Juvenile Delinquency - Research Paper Example

? Juvenile Delinquency: Causes, Best Strategies and Interventions Designed to Stop Juvenile Delinquency No: : Date: University: Juvenile Delinquency: Causes, Best Strategies and Interventions Designed to Stop Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile delinquency is a crucial issue as the youth on which, future of any society depends is on stake to get corrupted and criminal. Many efforts are done to prevent and control delinquent attitudes as they result in disturbing the society in its progress. It is usually believed that juvenile delinquency is the outcome of not a self-driven behavior but has some causes behind it such as family issues, problems in life, psychological disturbances, social problems, cultural issues and economic conditions. Juvenile delinquency, its causes, best strategies and interventions designed to stop juvenile delinquency and other such issues will be discussed in this paper. Around late 1800’s, the juvenile justice system was formed to amend the policies about the youth crimes. That time was crucial since the law has to protect the youth rights as well as provide a certain system of justice. By the time when the most of the world reformed socially, the juvenile justice system was also reformed (Brown, 1998). Before the progressive era, there was no law that separated a child from an adult. A child with an age of more than seven and an adult were imprisoned in a same cell. Nevertheless, as the society progressed, the social and political views towards the youth and child offenders changed. The contribution of psychologists and their researches during 1800 and 1900 helped the society to change their view regarding juvenile delinquents. Some reformers who disliked punishing the children tried to rehabilitate the children. New York house of refuge was build for the purpose of rehabilitation in 1824. In 1899, the policies about the youth imprisonment also reformed and some states started youth rehabilitation programs. Youth and adult offenders are not considered the same and different laws were there for youth offenders (Eadie & Morley, 2003). In 1960’s, a separate juvenile court listens all the matters related to the persons which have an age of more than eighteen years (Mulvey, Arthur & Reppucci, 1997). During the same period, the Supreme Court stressed upon the legal rights of youth and stressed upon the right to obtain charges notice, to receive legal advice, to obtain copy of the reports, records and trials, to legally appeal to review the decision of the lower court and to argue (Brown, 1998). The juvenile justice system emphasized on not to punish a child and young people but to correct the situation. To prevent children and young offenders from being involved in any crime, an act was passed in 1968. From 1968 to 1974, United States moved towards a more modern society that had a system to prevent juvenile delinquency. The act to prevent the youth offenders had a “National institute to juvenile justice and crime prevention” and “Runaway Youth Program” (Ryan & Lane, 1997). During 1980’s and 1990’s, there was an increase in the juvenile crime. The juvenile justice system was amended and for some cruel crimes, juveniles were treated as adults. Since then, there is a distinct decrease in the juvenile crime. In late 1990’s, the number of violent juvenile crimes increased but juvenile crimes is under control today (Regoli & Hewitt, 2006). The policies and laws are still concerned. Juvenile delinquency effect a number of people attached with juveniles. These people are close relations, the affecters of crime and society as a whole. Therefore, it can be said that juvenile delinquency is a threat for the whole society and everyone present in a society is a stakeholder. The most affected people are the close relations of the juveniles involved in any kind of crime (Regoli & Hewitt, 2006). There are many causes of juvenile delinquency and can be found at all social levels. One of the causes of juveniles to become criminal is their economic instability. Economic and social statuses affect juveniles in adopting their criminal careers. The economic conditions and deprivation of juveniles to get their needs fulfilled endanger them towards being delinquent. Some young educated people are unable to get good jobs that are able to facilitate the individuals with enough financial support. When they see that their needs are not fulfilled, they are attracted towards delinquency. United Nations (2003) informs, “Socio-economic instability is often linked to persistent unemployment and low incomes among the young, which can increase the likelihood of their involvement in criminal activity” (pg. 193). Therefore, it is quite clear that unemployment, lack of financial security, economic status and inability to fulfill family and self needs push a young person to adopt delinquent careers for the solution of their problems. Culture developed in a society is also one of the factors to distract young population from right path. Media plays a crucial part in delivering cultural values in a society. Media gives people an idea about the development with alluring ways, which makes people to get those products and accessories for their personal usage (Regoli & Hewitt, 2006). In today’s societies, we can witness advancement and technological development but this advancement and technological development are not accessible to all the people of the society due to which, the young people who are unable to get luxurious products try to acquire them with illegal means. It is seen that people belonging to urban society try to get involved in delinquent acts rather than rurally located individuals because the culture of urban life is accommodative for criminal minded people and they can also attract young population towards performing illegal acts (Case & Haines, 2009). Media not only spreads culture of a society but also is responsible for showing aggressive and criminal performances on television. Young people seeing aggression and violence on televisions are also prompted to commence the same due to which, media cannot be separated from the responsibility of affecting the youth. We can witness different kinds of violence on television such as parental violence on their children, criminal violence and so on. “The American Psychological Association has reviewed the evidence and has concluded that television violence accounts for about 10 per cent of aggressive behavior among children” (United Nations, 2003, pg. 196). Therefore, we can say that media is equally responsible for promoting delinquency in juveniles. People migrate from one area to another for various purposes such as economic stability, better living standards