Chapter Pretest
Test your knowledge of this chapter’s material by determining whether the following statements are true or false. Be sure to compare your answers with the answers on page 274.
1. The teen years are considered the most “friendship-intense” years of a person’s life.
2. The socialization hypothesis of delinquency states that the amount of time that youth spend with friends away from parents, teachers, and other authority figures influences them to engage in delinquency.
3. Being friends with boys tends to increase the likelihood that girls will be involved in delinquency.
4. Children who experience rejection by their peers have a decreased risk of engaging in delinquency.
5. Research demonstrates that African-American teen girls living in cities with violence sometimes engage in relational isolation, a situated survival strategy.
6. Young people today live their lives in front of electronic devices, big and little, which allow them to communicate in ways that were not possible in previous generations.
7. There is one definition of what a gang is that is used by law enforcement officers and social scientists.
8. To understand gang formation it is important to understand large-scale issues such as immigration, migration, economic marginalization, racism, and sexism.
9. Civil gang injunctions are used to help gang-involved youth find jobs and shelter and form strong social connections.
Discussion Question
Did you ever have to refrain from making friends as a way of avoiding violence in your neighborhood when you were growing up? If so, what did you find was the consequence of that strategy? If not, did you use another situational survival strategy? If you did not live in an area in which neighborhood violence was a consistent threat, how does understanding the findings of Jones’s research affect your views about others’ experiences and their potential long-term consequences?
Discussion Questions
1. What are some other examples of young people using social media to advertise their delinquency?
2. Do you think social media apps encourage teens to engage in delinquency? Why or why not?
Source: Brown, G. (2016). Snapchat leads Appleton police to teen burglars. West Central Tribune (April 24). Retrieved from http://www.wctrib.com/news/local/4017095-snapchat-leads-appleton-police-teen-burglars.
Discussion Question
1. Although gay and transgender gang-involved youth are addressed by this documentary, lesbian gang-involved youth are not considered. What sorts of accurate media depictions and coverage of lesbian youth involved in gangs and/or delinquency are currently available? How might you find out about these media sources?
Sources: Indiegogo. (2016). Check it: A documentary about an inner-city gay gang in Washington, DC. Retrieved from https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/check-it#/; Panfil, V. (2014a). Better left unsaid? The role of agency in queer criminological research. Critical Criminology, 22, 99–111.
Discussion Question
1. How do the many components of Homeboy Industries attempt to address the motto of the organization “Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job”? Are there any other components that you think would be helpful additions? If so, what?
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the two major hypotheses about why peers matter to delinquency and whether you have seen evidence to support either (or both) of them during your adolescent years. If you have, what sorts of examples can you provide as support?
2. The chapter discusses the important ways that the use of new technology changes the communication and interaction patterns of teenagers. Can you think of any recent examples of technology use not mentioned in the chapter that have led to behaviors adults are concerned about? Are these behaviors officially labeled as a form of delinquency? Why or why not?
3. Gender socialization and the different social experiences of boys and girls have been shown to impact delinquency in a number of ways. What are the main ways discussed in the chapter? Are there other things about young men or women in today’s society that influence the sort of delinquent acts that they do with their friends? If so, what are they?
4. As discussed in the chapter, African-American girls in inner cities characterized by violence often choose to isolate themselves from their peers in an effort to stay safe and survive. Are there any examples in which other teens avoid interacting with others their age to protect themselves?
5. Are there youth gangs in your city? How do you know? What definition of a gang are you drawing upon in your answers to these questions?
6. Youth gangs get the most public attention of nearly any youth peer group. What sorts of public attention do you observe gang members receiving? What do you see as the effect of the attention?
Chapter Pretest Answers
1. True
2. False
3. True
4. False
5. True
6. True
7. False
8. True
9. False
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