48 2 Police and Law Enforcement—Juvenile Forensics
Suggestions for Future Research
In addition to the results previously mentioned, Rigby and Blacks (1993) study
also demonstrated that Aboriginal youths living in rural areas had more positive
attitudes toward their parents than those youths living in more urban areas. Urban
environments tend to have a greater level of stress associated with living and also
to push children toward a delinquent lifestyle as compared to children living in
rural areas. This environment may cause strain on the parent-child relationship and
may therefore induce more negative attitudes of juveniles toward their parents. This
negative attitude, along with a more delinquent lifestyle, may in turn cause these
young people to have a negative view of the police as another representative of
authority. This has not been investigated and it would be helpful to find out if
juveniles living in urban areas are more prone to have negative views of the police.
In addition, whether there is a difference in attitude toward authorities along racial
lines in urban and rural areas is an area warranting investigation. This information
would help to target those populations which have the most negative views of the
police and could subsequently be addressed with community policing or educational
programs. Moreover, the effectiveness of Police—Schools Liaison programs should
be further investigated. The results of one study do not necessarily generalize to all
programs, and future studies could examine the differences between how different
programs are implemented. Some programs may require more direct contact with
the police than others, which may certainly effect program efficacy. This type of
program evaluation and comparison would allow for ineffective programs to adapt
their model, hopefully increasing their level of effectiveness.
ADOLESCENT FEMALE PROSTITUTES:
CRIMINALS OR VICTIMS?
Introduction
The criminal justice response to juvenile prostitution is composed of distinct de-
partments with conflicting philosophies. Varying aspects of child exploitation are
handled by different divisions of law enforcement. Typically, the juvenile division
works closely with child protective service agencies and handles child abuse and
neglect cases or those cases that involve intrafamilial abuse (Weisberg, 1985). Sexual
exploitation cases such as adolescent prostitution are usually assigned to the vice di-
vision. While juvenile divisions generally embrace a rehabilitative model, viewing
these prostitutes as victims, the vice division police officers tend to favor a punitive
approach, perceiving these juveniles as criminals.
Flowers (1995) defines teen prostitution as the "use of or participation of persons
under the age of 18 in sexual acts with adults or other minors where no force is
present, including intercourse, oral sex, anal sex, and sadomasochistic activities