New Article: Krumer-Nevo et al, Exclusion and Double Exclusion in the Lives of Drug Traders in Israel

Krumer-Nevo, Michal, Yamit Elfassi, Shifra Sagy, and Maya Lavie-Ajayi. “Neither Seeing Nor Seen. Exclusion and Double Exclusion in the Lives of Young People Involved in the Drug Trade in Israel.” Young 24.1 (2016): 36-52.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1103308815613683

 

Abstract

Social exclusion has been identified as a prominent factor informing our understanding of young people involvement in gang life, violence and crime. While the literature on social exclusion focuses on the education and employment systems, there is a limited literature regarding the role played by correctional institutions in exacerbating social exclusion. This article explores the reciprocal relationships between young people involved in the drug trade in Israel and various educational and correctional services in their community. It focuses on a term commonly articulated by the youth, ‘not seeing with the eyes’, which they use to describe themselves as consciously, purposefully and openly ignoring and flouting societal norms. However, the educational and correctional services present a similar attitude, manifesting institutional blindness in connection with the youth and hence contributing to the double exclusion of young men. The article exposes the practices and processes through which this double exclusion takes place.

 

 

New Book: Timor et al, eds., Juvenile Delinquents in Israel (in Hebrew)

תימור, אורי, סוזי בן ברוך, ואתי אלישע, עורכים. נוער בבלגן – קטינים עוברי חוק בישראל. דרכי מניעה, אכיפה ושיקום. ירושלים: מאגנס, 2015.

 

 

This book is the first book of its kind in Israel. It presents a comprehensive picture of youth struggling with normative functions, including juvenile delinquents in Israel, and focuses on deviant behaviors of these adolescents, their causes and those dealing them.

The articles on welfare agencies address activities aimed at prevention of school dropouts; guidance provided by the Public Defender’s Office for adolescents facing charges; punitive policy in juvenile courts; Treatment of Juvenile Probation Service youth convicted in court; the treatment of Youth Rehabilitation Services; Special treatment in closed institutions for juvenile offenders; and the treatment of adolescents in the juvenile prison “Ofek.”

The articles explaining deviant behaviors address the development of delinquency among adolescents from difficult social and family backgrounds, its stages and its causes; the growing use of alcohol and drugs among adolescents and its damages; and High School violence as perceived by the students. In addition, a number of articles were dedicated to these supplementary topics: procedures of restorative justice as alternative proceedings to criminal trials; connections between terrorist attacks and juvenile delinquents; school shootings in the United States as an extreme example of adolescent crime.

New Article: Walsh et al, Discrimination and Delinquency Among Immigrant Adolescents

Walsh, Sophie D., Haya Fogel-Grinvald, and Sabrina Shneider. “Discrimination and Ethnic Identity as Predictors of Substance Use and Delinquency Among Immigrant Adolescents From the FSU and Ethiopia in Israel.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022022115588951

 

Abstract

The current study explores perceived discrimination and ethnic identity as predictors of delinquency and substance use among adolescent immigrants in Israel. Theoretically, the study draws from strain theory, immigration-related theories of ethnic identity formation in adolescence, bi-dimensional theories of acculturation, and the rejection-identification model. The study involved 250 adolescents, 140 from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and 110 from Ethiopia, aged 15 to 18 years (M = 16.7 years). Adolescents were assessed on substance use (cigarettes, marijuana, binge drinking, drunkenness), delinquent behavior, parental relationships (support, limit setting), perceived discrimination, host identity (Jewish Israeli), and ethnic identity (Russian/Ethiopian). Results from structural equation modeling showed that delinquency was predicted directly by greater discrimination, a weaker ethnic (Russian/Ethiopian) identity, and greater substance (alcohol and cigarette) use. Higher levels of parental limit setting and lower levels of parental support predicted higher levels of substance use, but only predicted delinquency indirectly through their impact on substance use. Findings support the hypotheses that perceived discrimination and a weaker ethnic identity predict involvement in delinquency and partially support a hypothesis that higher levels of a positive host identity are related to lower levels of substance use and delinquency among immigrant adolescents. A perceived lack of equal opportunities may lead to stress, anger, and frustration toward society leading to delinquent behavior, whereas difficulties in consolidating a positive cultural identity may lead the young adolescent to fill a void through substance use.