Report on the subject “Juvenile delinquency”

Report on the subject “Juvenile delinquency”

Content

Introduction

1.              Specific features of juvenile delinquency

2.              Types of juvenile delinquency

3.              Risk factors

4.              Juvenile Crime Statistics

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Children often test the limits and boundaries set by their parents and other authority figures. Among adolescents, some rebelliousness and experimentation is common. However, a few children consistently participate in problematic behaviors that negatively affect their family, academic, social, and personal functioning. These children present great concern to parents and the community at large. The prevention of delinquency requires identifying at-risk individuals and their environments before delinquent activity and behavior occur, and then removing such risk factors or strengthening resistance to the risk factors already present. The most logical starting place for prevention efforts is the family.

The prevention of delinquency requires identifying at-risk individuals and their environments before delinquent activity and behavior occur, and then removing such risk factors or strengthening resistance to the risk factors already present. The most logical starting place for prevention efforts is the family.

Juvenile delinquency is the broad-based term given to juveniles who commit crimes. Juveniles are defined as those people who haven’t reached adulthood or the age of majority. What defines adulthood or the age of majority in a court system may be predetermined by law, especially for minor crimes. Major crimes may force the courts to decide to try a juvenile as an adult, a very important distinction, since sentencing can then mean not just spending adolescence, but a lifetime in prison. Delinquency can be defined as the committing of those things considered crimes by the state, although delinquent can also mean abandoned. Thus juvenile delinquency can cover anything from small crime — a student who cuts school repeatedly is delinquent - to very serious crimes like felony theft and murder.

Juvenile delinquency is that behavior on the part of children which may, under the law, subject those children to the juvenile court. As such, it is a relatively new and legal term for a very old phenomenon.

The term has both precise and diffuse referents. When a child is designated a juvenile delinquent by the court, this is a precise definition of his legal status. He is, by this act, a ward of the court, subject to its discretion. By contrast, except in a strictly legal sense, the term refers only vaguely to actual behavior, since what is delinquent varies greatly over time and from one part of the world to another.

When a child, anyone under the age of majority, commits a crime, most frequently they are tried and sentenced through a court system separate from that which tries adults.

Juvenile delinquency continues to confound the society world over. Therefore the study of the causes of juvenile delinquency and their remedies is very topical nowadays.

1.      Specific features of juvenile delinquency

Juvenile delinquency, legal term for behavior of children and adolescents that in adults would be judged criminal under law. In the United States, definitions and age limits of juveniles vary, the maximum age being set at 14 years in some states and as high as 21 years in others. The 16- to 20-year age group, considered adult in many places, has one of the highest incidences of serious crime. A high proportion of adult criminals have a background of early delinquency. Theft is the most common offense by children; more serious property crimes and rape are most frequently committed in later youth. The causes of such behavior, like those of crime in general, are found in a complex of psychological, social, and economic factors. Clinical studies have uncovered emotional maladjustments, usually arising from disorganized family situations, in many delinquents. Other studies have suggested that there are persisting patterns of delinquency in poverty-level neighborhoods regardless of changing occupants; this "culture of poverty" argument has come into disrepute among many social scientists. The gang, a source of much delinquency, has been a common path for adolescents, particularly in the inner cities. Not until the development, after 1899, of the juvenile court was judgment of youthful offenders effectively separated from that of adults. The system generally emphasizes informal procedure and correction rather than punishment [1, p. 22]. In some states, psychiatric clinics are attached, and there has been a tendency to handle cases in public welfare agencies outside the court. Juvenile correctional institutions have been separated from regular prisons since the early 19th cent., and although most are inadequate, some have developed intensive rehabilitation programs, providing vocational training and psychiatric treatment. The parole system, foster homes, child guidance clinics, and public juvenile protective agencies have contributed to the correction of delinquent and maladjusted children. Especially important for prevention is action by community groups to provide essential facilities for the well-being of children. On an international level, delinquency rates are highest in the more economically and technologically advanced countries.

Delinquency prevention is the broad term for all efforts aimed at preventing youth from becoming involved in criminal, or other antisocial, activity.

Because the development of delinquency in youth is influenced by numerous factors, prevention efforts need to be comprehensive in scope. Prevention services may include activities such as substance abuse education and treatment, family counseling, youth mentoring, parenting education, educational support, and youth sheltering. Increasing availability and use of family planning services, including education and contraceptives helps to reduce unintended pregnancy and unwanted births, which are risk factors for delinquency.

