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E-book
Author Singer, Simon I., author.

Title America's safest city : delinquency and modernity in suburbia / Simon I. Singer
Published New York : NYU Press, 2014

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Description 1 online resource
Series New perspectives in crime, deviance, and law series
New perspectives in crime, deviance, and law series.
Contents America's safest cities -- Confronting modernity and adolescence -- Relational modernity -- Beyond a street-corner view of delinquency -- The trouble with youth in America's safest city -- Suburbia's discontents -- Safe-city offending -- Safe cities and the struggle to be relationally modern
Summary "Since the mid-1990s, the fast-growing suburb of Amherst, NY has been voted by numerous publications as one of the safest places to live in America. Yet, like many of America's seemingly idyllic suburbs, Amherst is by no means without crime--especially when it comes to adolescents. In America's Safest City, noted juvenile justice scholar Simon I. Singer uses the types of delinquency seen in Amherst as a case study illuminating the roots of juvenile offending and deviance in modern society. If we are to understand delinquency, Singer argues, we must understand it not just in impoverished areas, but in affluent ones as well. Drawing on ethnographic work, interviews with troubled youth, parents and service providers, and extensive surveys of teenage residents in Amherst, the book illustrates how a suburban environment is able to provide its youth with opportunities to avoid frequent delinquencies. Singer compares the most delinquent teens he surveys with the least delinquent, analyzing the circumstances that did or did not lead them to deviance and the ways in which they confront their personal difficulties, societal discontents, and serious troubles. Adolescents, parents, teachers, coaches and officials, he concludes, are able in this suburban setting to recognize teens' need for ongoing sources of trust, empathy, and identity in a multitude of social settings, allowing them to become what Singer terms 'relationally modern' individuals better equipped to deal with the trials and tribulations of modern life. A unique and comprehensive study, America's Safest City is a major new addition to scholarship on juveniles and crime in America"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Juvenile delinquents -- New York (State) -- Amherst
Juvenile delinquency -- New York (State) -- Amherst
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Criminology.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Sociology -- Urban.
LAW -- General.
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquents
New York (State) -- Amherst
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780814770306
0814770304