Jugenddelinquenz im interethnischen Vergleich : Erklärungsmöglichkeiten delinquenten Verhaltens einheimischer und immigrierter Jugendlicher

This study examines the socio-economic conditions of youths from ethnic minority groups and compares the social correlates of delinquent behaviour in these ethnic groups. The aim of this analysis is to prove the generality of theories across ethnic boundaries explaining delinquency, and to identify certain factors of individual ethnic groups which correlate with juvenile delinquency, by testing the relative power of the theoretical perspectives in explaining delinquency. The ethnic groups consist of German and Turkish youths and youths from Eastern Europe and the Balkan countries. Existing research on the relationship between ethnicity and delinquency has mainly been concentrated on social structure and problematic integration processes, in order to explain higher offending rates of minority youths, although it is still an open question to what extent prevalence or incidence rates of minority youths are actually higher. Results from self-report surveys show that while ethnic groups are differently involved in delinquent behaviour, these differences are less marked than in police statistics and may be largely restricted to serious offending. In addition, comparisons of official crime statistics from European countries show that certain ethnic groups are differentially involved in crime in different countries. The conclusion that delinquency of minority youths can sufficiently be explained by socio-economic deprivation does not seem convincing. Reflecting this argumentation further, research on explaining delinquent behaviour of minority youths should take into account the interaction among the situation of the country of origin, the process of migration and the social circumstances of immigrants in the host country. The examination of the power of criminological theories for certain ethnic groups represents the basis for analysing the interactions between different causes of delinquency. In addition to the individual examination of hypotheses derived from the social control theory, the anomie or strain theory and the theory of differential association, an integrated model will be developed and tested. In addition, effects of social-ecological contexts within ethnic groups will be examined in order to test hypotheses on the relationships between ecological segregation of ethnic minorities and delinquency.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Bielefeld

Year

2006

Author dc:creator

• Naplava, Thomas

Repository record source_url

https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2304286

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pub.uni-bielefeld.de:2304286