Juvenile delinquents - Essay Example

Juvenile Delinquents Juvenile Delinquents Titus Rock Manickam Order No. 314894 21 August 2009 Juvenile Delinquents Introduction The problemof juvenile delinquency is in its inherent nature to grow into full blown crime. As long as the young offender is kept under control through disciplinary measures and character building activities by his or her superiors who may be parents and school/college authorities, there is the chance that he or she will make the necessary adjustments and flow with the mainstream.

However, in the absence of adequate familial care and control there is the huge possibility that juvenile delinquents could get sucked in the big, bad world of crime. There is only so much that society can do informally to correct delinquency of an errant youth. Most of society’s informal actions consist of education through counseling and corrective steps where the government or an NGO are involved. Society’s formal actions are more foreboding and can involve law enforcement agencies such as the police and law courts.

Why do we have juvenile delinquents?There are many reasons for juvenile delinquents. The most common factor is the breakdown of family as a coherent unit. There can be nothing worse for a child than a situation where mature parental care is lacking. If such care is missing for a prolonged period of time, it will not take very long for the child to come across exploitative influence of anti-social elements. The reasons for juvenile delinquency other than lack of parental care such as choice of wrong company do exist.

But they are rare.What would you do to change that behavior?It is difficult to bring about a change in the behavior of an adolescent. Adolescence is a challenging period when a boy or a girl is in the process of becoming man or woman. The problem is compounded when the behavior of a young adult is not adequately moored to the balancing influence of mature parents or other caring elders.As an outsider, I can talk to the young offender and counsel him or her. I can tell him about the consequence of his erratic behavior.

I can suggest he take his work or studies seriously and keep close to good and well-behaved group of friends. These groups could be found in every place. It is only a question of choice for the young offender (Thompson, William E & Bynum, Jack E).Can we have a future where we control delinquent behavior?Nothing is impossible. It depends on society’s commitment on the level of control that it desires to enforce and the means it adopts to achieve them. A healthy society will have less problems of delinquency than a society where there is unacceptable level of ignorance (Thompson, William E & Bynum, Jack E).

Theory that has greatest impact on the futureFamily is the basic unit of society. If parents function with responsibility, the chances of juvenile delinquency become remote. It is only when there is some friction within the family, chiefly some friction between the parents that the chances of delinquency increase. Parents play the pivotal role in the lives of young adults. Remove parents from their position of responsibility, and the debilitating effects of anti-socials elements begin to assume its role in the lives of young impressionable minds.

ConclusionIn the subject of juvenile delinquency, there is no role as strong and as responsible as that of parents. History is witness to strong parenthood that steered the lives of great men and women into positions of renown. It is also witness to the sad fact that many who did not make the grade failed to do so because of inadequacy in parental care.Source:Thompson, William E & Bynum, Jack E; Juvenile Delinquency: A Sociological Approach, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Juvenile-Delinquency/William-E-Thompson/e/9780205665716#TABS