Juvenile Crime: Causes and Prevention - Research Paper Example

The paper "Juvenile Crime: Causes and Prevention" is a wonderful example of a research paper on law. Before probing into the topic, we should first get familiar with the term Juvenile Crime as to know what juvenile crime actually means and why we need to prevent or reduce it. Juvenile crimes are those crimes which are committed by young adults who are less than 18 years of age. In the United States of America, the age of young adults who can perform criminal acts varies from state to state and ranges from the age group of 16 to 20 years.

There are various social and economic factors which result in promoting criminal and offensive behaviour in young adults. These factors include poverty, loneliness, disorganized family structures, and some other factors. Some children get involved in various serious crimes like assault, homicide, robbery, arson, auto theft, vandalism, and rape. The most common juvenile crimes include theft, drug abuse, bullying, and disorderly conduct. Levi (2008) asserts that “juvenile crime poses a unique threat and responsibility to society to address and prevent before it can cause devastating consequences”.

For the purpose of helping and protecting juvenile offenders, there is a system in the United States of America which is known as the Juvenile Justice System in which there are certain legal procedures for dealing with juveniles. How to Reduce Juvenile Crime? In today’s world, the juvenile crime rate in almost every country is reaching its heights and not a single country can call itself purely safe from any sort of crime. It is the responsibility of the government of every country to make such laws which should not only help in reducing juvenile crimes but also in eliminating the root causes of such crimes.

Reduction of juvenile crimes is also important in a sense that if young adults are not prevented from committing criminal activities at an earlier stage, the criminal behaviour will continue to increase in them which will result in making them serious offenders and criminals with the passage of time. Following are the ways which can be helpful for the parents of the children in reducing juvenile crimes: Give Proper Attention Parents should give proper attention to their children so that they don’t feel neglected.

If a child starts feeling neglected, negative feelings and emotions will start to grow in the mind of the child which will result in rudeness and rough behaviour in dealing with others. Serious offences become very rare if the children get required to love and attention from their parents. Parents should maintain a balance between their work life and family life in order to give proper attention and love to their children. Meetings between parents and the teachers of children are also very important in order to know the behaviour of children with class fellows and teachers.

Education Regarding Consequences of Criminal Offenses Another way to reduce juvenile crimes is by educating the children about the consequences of committing a criminal act. Parents should inform the children about the strictness of law regarding criminal activities. Recreational Activities Recreational activities are also very helpful in the reduction of juvenile crimes. When the children will be involved in various entertaining activities like playing their favourite games, they will not get any time to get involved in criminal activities.

It is the responsibility of the parents to give time to their children and get them involved in the purposeful and healthy activities instead of leaving them on their own. Know your Child One of the basic root causes of juvenile crimes is ignorance about the child’s desires and requirements. When a child will not get what he wants from the parents, violent behaviour will be promoted in the mind of the child because he will feel inferiority complex in front of other children. Parents should be completely in touch with their children in order to satisfy them with their needs and desires.

Reducing Poverty The government of any country should take proper measures in order to decrease the level of poverty. Poverty is also one of the significant root causes of juvenile crimes. For example, there is a society in which all children go to school. But there is also a child in that society whose parents haven’t got enough money to pay the school fee so they don’t get their child admitted in the school. Now that child will feel inferiority complex and it will give birth to various criminal behaviours in that child.

But when there will be no poverty or scarcity of resources, poor families will also be able to get their children admitted in the schools which will result in creating feelings of equity among the children. It is not only the responsibility of the government to take steps for the reduction of juvenile crimes but also it is the parents’ responsibility to provide their children with required love and attention in order to eliminate the feelings of hate and revenge from the minds of their children.

So these were some of the ways which are very useful in reducing the juvenile crime rate.