Why and When Does Juvenile Delinquency Begin - Essay Example

Introduction The juvenile field has spent a lot of time and resources in an attempt to understand the reasons that makes children involve in cases of crime. People have attempted to explain this phenomenon by establishing various theoretical models to describe the association between different variables and outcomes. In many of the research activities that have been conducted, there is no single path that has been discovered to provide explanation for delinquency behavior. It is believed that there are many factors that play a role in influencing a minor to take part in actions that land him in jail. For a long time, it has been a problem explaining why some children decide to steal small items and in the house and later steal bigger properties in some families, while in others, children grow up knowing how to take care of not only property that belongs to the family, but to other people. There are many cases where children have been involved in truant behavior, some setting houses on fire and damaging properties of great value. Scientists and psychologists have tried to come up with theories to explain some of the possible causes of such behaviors in children who are assumed to lack the capacity to do things that can harm other people (Farrington, 12). Officers and officials from juvenile courts, child welfare associations and agencies, educational bodies and psychologists have been quite instrumental in helping people understand the reasons and possible motivational factors that contribute to this issue. Delinquency Delinquency in itself is a behavior said to be a socially inadequate adjustment especially on the part of the particular child involving in such behavior (Herrenkohl, 180). There are diverse mental and physical conditions that play a crucial role in influencing the child’s ability to engage in actions that are against the society’s norm. When children engage in such activities, the extend of harm or damage that is caused determines whether they should be put in jail or other correctional facilities in order to learn the basic requirements for peaceful co-existence. It is important to note that for every juvenile act that is committed, there is a multiplicity of causes, some of the causes have a long history, dating back to the time before the offender committed the act, while other causes may arise from the immediate action of the culprit. In overall, it is estimated that there are different sets of causes that are responsible for each of the causes. This means that it is quite impossible that certain causes will be responsible for certain juvenile behavior. While some causes can be tracked and explained with respect to how they influenced the culprit to involve in such crimes, there are some that sociologists and psychologists fail to provide substantive explanations. Why and when does juvenile delinquency begin? The reason for the above observation is because there are many offenses that may be committed by a culprit from similar causes. Why and when children start juvenile activities is an issues that requires keen analysis and attention. This means that some causes may be responsible for several actions, something that may not be easy to research and establish meaningful conclusion. At the same time, alternative investigations into root causes of juvenile behaviors reveals that some causes may exists in certain types of delinquent behavior among the offenders. For instance, if a family happens to be excessively stricken by poverty and lives in unhappy conditions, characterised by meager and irregular earnings may cause children in that family become truant in school in order to go steal some money. In addition, some other children may be forced to join gambling or notorious gangs in order to make up for the kind of life that they are experiencing at home. When each behavior is keenly analyzed, it is easier to establish the real causes or motivations behind that particular child involving in such behavior. In spite of the great intricacy and diversity that is characteristic of the causes of delinquency. It is important to note that many of the causes of juvenile behavior have few factors that are common for all of them. A combination of either of these factors are said to be responsible for different types of offenses. It is important for people to understand that the kind of upbringing a child is brought in determines his actions and behavior in many ways. Children who are brought up in families that are caring and uphold moral value and social norms will most likely grow up to be law-abiding citizens unless they change their environment to adopt different character traits. Apart from morals and values, children need to be taught how to endure and persevere in difficult circumstances so that they do not have to find alternative means to cater for their welfare and end up engaging inactions that can land them in jail. Of great importance is the fact that parents need to take up their responsibilities and grow children in ways that are in tandem with the existing rules and regulations. When do children start to involve in delinquency activities? There is no set time that minors reach to start engaging in delinquency activities, however, there are certain conditions that may be present or missing to force children to engage in offences. First, some of them are the prevailing conditions in the home or neighborhood for the particular child.Home conditions play an important role in shaping up the behaviors of a child; in fact, research has shown that home conditions play an important role in the behavior of a child (Lipsey, 100), in as much as the effect can be indirect. The conditions at home and the kind of relationship that are characteristic of a family determine the mental state of children. It is this kind of state that determine whether a child engages in delinquency or other behaviors not part of the social norms. On the other hand, these conditions also determine the decisions that a child makes in the course of interacting with various systems of the society. Secondly, there are various characteristics prevalent in different homes, leading to various kinds of behavior in children. For instance, children who are brought up in violent and quarrelsome families will most likely want to do the same to other children and people outside their family Those characteristics that negatively affect