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A Brief History of Juvenile Delinquency in Boston and a Comparative Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Theodore N. Ferdinand
Theodore N. Ferdinand*
Affiliation:
College of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University, Boston MA 02115
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Abstract

Historical research in Boston suggests that developing cities exhibit a regular progression from wayward delinquency through incorrigible delinquency to contracultural delinquency, as they develop from an early industrial, to a mature industrial, to a post-industrial stage.

Wayward Delinquency is committed by youthful migrants to developing cities who have no established roots. They wander the city commiting minor crimes, and as the city develops their numbers grow rapidly. Incorrigible delinquency arises when the city institutes compulsory education and other mechanisms for socializing children to industrial society. Many children cannot accept the discipline of these new structures and rebel 'against them. In addition pathologic families begin to appear as the rigors of urban individualism overwhelm a small portion of the city's inhabitants. Their children in turn often display a pattern of delinquency that reflects their pathogenic origins. Contracultural delinquency emerges when these rebellious and defiant children coalesce into iconoclastic gangs scornful of conventional values and careers.

The major cities of China and India are developing some symptoms of wayward delinquency, but much of Latin America and Africa seem to be midway between wayward and incorrigible delinquency. Japan is moving rapidly toward contracultural delinquency, and many cities of the West are already there.

Résumé

Résumé

L‘étude historique de la ville de Boston montre que les cités pendant leur croissance connaissent une évolution inévitable qui les fait passer d'une délinquance rebelle à une délinquance incoercible pour aboutir à une délinquance de contre-culture, et cela en même temps qu'elles traversent les trois stades de l‘évolution industrielle: archaïsme, maturité et post-industrialisation.

La délinquance «rebelle» est le fait de jeunes qui migrent vers les cités en croissance et qui sont sans véritable racine. Ils vont de villes en villes, commettant de petits larcins et leur nombre augmente rapidement avec le développement de la cité. La délinquance «incoercible» apparaît au moment où le milieu urbain industrialisé instaure des mécanismes de socialisation à l'égard des enfants, comme la scolarisation obligatoire. Beaucoup d'entreeux n'acceptent pas la discipline de ces nouvelles structures et se rebellent contre elles. De plus des familles pathogènes apparaissent pendant que les rigueurs de l'individualisme urbain submergent un petit nombre de citadins. Par voie de conséquence leurs enfants adoptent un type de délinquance qui reflète leurs origines pathogènes. La délinquance de «contre-culture» quant à elle, prend naissance au moment où ces enfants rebelles et provocateurs se rassemblent en groupes iconoclastes, méprisant les valeurs et les carrières conventionnelles.

Les principales villes Chinoises et Indiennes sont en train de développer des symptômes de délinquance «rebelle», alors que beaucoup de cités d'Amérique Latine et d'Afrique semblent être à mi-chemin entre ce type de déviance et la délinquance dit «incoercible». Le Japon quant à lui est en train d'évoluer rapidement vers une délinquance de contre-culture alors que beaucoup de villes Occidentales ont déjà atteind ce stade.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
International Annals of Criminology , Volume 24 , Issue 1-2 , 1986 , pp. 59 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 International Society for Criminology

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