America’s Safest City: Delinquency and Modernity in Suburbia

New Perspectives in Crime, Deviance, and Law

by Simon I. Singer

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.

Genres: Sociology

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2014

Reviews

[Mary Whisner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had great hopes for this book based on the publisher's description. Parts were interesting and the subject is important.

But I was disappointed in the writing, which was repetitive, laced with jargon, and sometimes disjointed.

I usually like books from NYU Press but this book could have used sterner outside readers and a stronger copy editor to help the author communicate better. A few sentences I wish the copy editor had caught:

As research on the overlap of vicitimization and offending has shown, the relationship between victimization and offending is significant.

Not surprisingly, the largest direct effect is between anomie as a predictor of emotional deviance.

As cities are transformed so are its youth.

A warning to Kindle users: the statistical tables do not display well.