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Boundary Changes and the Nexus Between Formal and Informal Social Control: Truancy Intervention as a Case Study in Criminal Justice Expansionism

Bazemore, Gordon
June 4, 2015

Source: (2004) Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. 18: 521-570.

Among many longstanding debates about roles, purposes, and components of criminal justice (e.g., punishment, deterrence, state intervention, and rehabilitation), one that has gained prominence in the last decade or so has to do with the boundaries between adult criminal justice and juvenile justice. Increasingly, the adult criminal justice system is expanding to include certain juvenile offenses and offenders. Related to this is another boundary question xe2x80x93 namely, the extension of juvenile justice programs to intervene in cases of runaways, incorrigibles, curfew violators, school truancy, and similar behavioral issues. In this context, Bazemore, Leip, and Stinchcomb examine truancy intervention as a general case study in blurring the boundaries between formal and informal social control. To explore this, they highlight a law enforcement-led truancy intervention initiative in an urban county in the United States. They then look at restorative justice ideas and practices as an alternative approach oriented toward building community capacity to provide social support and informal social control in response to deviant behavior and crime.

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AbstractCourtsForgivenessJuvenilePrisonsRestorative PracticesRJ and the WorkplaceRJ in SchoolsRJ OfficeTeachers and StudentsVictim Support
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