It has been noted that often interventions may leave at-risk children worse off then if there had never been an intervention [3, p. 51]. This is due primarily to the fact that placing large groups of at risk children together only propagates delinquent or violent behavior. "Bad" teens get together to talk about the "bad" things they've done, and it is received by their peers in a positive reinforcing light, promoting the behavior among them [64, p. 4]. As mentioned before, peer groups, particularly an association with antisocial peer groups, is one of the biggest predictors of delinquency, and of life-course-persistent delinquency. The most efficient interventions are those that not only separate at-risk teens from anti-social peers, and place them instead with pro-social ones, but also simultaneously improve their home environment by training parents with appropriate parenting styles. Parenting style being the other large predictor of juvenile delinquency.

The methodology of delinquency studies has been subject to extensive criticism (Hirschi & Selvin 1962). While it is true that most studies in any substantive field exhibit methodological weaknesses, the field of juvenile delinquency has perhaps been especially vulnerable in this respect. The more fundamental problem has not been methodological, however. Rather, delinquency studies have tended to lack both methodological and theoretical rigor because they have not been associated with the mainstream of behavioral science developments. This was not so much the case in the 1920s and early 1930s, when delinquency studies were an important part of the “Chicago school” of developing urban sociology. Following this period of intensive activity, the empirical study of delinquency dropped off sharply and was largely uninformed by the main body of sociological thought. Clinical studies also lacked the discipline of systematic inquiry, and their impact on sociological interpretations was minimal and marginal. Sociological theory concerning delinquency was greatly stimulated by the publication of Albert Cohen’s Delinquent Boys in 1955. Still, empirical inquiry lagged until grants from private and federal agencies made possible investigations of sufficient scope to contribute markedly to the development of knowledge in this field. Passage of the Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control Act by the Congress of the United States in 1961 focused unprecedented public attention on juvenile delinquency and provided additional impetus for large-scale social action and research programs directed at the acquisition of new knowledge concerning juvenile delinquency and its control.

2.      Types of juvenile delinquency

Juvenile delinquency, or offending, can be separated into three categories: delinquency, crimes committed by minors which are dealt with by the juvenile courts and justice system; criminal behavior, crimes dealt with by the criminal justice system, and status offenses, offenses which are only classified as such because one is a minor, such as truancy, also dealt with by the juvenile courts[9].

According to the developmental research of Moffitt (2006)[10], there are two different types of offenders that emerge in adolescence. One is the repeat offender, referred to as the life-course-persistent offender, who begins offending or showing antisocial/aggressive behavior in adolescence (or even childhood) and continues into adulthood; and the age specific offender, referred to as the adolescence-limited offender, for whom juvenile offending or delinquency begins and ends during their period of adolescence [9, p. 17]. Because most teenagers tend to show some form of antisocial, aggressive or delinquent behavior during adolescence, it important to account for these behaviors in childhood, in order to determine whether they will be life-course-persistent offenders, or adolescents-limited offenders. Although adolescent-limited offenders tend to drop all criminal activity once they enter adulthood, and show less pathology than life-course-persistent offenders, they still show more mental health, substance abuse, and finance problems, both in adolescence and adulthood, than those who where never delinquent.

-                     Sex differences

Juvenile offending is disproportionately committed by young men. Feminist theorists and others have examined why this is the case. One suggestion is that ideas of masculinity may make young men more likely to offend. Being tough, powerful, aggressive, daring and competitive becomes a way for young men to assert and express their masculinity. Acting out these ideals may make young men more likely to engage in antisocial and criminal behavior. Also, the way young men are treated by others, because of their masculinity, may reinforce aggressive traits and behaviors, and make them more susceptible to offending [1, p. 2].

Alternatively, young men may actually be naturally more aggressive, daring and prone to risk-taking. According to a study led by Florida State University criminologist Kevin M. Beaver, adolescent males who possess a certain type of variation in a specific gene are more likely to flock to delinquent peers. The study, which appears in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of Genetic Psychology, is the first to establish a statistically significant association between an affinity for antisocial peer groups and a particular variation (called the 10-repeat allele) of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1).

In recent years however, there has also been a bridging of the gap between sex differences concerning juvenile delinquency. While it is still more common for males to offend then females, the ratio of arrests by sex is one third of what it was 20 years ago (at 2.5 to 1 today). This is most likely due to the combined effects of more females being arrested (for offenses which did not get them arrested before), and a drop in male offenses [2, p. 39].

