Controlling youth crime: A qualitative analysis of informal and formal social controls.
This study examined the effectiveness of the threat of punishment in deterring young offenders from criminal activity, exploring both formal and informal methods of social control. Twenty young offenders, incarcerated in an open-custody facility, were interviewed about their informal sources of social control, including their history of education, previous employment, peer groups, family relations, and perceptions of morality. More formally instituted methods of social control were also evaluated, including previous police contact, experience within the court system, custodial experience, certainty of punishment, knowledge and perceptions of a strict discipline program, probability of deterrence, and perceived fairness of punishment. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1999 .J55. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 39-02, page: 0413. Adviser: Stephen Baron. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1999.
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