and so on. These migrants prefer to live in their own communities and try to stay away from other communities. Due to this fact, they can go through many problems. They can have their own culture, living lifestyle and environment, which they are unable to get in a new land. While living as a migrant, they can suffer cultural conflicts that can cause them to adopt delinquent behaviors. In addition, it is a general conception that migrants are mostly liable for spreading crime and illegal activities in a society (Case & Haines, 2009). These behaviors affect the society as a whole. Peer influence is also one of the causes of juvenile delinquency. Being part of group or a gang protects a person from being endangered by other criminals. It also gives the young people a sense of safety. Young people facing any kind of aggression or violence try to be a part of any group or gang to avoid the risk of becoming a victim. World Youth Report presented by United Nations (2003) reports, “for adolescents constantly facing violence, belonging to a gang can provide protection within the neighborhood. In some areas those who are not involved in gangs continually face the threat of assault, oppression, harassment or extortion on the street or at school” (pg. 197). Therefore, becoming a part of a group or gang for safety purposes also promotes delinquency in juveniles. Psychological disturbances, feeling of deprivation and sense of insecurity also promote the youth towards delinquent behaviors (Regoli & Hewitt, 2006). All the problems associated with encouragement of criminal attitudes in juveniles should be controlled and proper actions should be taken for enabling youth to become an active and positive part of a society. Juvenile delinquency is not a problem of any one society but is a problem of the whole world. To make a society developed and positive, the adults have a duty to understand the implications of juvenile delinquency and they have to realize that juvenile delinquency has the worst consequences over a society and its social set up (Brown, 1998). To prevent crime as a whole in any society, the authorities must take juvenile delinquency at the top rated problem. Educational programs, recreation and youth development activities, intervention programs, training programs and much have been done towards controlling juvenile delinquency. The authorities should make sure that juveniles or adolescents should not be able to break the law in the first place. According to United Nations (2003), “prevention requires individual, group and organizational efforts aimed at keeping adolescents from breaking the law” (pg. 200). A combined effort is required to handle crime in a society. An early intervention phase is regarded the best in controlling youth crime in a society. In this phase, the authorities make sure that the juveniles are restricted to do any crime in the first place. They are usually threatened by means of strict laws against criminal situations. After commencement of crime, the steps taken afterwards are not that much fruitful as are the ones taken beforehand (Eadie & Morley, 2003). Educational programs also enable youth to adopt what is suitable for them. United Nations (2003) explains, “educational programmes are helping young people learn how to engage in positive self-appraisal, deal with conflict, and control aggression. The programmes debunk the myth of gang glamour and help young people find alternatives to illegal behavior.” (pg. 201). There are various educational programs organized for young people in order to teach them to handle their aggression. Not only messed youth is taught to handle its problems but also other youth so that any risky situation can be handled. The family is also involved in these educational programs to enable them to handle their children with better understandability. There are co-curricular activities arranged for the youth for enabling them to get involved in healthy activities. Sport events are organized for them to keep themselves busy. In addition to the sporting events, clubs are also run by authorities for juveniles to participate. Group activities are organized in order to facilitate. NGOs and other volunteers also help the law enforcement personnel to control juvenile delinquency (Eadie & Morley, 2003). Family involvement is essential for controlling any crime related to young people. The educational programs and all other kinds of programs are supportive for controlling juvenile delinquency. Juveniles are facilitated with a number of rights defined by United Nations (2003), which are “survival rights” related to basic needs such as shelter, food and clothing, “development rights” related to provision of chances for young people in terms of education, skills and so on, “protective rights” related to social and legal protection against evils of society and “participation rights” related to provision of chances to express themselves and their problems. All these strategies, allocated rights and intervention programs to control juvenile delinquency are profitable for the youth. The authorities have to gather the best strategies and intervention programs to control juvenile delinquency. Educational programs, training, recreational, development programs, and so on are very much beneficial for the juveniles in terms of controlling delinquency and increasing understandability. The correct and effective programs organized by authorities will remain active for a long time if handled successfully. All the factors that lead towards delinquency need to be handled such as family issues, problems in life, psychological disturbances, social problems, cultural issues and economic conditions with the support of intervention program and strategies designed. References Brown, S. (1998). Understanding Youth and Crime (Listening to youth?). Buckingham: Open University Press. Case, S.P. & Haines, K.R. (2009). Understanding Youth Offending: Risk Factor Research, Policy and Practice. Cullompton: Willan. Eadie, T. & Morley, R. (2003). ‘Crime, Justice and Punishment’. Social Policy. (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mulvey, Edward P., Arthur, Michael W. & Reppucci, N. Dickon. (1997). "Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency: A Review of the Research". The Prevention Researcher 4 (2). Regoli, Robert M. & Hewitt, John D. (2006). Delinquency in Society. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Ryan, G. & Lane, S. (Eds.). (1997). Juvenile Sexual Offending: Causes, consequences and correction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. United Nations. (2003). Juvenile Delinquency. World Youth Report. Retrieved on 23rd July 2011 from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/ch07.pdf Read More