Processing Juvenile Delinquency in Two Cities

Abstract

A fundamental proposition in labeling theory is that stigmatization and alienation are conducive to the perpetuation of deviant behavior. From this perspective, the steady increase in juvenile delinquency in the past two decades has been linked to the expansion of functions exercised by the juvenile courts (increasing its potential for stigmatization) and the uncertainty of the courts' processing styles (leading to alienation). This study examines two related hypotheses subsumed by this theoretical explanation. First, because of a sup posed breakdown in alternative informal controls, urban court systems tend to expand their jurisdictions and to process large numbers of juveniles. Second, because they process so many cases. the courts tend to displace their goals.

In order to explore these propositions, two juvenile court systems. one in Brazil and the other in the United States, were compared. Both function in metropolitan centers with similar ecological profiles. The cross-national scope of the design enhances the range of variation for the hypotheses at issue, and it provides a way to assess the extent to which they might be culture-bound.

The data show that the United States court processed ten times more juve niles than the Brazilian court. This indicates that the direct association be tween metropolitan pressures and court expansion is not universal. The evidence supports the second hypothesis: The court processing a greater number of juveniles was found to have displaced the traditional mandates of juvenile justice.