-                     Racial differences

There is also a significant skew in the racial statistics for juvenile offenders. When considering these statistics, which state that Black and Latino teens are more likely to commit juvenile offenses it is important to keep the following in mind: poverty, or low socio-economic status are large predictors of low parental monitoring, harsh parenting, and association with deviant peer groups, all of which are in turn associated with juvenile offending. The majority of adolescents who live in poverty are racial minorities [2, p. 40]. Also, minorities who offend, even as adolescents, are more likely to be arrested and punished more harshly by the law if caught. Particularly concerning a non-violent crime and when compared to white adolescents. While poor minorities are more likely to commit violent crimes, one third of affluent teens report committing violent crimes

3.      Risk factors

The two largest predictors of juvenile delinquency are parenting style, particularly low parental monitoring, meaning parents don’t know for one reason or another what the child is doing and the child is often unsupervised, and peer groups, particularly associating with antisocial peer groups, which tends to happen when adolescents are left unsupervised. Other factors that may lead a teenager into juvenile delinquency include, poor or low socio-economic status, poor school readiness/performance and/or failure, peer rejection, hyperactivity, or attention deficit disorder (ADHD). There may also be biological factors, such as high levels of serotonin, giving them a difficult temper and poor self-regulation, and a lower resting heart rate, which may lead to fearlessness. Most of these tend to be influenced by a mix of both genetic and environmental factors.

Individual risk factors

Individual psychological or behavioral risk factors that may make offending more likely include low intelligence, impulsiveness or the inability to delay gratification, aggression, empathy, and restlessness. Other risk factors which may be evident during childhood and adolescence include, aggressive or troublesome behavior, language delays or impairments, lack of emotional control (learning to control one's anger), and cruelty to animals [6, p. 18].

Children with low intelligence are more likely to do badly in school. This may increase the chances of offending because low educational attainment, a low attachment to school, and low educational aspirations are all risk factors for offending in themselves. Children who perform poorly at school are also more likely to truant, (which is a status offense) and is linked to further offending. Impulsiveness is seen by some as the key aspect of a child's personality that predicts offending. However is not clear whether these aspects of personality are a result of “deficits in the executive functions of the brain”, or a result of parental influences or other social factors. Yet it has been shown in the study of adolescent development, that teenagers are more prone to risk-taking, which may explain the high disproportionate rate of offending among adolescents.

Family environment and peer influence

Family factors which may have an influence on offending include: the level of parental supervision, the way parents discipline a child, particularly harsh punishment, parental conflict or separation, criminal parents or siblings, parental abuse or neglect, and the quality of the parent-child relationship.

Children brought up by lone parents are more likely to start offending than those who live with two natural parents. It is also more likely that children of single parents may live in poverty, which is strongly associated with juvenile delinquency. However once the attachment a child feels towards their parent(s) and the level of parental supervision are taken into account, children in single parent families are no more likely to offend than others. Conflict between a child's parents is also much more closely linked to offending than being raised by a lone parent.

If a child has low parental supervision they are much more likely to offend. Many studies have found a strong correlation between a lack of supervision and offending, and it appears to be the most important family influence on offending.

When parents commonly do not know where their children are, what their activities are, or who their friends are, children are more likely to truant from school and have delinquent friends, each of which are linked to offending. A lack of supervision is also connected to poor relationships between children and parents. Children who are often in conflict with their parents may be less willing to discuss their activities with them.

Adolescents with criminal siblings are only more likely to be influenced by their siblings, and also become delinquent, if the sibling is older, of the same sex/gender, and warm. Cases where a younger criminal sibling influences an older one are rare. An aggressive, non-loving/warm sibling is less likely to influence a younger sibling in the direction of delinquency, if anything, the more strained the realtionship between the siblings, the less they will want to be like, and/or influence each other.

Peer rejection in childhood is also a large predictor of juvenile delinquency. Although children are rejected by peers for many reasons, it is often the case that they are rejected due to violent or aggressive behavior. This rejections affects the child's ability to be socialized properly, which can reduce their aggressive tendencies, and often leads them to gravitate towards anti-social peer groups. This association often leads to the promotion of violent, aggressive and deviant behavior. "The impact of deviant peer group influences on the crystallization of an antisocial developmental trajectory has been solidly documented."

