteristics, attitudes and experiences, Gottfredson underlines that persons who engage in criminal behavior are likely to engage in similar others. She brings a sophisticated understanding on the individual characteristics eliciting delinquency.
Similar factors can lead to different outcomes depending on the age and socio-economic situation, according to Gottfredson's review. Antisocial behavior, issues relating family conditions, early aggression and conduct problems, early initiation of delinquency and drug use, early school failure, impulsiveness and low self-control, beliefs and attitudes favorable to delinquency and drug use, poor attachment to school, week social ties and antisocial peers come forth as the main risk factors. In Gottfredson's point of view, schools can reduce criminality by helping children to develop and maintain self-control and teaching them how to get along with others (Gottfredson: 61).
As for school effects, the nature of the community in which the school is situated plays a significant role. The author states that the outcomes for individual students in the school, regardless of their own level of disadvantage, are poorer when the concentration of the educationally and socially disadvantaged students in the school rises. The 'Mathew effect,' which refers to the fact that those schools which serve to the most disadvantaged populations lack the resources capable of managing schools in such a way as to create cohesive social organizations, appears as an important in Gottfredson's analysis (Gottfredson: 82- 83).
Regarding methodology, the scholar addresses a crucial point in scientific research for not explaining how and why different variables interact with each other. She pays attention to putting emphasis on the difference between causality and correlation and criticizes the studies in her analysis regarding the issue. According to the author, almost all the studies used small sample sizes. Most of the studies analyzed in Schools and Delinquency have a sample size less than two hundred. Considering conditions at the school or classroom level rather than the individual level and insensitive measures (particularly for studies involving younger students) are other methodological shortcomings of the studies, according to the author (Gottfredson: 228).
Gottfredson devotes the last chapter to a broad evaluation of the earlier chapters. Appropriating more dollars for school-based prevention, providing more research support, building systems to monitor program implementation, and making technical and organization development assistances available where there is a need to strengthen programs and targeting urban are the main policy recommendations of the author. As for putting it into practice, Gottfredson lists environmental change interventions, organization developing and individual change interventions for implementing the prevention strategies well and sustainably.
Despite all the achievements of the book, critics seem to be right on the issue of defining the word delinquency. Detailed analyses on different behaviors, i.e. cussing at a teacher, biting a classmate, shirking homework, being late to class, writing on school walls, cheating on tests, bullying classmates, lying, fighting, stealing, joyriding, drinking alcohols, having sex, selling drugs, assaulting or robbing others, or setting fire to property (Gottfredson: 4) should indeed be explained independently (Kelly 2001: 2). A second criticism also appears to address a significant drawback of the study. Gottfredson does not make any distinction between delinquency and crime and uses them interchangeably. Another critic for Gottfredson might be for totally ignoring qualitative studies in the literature review. No qualitative data exists in the 174 studies which are examined.
Yet these criticisms do not undermine the success of the study. The study appears as a significant achievement in terms of linking theory and empirical evidence tanks to the scientific methodology and discipline in her work. Schools and Delinquency identifies the guidelines for successful delinquent prevention strategies at schools. Gottfredson manages to identify a broad array of effective and ineffective strategies through examining a significant amount of data on the issue. Her knowledge of the relevant theories and comprehension of methodology significantly contributes to her grasp in the related field.
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about book: |
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Schools and Delinquency provides a comprehensive review and critique of the current research on the causes of delinquency, substance use, drop-out, and truancy, and the role of the school in preventing these behavior patterns. Examining school-based prevention programs and practices for grades K-12, the author identifies a broad array of effective and ineffective strategies. In the larger context of the community, she analyzes the special challenges to effective prevention programming that arise in disorganized settings, identifying ways to overcome these obstacles and make the most troubled schools safer and more productive environments. |
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