Reading Comprehension

PT108 · S4 · P2 · Q9 Juvenile Delinquency

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Much of mainstream thinking concerning juvenile delinquency in Canada and the United States is based on the assumption that if uncorrected it automatically leads to adult crime and should thus be severely punished, usually by some form of incarceration, before it becomes an ingrained behavior pattern.

Topic

How to handle juvenile delinquency — incarceration as the conventional response, vs. an approach that rehabilitates without incarcerating.

Framework

Present Debate / Problem-Solution. The author summarizes the conventional view (incarcerate), then engages criminologists' research, then proposes a third path: rehabilitate without incarcerating and without letting offenders off entirely.

Main Point

Juvenile delinquency should be addressed by rehabilitating young offenders without incarcerating them — a middle path that imposes a real penalty but lets them mature within the community.

P1: The conventional view and the criminologists' challenge

Conventional thinking: untreated juvenile delinquency leads to adult crime, so incarcerate offenders early. But criminologists' research suggests that incarceration may itself cause continued delinquency — a finding that's hard to translate into policy because, taken to its extreme, it implies the best intervention might be none at all.

P2: Rethinking who counts as a "criminal"

Criminologists also fail to distinguish between behavior young adults regard as criminal vs. as "fun." Most subjects called their delinquent behavior "fun"; they don't see themselves as criminals. Once law enforcement labels them so, they may change how they see themselves. Most undetected youthful offenders stop on their own by 18 — and only 8% credit fear of getting caught. So a policy that encourages maturation may be the most effective rehabilitation.

P3: A third path — rehabilitate without incarcerating

The problem of juvenile delinquency does need addressing — but through approach rather than removal. The author proposes rehabilitating offenders within the community (e.g., having a young shoplifter return the merchandise and apologize rather than be incarcerated as a thief). The goal is for offenders to learn society's values by maturity, achievable without incarceration or letting them off scot-free.

The author's opinion about the work of the criminologists discussed in the first paragraph can most accurately be described by which one of the following?

They advocate the right policies
Contradicted: advocate right policies
This is attractive because of its mixed positive / negative structure, but it's got the wrong details. The author thinks something like, "They advocate an important consideration, but they don't have a good way to translate that into policy".
1% picked this
Their advocacy of mistaken policies
Contradicted: advocacy of policies
This answer, like (A), suggests that the criminologists have proposed policies. The author seems to be saying, to the contrary, that while they're sentiment seems correct, no one knows where to go with that when it comes to creating policy informed by that view. There's definitely no accusation of "distorting their research findings".
1% picked this
Their research findings are useful,
Contradicted: advocate policies
This answer, like (A) and (B), suggests that the criminologists have proposed policies. The author seems to be saying, to the contrary, that while they're sentiment seems correct, no one knows where to go with that when it comes to creating policy informed by that view. This answer is saying that the (non-existent) policies these criminologists advocate contradict (are incompatible with) their research findings.
11% picked this
Correct
Their research findings are useful,
Why this is right
This seems like our best match for our Support Sentence: This is an interesting point (the research findings are useful) but a difficult one to translate into policy (failed to draw any policy conclusions from them).
Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
85% picked this
The errors in their research
Contradicted: advocate policies
This answer, like (A), (B), and (C), suggests that the criminologists have proposed policies. The author seems to be saying, to the contrary, that while they're sentiment seems correct, no one knows where to go with that when it comes to creating policy informed by that view. There's also no accusation of "errors in their research findings".
2% picked this

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