Youth in the United States
At-Risk Youth in relation to Crime and Race
At-Risk Youth is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: At-risk youth is a concept that emerged in education literature in the early 1980s to denote an individual’s probability of failure to complete high school and/or actively participate in the labor market. In 2008, the term is used to identify, label, and classify adolescents who are vulnerable to adverse economic and social conditions. The ever-increasing classification of at-risk youths continues to be one of the most significant predictors of antisocial and risky behavior, delinquency, and criminal offending. Extant literature suggests that the concept has evolved over time from a labor market-focused conceptualization of risk to one centered on more broad implications. More specifically, the conceptualization of risk has shifted from one associated with an array of individual costs to one associated with the greater social costs to society.
Resources
Notes and References
- Entry about At-Risk Youth in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime