Please read and view (where applicable) the following Learning Resources before you complete this week's assignments.
Readings
Course Text: Juvenile Delinquency
Chapter 3, "Individual Causes of Delinquency"
Positivism and Delinquency"
"Early Forms of Biological Positivism"
"Contemporary Biological Positivism Sociobiology"
"Psychological Positivism"
Chapter 8, " Families and Delinquency"
Chapter 9, " School and Delinquency"
Optional Resources
Websites
Website: Anti-Bullying Network.
http://www.antibullying.net/
This Web site provides information to young people, parents, and teachers on addressing bullying within schools.Website: MedlinePlus. Medical encyclopedia: Antisocial personality disorder. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000921.htm
This Web site provides additional data and information on psychopathic personalities, sociopathic personalities, and personality disorders.
Application: Biological and Psychological Theories
There is a wide range of biological and psychological theories that attempt to explain juvenile delinquency, many of which you explore in the readings this week. Some of the theories you explore focus on inherent characteristics while other theories focus on behaviors. You may find that some theories overlap while others are applicable to one particular case of delinquency but not another. In addition, it is possible that a combination of these theories or some element of each theory will make more sense to you than others. Your understanding of both psychological and biological theories will help you through this assignment as you apply them to a real-life case of juvenile delinquency in an effort to explain why it may have occurred.
To prepare for this assignment:
Review the assigned reading from Chapter 3 of the course text, Juvenile Delinquency, and focus on how psychological and biological theories attempt to explain juvenile delinquency.
Select a contemporary or historical case of juvenile delinquency. This could be one that you read about in your course text or learned about in the news. (Note: The case you select should be different from the one you used for the Discussion this week.)
Think about the biological theories that might explain juvenile delinquency in the case you selected and consider why.
Consider the psychological theories that might explain juvenile delinquency in the case you selected and consider why.
The assignment (1–2 pages):
Briefly describe the case of juvenile delinquency you selected.
Describe at least two biological theories that might account for juvenile delinquency in the case and explain why. Be specific.
Describe at least two psychological theories that might account for juvenile delinquency in the case and explain why. Be specific.
Support your Application Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list only for those resources not included in the Learning Resources for this course.