Aggressive adolescents who have been rejected by peers are also more likely to have a "hostile attribution bias" which leads people to interpret the actions of others (whether they be hostile or not) as purposefully hostile and aggressive towards them. This often leads to an impulsive and aggressive reaction. Hostile attribution bias however, can appear at any age during development and often lasts throughout a persons life.

Children resulting from unintended pregnancies are more likely to exhibit delinquent behavior. They also have lower mother-child relationship quality.

Summing up the above-mentioned information, it can be said that the main cause of juvenile delinquency is poor parenting. Also, with the degradation of family structure in today's times, children go through a lot of negative experiences at a very early age, which can lead to criminal behavior. It has been seen that, nowadays, there are many children who are raised by a single parent who does not have time to know what the child does during the day. Lack of parental love, care and guidance can be said to be the main reason for the rise in juvenile delinquency cases.

As juvenile delinquency affects the future of the young child and also of the society, it is important to come up with programs which can help in preventing these problems. Although there are various programs which have been started to prevent the occurrence of juvenile crimes, the results have not been very effective. However, some of the programs have been successful in helping children to avoid indulging in antisocial behavior. Most of these programs are targeted not only towards the children, but also towards their parents. In certain educational programs, while the children are given information about the ill effects of gangs, drugs, weapons, violence, sex, etc. Parents are trained on how to bring up healthy children. Another way of preventing juvenile delinquency is to start recreational activities at school, after school hours. It has been observed that children whose parents are away at work, come to an empty home after school. As there is no one to monitor their movements, they are likely to indulge in activities that are not right. On the other hand, recreational activities after school hours will help children to indulge in activities like sports, drama, music, dancing, art, etc. This will not only make sure that they learn something new, but will also see to it that they are away from any kind of delinquent behavior.

4.      Juvenile Crime Statistics

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) compiles arrest information provided by law enforcement agencies each year and creates reports examining the trends, rates and statistics of juvenile criminal activity. Every four years the OJJDP publishes a comprehensive study as part of its Juvenile Offenders and Victims National Report Series. The arrest statistics found in these studies are useful for comparing general trends.

The OJJDP has cautioned that the numbers and percentages recorded in them do not represent all criminal activity. Arrest records do not present a precise picture of how much crime has been committed, in part because:

A great number of crimes committed each year go unreported. If no arrest is made, no report will be filed.

Youth are more likely to be caught for committing crimes than adults are.

Persons who have been arrested are booked only for the highest level of crime they committed – thus, arrest records exclude some data. For example, if a person robbed a bank at gunpoint and at the time of arrest was found to be carrying drugs, he would be arrested for armed robbery, not drug possession.

A one-to-one ratio does not exist between arrests and crimes. In some cases one crime may result in several arrests (especially among youth, who frequently commit crimes in groups). In other cases a number of crimes may result in only one arrest.

The reports generated by the OJJDP, although not infallible in representing crime rates, are effective at showing trends and general patterns. The following patterns in juvenile crime have been particularly interesting:

Between 1987 and 1994 most arrest rates increased sharply. Aggravated assault rates doubled, as did murder rates.

Since 1994 most arrest rates have been in steady decline. Murder arrest rates, for example, were 74% lower in 2000 than they were in 1993.

Males drove the 1987-1994 spike in the murder arrest rate, and the increases were seen in acts committed with firearms.

Drug abuse arrest rates rose steadily through the ’90s and have not yet dropped significantly.

The arrest rate among females did not experience the sharp rise and fall that occurred with males during the ’90s. Arrest rates among female offenders, instead, have continued to rise steadily since the 1980s [12].

Conclusion

Thus, we have come to the conclusion that the problem of juvenile delinquency is very topical nowadays.

It is very important to develop ways of preventing juvenile delinquency.

In many societies, another way to attack the problem of juvenile delinquency is by creating programs that help prevent children from committing crimes. These programs may focus on avoiding drug use or gang involvement, or may focus on early education, therapeutic help for families, help to the impoverished or a variety of other things. With unclear answers on a single cause for juvenile delinquency, these programs may have some success, but probably won’t reach all children who might commit a crime. Society is sometimes horrified by the seemingly random acts of relatively “normal” children that are so heinous they do not bear repeating.

Though delinquency prevention is admirable, it isn’t universally successful. Yet preventing some juvenile delinquency through intervention and education is better than allowing it to occur.