Teenage Crime: Causes, Consequences and Prevention - Research Paper Example

 TEENAGE CRIME Introduction Crime is an act against the laws of the land. Many of the crimes committed are because of some factors, which the person committing the crime might have undergone, in his past life. Major criminals in the world did not just wake up one morning and become criminals. Most of them started with small crimes in their teen age, which eventually graduated into serious crimes. In this paper, we will discuss the causes of teenage crime, the consequences, and the prevention measures. Causes of teenage crime Teenage crime can result due to very many factors. The major causes of teenage crime are discussed below: Peer The company that a teenage has is most likely to affect his behavior in many ways. Many children get involved in criminal activities because of the influence of peer in the following ways: i) Peer pressure Peer pressure is the influence brought about by a person’s company or group. A group, which a person spends most, time with affects his character. A good peer affects the character of a person positively. A bad peer/company affects someone negatively. If a group that one hangs out with is made up of criminals, they may put a pressure on him that will also make him involved in criminal activities. Peer also offers advices, which may not be right to their group members, which may make them criminals (Hunter & Mark 36). ii) Involvement of peer in problem behavior Most children having a peer group usually do some things in a group and this makes them feel like it is not very wrong. Some criminal activities are done by the peer with a mindset of saving a friend, for instance, a teenage boy may be punished by a teacher because of a mistake committed, but his peer decide to revenge for the boy. iii) High proportion of time unsupervised with peer When a child or a teenage has most of his time with peer unsupervised, he is most likely to be misled by the peer. Supervision of what a child does with his peer is very important to monitor his activities. It will be hard to monitor the activities of a child with his peer if he is not supervised properly. Family The family in which a teenager originates may lead to criminal acts by the teenager. The following factors about the family may cause teenage crime i) Poverty/low family income Poverty in a family and low income denies the family some of the basic needs. The lack of these basic needs, like food, education, clothing, and good shelter among others, to a teenager may lead him to crime to be able to afford them. He may start stealing, robbery or even pickpocketing (Hunter & Mark 52). ii) Parental criminality If the parents of a teenager are criminals, there are high chances that the children from that family will also turn out to be criminals. Much of the behavior of the children is learned from the parents. Whatever a child will see his parent do, he will also try it out (Longford 53). iii) Parents’ divorce/parental conflict Conflicts among the parents in the house might leave the child uncared for. This also applies to divorced parents. Many of the divorced parents have separated leaving their children without care. Most of these children may engage in criminal activities to satisfy their daily needs. iv) Poor parental supervision and discipline Leaving a child without close supervision or instilling discipline makes a child to make wrong decision, which can include involving in criminal activities. A child at a tender age and teenage has a tendency of making wrong decision and they need parents close supervision and discipline. Without this, a child is likely to get involved in crime (Longford 38). v) Troubled home life Children that are facing a troubled life in their homes are most likely to resort to getting to the streets and live the street life. In the street, he can decide to get involved in crime to sustain himself. This troubled life may include mistreatment and molestation by the parents or guardians. Social isolation As much as peer can lead to crime, controlled peer is good and a child should be able to interact with other. Social isolation may make a child look like a freak, and start having weird ideas. To gain recognition, a teenage may get him into criminal activity. If his mates also isolate him from their activities or groups, he may have a formed bitterness, and he may even plan a bad criminal act as revenge for them (Rutter 74). Drug abuse and misuse The abuse of drugs affects the decisions of a person. A teenage who abuses drugs is most likely to get involved in criminal activities. In fact, most teens who abuse drugs are criminals, both by the act of drug abuse and other criminal activities. Community disorganization A disorganized community produces disorganized teens. It is very hard to control and shape the behavior of a teenage that comes from a disorganized community. This produces a spoilt environment, which in turn spoils the teens. A community that is full of drug abuse and crime will affect a teenage raised from that locality. The people the children from that locality will be meeting always might be criminals. This interaction is most likely to assimilate them (Whitaker 27). Poor education attainment and lack of skills A teenage may decide to involve him with crime after poor education attainment, which may leave him with very few options in life. After giving up with education, he may decide to start crime as the only way to get income. Some of the teens may also lack specific area of skill. This reduces the chances of employment and may make him idle thereby getting a chance to become a criminal. School exclusion Many children excluded from school are left with few choices and are most likely to get themselves into criminal activities. The termination of the education makes most children to have free time, which they can use for criminal activities (Shannon 47). Some of the other causes of teenage crime may also include some disruptive behavior like hyperactivity, bullying and aggression, mental illness, school