Juvenile Delinquents’ Use of Consumption as Cultural Resistance: Implications for Juvenile Reform Programs and Public Policy

Abstract

Each year, the juvenile justice system spends billions of dollars to handle approximately 700,000 youths. Yet the rate of recidivism remains high and suggests that this problem and its solutions are not understood fully. The problem of juvenile delinquency exacts a high toll on society in terms of the loss of property, life, and, each year, more disaffected youth. Using ethnographic data as a basis, the authors explore the experiential world of a group of institutionalized, young offenders. By focusing on the meaning of crime and consumption for these youths, the authors hope to shed light on how crime and consumption are used to produce a style of resistance. In the meaning of their possessions, these juvenile delinquents both affirm and disaffirm some of the dominant values in society. The authors use these impulses in the youths’ lives to inform the conduct of current reform programs, as well as public policy.