the mental states of children play a central role in making them involve in delinquency behaviors. Children from such families tend to be rude and rebellious and may not really care the kind of harm that their behaviors may cause to other people. Sometimes there are cases where only one child from the family may end up being truant and delinquent, while at the same time, his brothers may rise to be great thinkers and resourceful people in the society. The reason for such a case can be explained in the differences among the children’s natural endowment. Third, we should understand that the conditions that are assumed to be similar for all children may not really be “similar” for them all. In this case, it is likely that the specific physical social and economic situations may have been the same for the children, but the psychological effect of the surrounding conditions can be different in the children. It is impossible that children brought up in similar environments can have similar perceptions about life. Parents may be giving one child more praise and recognition that the other one, this child may end up excelling in most activities at home, school or during social engagements with friends. The other child, being neglected by parents, may end up failing in most of his activities; he may become incompetent and develop a lot of hate for his parents and other children. In order to compensate for these punitive conditions, the child will likely engage in activities that are rebellious and delinquent.The forth thing that influences children to join delinquent relates to the way children are taken care of. For instance, a home where children do not have proper monitoring and supervision from parents are always prone to doing things in their own way. These children are deprived of parental care and support; these children grow up without experiencing parental love and affection. Finally, a child needs to grow with proper nourishment and healthy development, this enhances his cognitive development, making him integrate quite easily into the society with due regard of the existing social norms. Conclusion Children who are deprived of parental love and affectionate are said to miss on the first and essential instances of training and good fellowship, kindness and genuine concern and care for other people. He lacks momentary relief and rest that arise from personal responsibility initiatives. The child misses on opportunities where he can exercise personal and social responsibility both as a child and as an adult as he matures up. The most important thing is that the child misses on important virtues like sympathy and perseverance that can help him to adapt to different situations in life, the children misses the encouragement and motivation that can help him to carry on with good character and practices that are beneficial to him and other people. Discussions around the concept of juvenile delinquency have been a subject of debate in many countries. Of great concern has been whether children below the age of eighteen years have the ability to do something that can be considered illegal according to the law. Some arguments has explained that minors do not have the thinking that they can create something that can harm themselves or their fellow friends, at the same time, they may not have the capacity to commit acts that can endanger property. The establishment of juvenile courts has risen out of the fact that at a tender of up to ten years, an individual has the necessary knowledge to commit an offense that can be harmful to himself and other people. This is the reason why juvenile courts have been established with an aim of “correcting”such offenders to understand the proper way of effective co-existence in the society. These courts are very different in the way they handle such offenders, they are different from other courts, the kinds of sentences that are passed to offenders are different from those given to people above eighteen years of age, although they cannot much the standards of normal courts for adult people. In both cases, these institutes have one thing in common; they aim at rehabilitating legal offenders back into normal life in the society. In conclusion, it is important for parents to understand the importance of proper child upbringing and how it affects the life of the child during growth and later in life (Derzon, 23; United Nations, 134). Whatever character traits a person develops is always molded by the manner in which the child is raise by both the environment and the caregivers. It is important that nature-nurture controversy will always prevail, but the people that can play a big role in guiding the child in proper directions are the parents and immediate caregivers. Many questions that arise like that famous Ws (where/when/who/why and what) provides the much needed insight into creating of systems and strategies to tackle juvenile delinquency challenges and emerging issues. It should be understood that no child is born with the potential and motivation to do harm to fellow children and other people in the community (Office of the Surgeon General, 56). It is the prevailing conditions and interaction with different systems and in the society, that creates that fabric. However, with proper guidance and mentorship a child can easily unlearn any bad character traits and live as a normal member of the society, abiding by its norms and set rules and regulations. Works Cited Derzon, Joel. “The correspondence of family features with problem, Aggressive, criminal and violent behavior.” Nashville, TN: Institute for Public Policy Studies, Vanderbilt University. 2000. Print Farrington, David.“Explaining and preventing crime: The globalization of knowledge—The American Society of Criminology 1999 presidential addresses.” Criminology.38.1. 2000:1–24 Herrenkohl, Maguin. “Developmental risk factors for youth violence.”Journal of Adolescent Health.26.7. 2000:176–186 Lipsey, Micheal.“Predictors of violent or serious delinquency in adolescence and early adulthood: A synthesis of longitudinal research. InSerious and Violent Juvenile Offenders: Risk Factors and Successful Interventions,” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 1998. Print. Office of the Surgeon General. “Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2001. Print United Nations. “Crime: Prevention, Treatment and Control.”Washington, DC: National Academy Press. 2001. Print. Read More