External Influences on Juvenile Delinquencies - Essay Example

External Influences on Juvenile Delinquencies al Affiliation Introduction It is so unfortunate that we are living in these strange days whereby we experience such a high increase in the number of wars, pestilence and great famines. It is evident that there are increasing cases of murder based on different religion and structural beliefs which is a growing trend in the United States of America. Moreover, it is apparent that the criminal element is getting an earlier start as compared to what we used to see in the olden days (Scull et al., 2010). This paper attempts to explore the external influences in society that bring about a younger generation of criminals and what can be done to try and curb this growing problem Juvenile criminal behaviors as a heart and mind problem. Since some children start engaging in criminal behaviors at such a tender age, we are forced to think along the line that such juvenile delinquency is both a heart and mind problem. It may be possible that the child was born with some complications that participate in the child’s generally immoral behavior of delinquency. For instance, it is possible that the child may acquire criminal behaviors from the parent especially if the mother of the child was a smoker during pregnancy. Moreover, poor delivery methods of the child may have interfered with the mental functioning of the child and incorporated some aspects of criminal thoughts in the child’s mind. Some people may term these influences as intrinsic and therefore probably external, but on the other hand such factors were initially absent in the child at the time of conception. They are externally influenced into the child during development in its mother’s womb or passed into the child at the time of delivery and therefore this aspect makes such factors extrinsic or external in this case (Kostyunina & Valeeva, 2015). Parenting is not an easy task especially for new parents without enough experience on parenting and without enough finances to employ experienced people to take care of their new born babies. Most of the criminal acts are incorporated into the minds of children at such tender ages especially because of this poor parenting. The inexperienced parents allow the growing children to witness criminal acts and fail to stop them in good time from engaging into such acts until the children internalize such activities into their hearts and mind; they become part of their lives and they realize with time that they cannot do without such criminal acts (Ambaras, 2004). Prior Exposure to Crime The current generation of children is very exposed especially because of digitalization of most events through media presentations and the internet which makes the whole world look like a global village. The television has become a basic need for all families and children spend most of their leisure time in front of the television even without having completed their school homework; for those that are still attending school. Late in the night is when most television stations present more adult movies and programs that involve criminal acts and which require parental guidance. Most of the times, however, the parents are too tired to ensure that their children are asleep before them, they leave them in the sitting rooms some pretending to be busy on their homework as an excuse to buy time until their parents get fast asleep. It is at this time that the children switch on the television sets to watch such highly rated movies with serious criminal scenes. Since the children are only at their young ages, when they see for instance people killing others and escaping the arms of the government, they swear to engage in such activities, most of them do this expecting not to fall into the arms of the government and majorly for fun. After some period of time, the behavior becomes part of their lives and they form gangs which later in life become the most wanted terror gangs in the native nation and the world at large (Rutger & Tom, 2001). Due to the existence of cyber cafes and play stations, the children can watch movies they are advised not to watch by either their parents or their teachers in school at their own discretion. Some of the movies contain erotic stuff that exposes the children to premature sex and drug and substance abuse. If the children fail to have enough finances to buy them drugs, they turn into their parents and steal from them or forcefully get the money from their parents or other people, introducing to themselves criminal behaviors of robbery with violence. Because of exposure to premature sex, some children end up participated in rape since they are not mature enough to lure young and vulnerable girls into willingly engaging in sexual activities. The young girls find themselves engaging into sexual businesses such as prostitution in order to quench their thirst for sex which comes at such a tender age. These activities put the children at a high risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Kostyunina & Valeeva, 2015). Apart from the media, the children at their young ages may be exposed into criminal behaviors by their parents and guardians who already depend on criminal activities for their livelihoods. Some children are born to criminals, making them criminals by default. Some parents use their children as instruments