The Causes of Juvenile Delinquency - Research Paper Example

 Juvenile Delinquency Over the recent period juvenile, delinquency has increased in most parts of the United States and all over the world. Under this research, we will investigate on the type of cases, which various countries refer to as illegal, the action taken on the participants, and percentage occurrence of such cases. The research will also focus on the causes of juvenile delinquency and the measures the government is taking to curb the vice. Of interest will also be to research on the various criminal behaviors.' The research will investigate whether justice is made to the offenders (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2011). Juvenile delinquency is the involvement of minors or individuals under the statutory age of majority in illegal behaviors’. The law has a prison specifically made for juveniles who are kept away from the adult offenders. According to empirical research, juvenile delinquency can be put into three different categories. First, there are the delinquency, which are crimes committed by minors and dealt with by the juvenile courts and justice system. On the contrary, the system of criminal justice deals with criminal behaviors’. The last category is status offences, which are similar to delinquency since they are classified as such because the offender is a minor and are dealt with by the juvenile courts. An example of such cases is truancy (Springer & Roberts, 2011). Empirical research conducted indicates that there are two types of juvenile delinquency. The major one is a repeat offender. The offender develops antisocial characteristics during adolescence and aggressiveness and persists with the behavior up to adulthood. The other type is age specific offender or adolescence-limited offender. The under age or juvenile offender develops aggressiveness and anti-social characteristics during adolescence, and they fade away in adolescence. However, the adolescence-limited offenders always show some withdrawal symptoms and tend to show substance abuse, mental health, and financial problems when put into comparison with individuals who were never delinquent (Shoemaker, 2013). Juvenile delinquency is more common with males as compared to females. According to the research, various reasons exist as to why this is the case. One reason as to the reason for the above is masculinity possessed by the male counterparts, which influences them to engage in crime. The male youths have competitiveness among them and the aggressiveness within pushes them to show their power and superiority by engaging into criminal activities and being violent. In addition, men possess natural aggressiveness and are more prone to risk-taking than women. According to the research, juvenile delinquency is to some extent a gender issue (Springer & Roberts, 2011). There also exist some racial differences in percentage of involvement in juvenile delinquency. The research indicates that it is more likely for black and Latino youths to engage in crime as compared to white youths. The major reason behind this is racism. The way their colleagues treat different individuals may influence their engagement or involvement in violent and criminal activities. Treating the black individuals differently from the white individuals may make the youth develop hatred and aggressiveness towards the other group. Due to the above, the youths develop anti-social characteristic because of discrimination, therefore, end up in criminal activity. Research conducted on the ratios of black and white juveniles indicates that the number of black juveniles doubled white juveniles who took part in criminal activities (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2011). Another major cause of juvenile delinquency is social status. Individuals from poor backgrounds are more into juvenile delinquency compared to individuals from rich families. Teens from poor families receive harsh parental treatment hence develop aggressiveness that influences them to engage in criminal activities. Poverty also parents to have less time on their children and therefore little guidance and monitoring of the poor teens. Due to the above teens from low social status, mingle with deviant youths who in the process corrupt their morals. For this reason, the teens engage in juvenile delinquency in the long run find themselves in serious crimes (Springer & Roberts, 2011). Juvenile delinquency is not always due to parental guidance inadequacy but may be a result of individual risk factors. Some of the factors may include low intelligence and the inability of the individuals to delay gratification. Low intelligence may cause a teenager to perform poorly in their studies hence the end-result may involve them into crime to satisfy their different needs. Restlessness of an individual may also make them want to satisfy their needs without much consideration and therefore end up breaking laws. Aggressiveness and lack of emotional control such as anger, which are inborn, may lead the teenager into crime. Risk taking degree differs with different individuals. Teens who are more prone to high-risk taking may find themselves in juvenile delinquency due to the urge of getting rich quick (Shoemaker & Wolfe, 2005). Different individuals commit different types of delinquencies. Some of the offences include individuals running away from homes, truancy from schools, and disobedient of lawful commands of parents or the legal guardians. Other serious crimes may include sexual harassment of other minors, drug abuse, murder, and robbery with violence. The judgment of the cases, calls for the discretion of the judges to exercise their power in the different cases (Lahey, 2003). In the United States and other different countries, measures and efforts have been made towards bringing the crime rate among teenagers down. Some of the measures include drug abuse education and treatment, family counseling, youth mentoring, educational support, as well as parental education. Advocating the use of contraceptives as a way of family planning has helped reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies and births, which are also a major cause of delinquency. There has also been an increase in avenues of social interaction such as face book, twitter have largely helped cater for the anti-social characteristics, which in return have reduced juvenile delinquency. Education is one of the major tools used to curb the vice. In schools, anti-drug campaigns have increased which have helped in the reduction of such behaviors’. Education also prevents the involvement of teens in delinquency through effective interaction in social contexts, therefore, reducing the vice (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2011). There are cases where the teens commit serious cases. In these cases, the case is transferred to the adult criminal justice system. One of such case is one committed by a teen where he was convicted of first-degree murder in a Virginia court in December, two thousand and three. A life imprisonment is passed for the without parole in March, two thousand and four. The teen by the name Malvo was seventeen years old and was charged with murder and attempt to murder in two different federal states. By that time, Virginia allowed murder death penalty of juveniles, which influenced the decision of the case. However, most juvenile offenders cases are carried out within the juvenile justice system (Shoemaker, 2013). Juvenile delinquency occurs in different stages and different circumstances. Some of the delinquencies fade with age while there are some, which persist to adulthood. Those that fade with age area referred to as adolescent offenders, while the persisting offenders are referred to as a repeat offender. There is the engagement of sexual harassment, drug abuse, and murder, which are considered serious cases. Engagement into the vices may come from different sources. The sources range from poverty, parental guidance, peer influence, environmental influence, gender, and inborn characteristics. Various controls are established to control the delinquencies such as the use of contraceptives, parental guidance, drug abuse education, education prioritization, parental education, and increase of effective social interaction avenues. Cause of action applied on the offender may differ depending on the degree of crime and the discretion of the judge and place of commitment of the crime (Shoemaker, 2013). References Burfeind, J. W., & Bartusch, D. J. (2011). Juvenile delinquency: An integrated approach. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Lahey, B. B. (2003). Causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency. New York, NY [u.a.: Guilford Press. Shoemaker, D. J. (2013). Juvenile delinquency. Shoemaker, D. J., & Wolfe, T. W. (2005). Juvenile justice: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. Springer, D. W., & Roberts, A. R. (2011). Juvenile justice and delinquency. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Read More