Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-92) Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-71) Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Mark C. Smith. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study has grown out of a seven month contact which the writer had, in a local group work agency, with a gang of delinquent teen aged girls and boys from the downtown section of Vancouver. It is based largely upon the process records which she kept on the gang during its stay in the agency, with certain corroborative material from other community sources such as case work agencies, the Family Court, the Police Department and the newspapers. The problem of delinquency is approached from a group work point of view; the chief purpose of the Thesis, therefore, is to indicate the strengths and short-comings of the group work process, as used here, as a treatment method. At the same time, the study deals with the family and environmental difficulties which have led the gang and its members into their present anti-social position. It stresses too, the attitude of the gang to the rest of society and in turn the reaction of society to the gang. The First Chapter gives the background of delinquency in Vancouver. In it the writer comments on the increasingly serious nature of the problem in the city. She touches on the various factors responsible for the delinquent child’s failure to adjust successfully - poor family relationships, bad environmental influences, crowded housing, limited recreational facilities and others - all of which have been considerably aggravated by the war. And in conclusion, she gives a general picture of the youngsters themselves and the gangs they have formed as a security against the rejection which, they have suffered during their growing years. The Second Chapter introduces the gang to the agency. The writer tells of the referral made by the head of the women's division of the City Police, who, in the course of her duties, had become interested in some of its girl members. A description of the girls and their family backgrounds is included in this chapter. The first period of activity when the club operated as a girls’ group, with the boys constantly in the background, is discussed. And the girls’ preparations for the inclusion of the boys as guests at a Christmas party are described. The Third Chapter deals with the first contact which the writer had with the boys at the Christmas party. Their attitude to the agency and to the group leader is very evident in the account of their destructive and quarrelsome behaviour on this occasion, following the section on the party, a description of the boys and their family backgrounds is given, which makes their belligerent attitude to the world around them quite understandable. The Fourth Chapter presents the gang as a whole, with the boys established, ostensibly as members of a dance committee, but actually as the governing body of the club. In this section, the complexities of relationships between the members of the gang and particularly between the girls and boys make up the major portion of the narrative. Their activities inside and outside the agency are described fully and indicate very clearly the instability and insecurity of their daily existence. In the Fifth Chapter, the writer continues her discussion of the club as a mixed activity, with the relationships between the girls and boys gradually worsening until they reach an open break. A description of the desperate attempt by the boys at a reconciliation is followed by an account of the withdrawal of the girls as a result of the mistreatment they have received at the hands of the boys. In the Sixth Chapter, the experience of the gang in the agency is evaluated in accordance with Bernstein's Criteria for Group Work. In this section, the following questions are answered. Has the area of concern to the members been enlarged? Do specific interests develop so that they find wider expression both within and without the agency? Has the group matured in its sense of responsibility to the agency? How have the standards of behaviour of the group been affected by the experience in the agency? Have the prejudices of the group based on nationality, financial status and other factors been affected? In the Seventh Chapter, the writer comments once again on the delinquent's position in the community. She indicates the limitations which a group work agency, handling this type of youngster, unsupported by other resources, must face. And she points out the necessity of a co-operative effort on the part of all welfare organizations and the community as a whole as the only effective method of dealing with the problem. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study examined how restorative justice programs impact the probability of recidivism among juvenile offenders. It compared juveniles who completed restorative justice programs versus juveniles who were released with warning from the courts. Both groups were compared to determine if restorative justice juveniles outcomes differed based on recidivism. Logistic regression showed that restorative justice programs had statistically significant increased odds of recidivating when compared to juveniles released with a warning. However, when the groups of restorative justice were disaggregated, only the adjudicated juveniles were statistically significant. Survival time analysis showed that restorative justice juveniles have longer survival times of recidivism when compared to juveniles released with a warning. Suggestions for further research and analysis are discussed with respect to the current results.

The problem of this thesis is three-fold: (1) to determine what social workers, officers of the law, and leaders in the field of education believe about juvenile delinquency; (2) to study the backgrounds, personalities, and criminal records of one hundred girls committed to the Texas State Training School at Gainesville, Texas, to determine the major factors in their delinquency; and (3) to make recommendations that may be helpful in meeting the problems of youth.

Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Tracy M. Turner / The recent housing crisis has highlighted the need to better understand the determinants of mortgage default. Concerns about potential sizable differences in default rates by race and ethnicity as well as reports in the popular press regarding the propensity for rising numbers of homeowners to strategically default motivate a careful study of mortgage delinquency in America post-housing bubble. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we examine borrowers in the years 2005, 2007 and 2009 and, controlling for a number of default-related variables, take a closer look at the characteristics of those delinquent on their mortgage by 2009. We find startling racial and ethnic gaps present as well as strong effects from children, education, and the presence of recourse/non-recourse laws in the state of residence on the likelihood of delinquency. In addition, we find evidence that strategic default plays a role in explaining the likelihood that a homeowner in 2005 will be delinquent on his or her mortgage by 2009.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Family structure as a predictive variable of juvenile delinquency has been studied for the last hundred years. This relationship originated due to societal belief that divorce was detrimental to adolescents. Due to the changing societal roles in the United States, family structure has been changing. More children are growing up in non-intact families, such as single-parent households, households with stepparents, cohabitating families, and households without a parent present. To study the effect family structure has on juvenile delinquency, researchers have utilized social control theory, differential association, self-control theory and general strain theory to conceptualize variables to explain why family structure influences delinquent behavior. A review of previous literature on this topic indicates that living in intact households, which are households with two biological parents who are married, have, on average, the lowest rates of delinquency. This thesis investigates the relationship between family structure and lifetime marijuana use among eighth and tenth grade adolescents in the United States through the use of secondary data analysis of Monitoring the Future Study, 2012. The results provide support for the relationship between family structure and lifetime marijuana use.

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