of robbery and make it appear like the act is totally acceptable since it provides for their daily bread. Such parents fail to explain to the young children that robbery and other criminal acts are immoral in the face of the society and deserve not to be tolerated at any cost and for this reason, the children, basing on their ignorance and fragility become criminals even without necessarily being aware that they are actually criminals (Jacob & Lefgren, 2003). Peer influence also plays a similar role in juvenile delinquency; some children have grown in tough conditions and learned criminal behaviors such as rape and robbery at their tender ages, once such children interact with other children during youth games and expeditions, they influence the innocent ones to participate in the criminal acts either by force or through convincing them on how good it is to rape, for example, or smuggle drugs in addition to using them. Out of fear, the innocent children find themselves participated in acts against the law despite the fact that some of them are fully aware of the danger that awaits those who engage in criminal activities. Others may not act out of fear, they may engage into criminal acts with the excuse that they do not want to appear out of the peer group (Jacob & Lefgren, 2003). How can they be the only children who do not smoke marijuana or who fear using guns when all their age mates are doing it without any harm befalling them? Inability of the Government to Contain Crime If the various national governments were capable of containing criminal acts and ensuring that they do not spread at such a high rate especially among the grown up law breakers, there is a chance that there would be far much less cases of juvenile delinquency. All in all, the contrary is true, the governments are not in a position to stop experienced criminals from perpetrating their criminal activities, then how would they be able to ensure that the young ones are hidden from the influence of the more experienced armed robbers, internet hackers and rapists, some of whom manage to father some children who finally follow the footsteps of their parents. Since the governments are incapable of controlling the increasing rate of crime, the young generation find it easy to join criminal gangs and maneuver their way till they become experienced gangsters and other expert criminals (Jacob & Lefgren, 2003). How to Curb the Problem Basically, almost all people that make up the society are associated or associate their existence to the existence of a Supreme Being or deity. For the Christian and Muslims, the Supreme Being is God while for Hindus and other religions it is gods who present themselves in either other animals or even wooden, stone or metallic carvings. Irrespective of the Supreme Being, the subscribers believe that the Supreme Beings expect holiness from them and such an expectation deters the individuals from engaging into criminal acts. The Bible which is the Holy Book for Christians, for example outlines in the Ten Commandments given to Moses at Mt Sinai that it is ungodly to murder. Moreover, according to the Bible, it is evil to engage in robbery with or without violence as well as to engage in sexual immorality which bars individuals from participating in rape and other sexual sins. If the children are brought up with such a Christian or religious foundation, knowing that engaging into criminal behavior is wrong before the eyes of God, then it is possible to contain the increasing rate of juvenile delinquency and crime in general (Rutger & Tom, 2001). Conclusion There are several reasons why many of the children in the young and current generation are engaging in criminal activities despite their young ages. It all starts with the situation of the children’s hearts and minds even before birth and during the process of delivery. Various criminal behaviors can be introduced into the young generation from their parents during parenting, while other criminal behaviors occur as an influence from the peer groups that spend most of their time with the children at the fragile ages. In addition to these, the government’s negligence on crime may be a reason as to why there is an increasing rate of juvenile delinquency. However, there is still hope for a reverse of this situation if on the people go back to the old spankings and show some respect to their maker, impacting good deeds to their children and their children’s children. References Ambaras, D. R. (2004). Juvenile delinquency and the national defence state: Policing young workers in wartime japan, 1937-1945. The Journal of Asian Studies, 63(1), 31-60. Jacob, B. A., & Lefgren, L. (2003). Are idle hands the devils workshop? Incapacitation, concentration, and juvenile crime. The American Economic Review, 93(5), 1560-1577. Kostyunina, N. Y., & Valeeva, R. A. (2015). Prevention and correction of juvenile neglect. Review of European Studies, 7(5), 225-230. Rutger, C. M. E. E., & Tom, t. B. (2001). Influences of risk behaviours on the quality of peer relations in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 30(6), 675-695. Scull, T. M., Kupersmidt, J. B., Parker, A. E., Elmore, K. C., & Benson, J. W. (2010). Adolescents media-related cognitions and substance use in the context of parental and peer influences. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(9), 981-98. Read More