disorganization, early connection with problem behavior, lack of social commitment among many other reasons. Consequences of teenage crime Teenage crimes have various impacts both on the lives of the teen who commit them and on other people around him. The consequences of teenage crime are discussed below. Impact on education Most college applications require openness and disclosure. They are usually very keen on the conduct of applicants and their previous history. Involvement in teenage crime may deprive someone from ever getting a place in a good college. Besides this, someone’s education can be interfered with when he is involved in crime, for example, a child may be expelled from school because of criminal activities, and his reputation might hinder him from getting a place in other schools. Impact on career Some convictions in life destroy completely any chance of working in some jobs or careers in life. Before employment, most employers go through the criminal records of the applicants. Some criminal activities deny people from ever getting into some lines of career, for example, conviction for drug abuse denies someone a chance of ever working with any company, which handles drugs. Those with criminal records may have it difficult to get a place in the military or law enforcement careers, banking or teaching. Conviction and sentencing Most crimes end up being convicted and sentenced. Teens involved in criminal activities may be sentenced to a juvenile correction facility (Ferro 10). Some teenagers can also be charged as adults depending on the age and crime committed, and may be sent to prison. Some sentences may be very long and totally interfere with the whole life of a person (Dostoyevsky & Constance 23). Guilt Some criminal acts can cause one to be guilty and haunted by their acts all their lives. Some of the criminal activities cannot be reversed and may end up affecting the life of a teen up to adulthood. An example of such crime may be robbery with violence, rape, or even murder. After recovery, one may be haunted by his actions all his life. Unfortunately, these criminal activities are irreversible (Webber 62). Mental retarding Criminal activities related to drug abuse and misuse may lead to mental retarding. Drugs like heroin affect someone’s brain and may eventually render him useless. Rehabilitation of these kinds of situations is sometimes very hard. Effect on social life Some of the criminal activities can affect the social life of a person, for example, when a teenage is sent to juvenile correctional facility for murder and comes out after serving his time, he will have a difficult time interacting with other people or even making friends. His past friends might shy away from him, and even the family members may fear him. This will make him to have a very hard social life (Dostoyevsky & Constance 25). Expenses Most of the criminal activities come with expenses especially after a court order. Some may require compensation of the affected people by the parents, bailing and clearing the damages that may have been caused by the teenage crime. These expenses may be in large sums of money. Death Some criminal activities can lead to death. The teenage involved in the criminal activities may be shot down by the police or even his colleagues after disagreements. He can also be killed by an angry mob someone resisting crime (Hunter & Mark 41). Prevention measures for teenage crime Teenage crime can be prevented and avoided if some early measures are put into consideration. The most important thing to understand is that a child can be nurtured to grow in a certain way adapts good behavior, which will prevent early criminal involvement. Most prevention measures begin in the household at the family level. The parents and guardians of teens should take the first step of monitoring and raising their children in the right moral way. The parents should ensure that they monitor their children’s peer involvement. It is important for a parent to know the friends of their child, their homes, their backgrounds, and their activities when they are together. This will help the parents to prevent the involvement of their children with bad company, which may affect their morals. It is also important for the parents to supervise the activities of the peer of the children. They should ensure that the activities they do together are not destructive or criminal. It is also important for the parents to limit the time that their children are with their peer groups. This will help to reduce the effect of the peer (Whitaker 49). It is also important for the parents to get involved in the personal lives of their children and to understand everything that they face. This will help them to know some of the challenges they face and be able to offer them good advice before they source the advices elsewhere. Friendliness with the children is important to ensure that they are as free as possible. Besides this, the parents should take full responsibility to discipline and supervise their children’s lives. It is important to ensure the children grow up in the way of life that they have been taught. For the prevention of teenage crime, the parents should also love their children and ensure their safety. They should prioritize the safety of the children in case there are wrangles. They should discuss the custody of the children when they decide to get a divorce. Parents should not let their disagreements affect the lives of their children. The government should also be able to help those families that are very poor so that at least they are able to afford the basic needs like clothing, food, shelter, and education. It should ensure the safety of children in poverty-stricken families to prevent their involvement in criminal activity. Neighbors and concerned people should also take part in making the society by reporting cases where a parent is involved in criminal activity, which may influence the children. Such parents should be denied custody of their children for the sake of the children’s morality. No known criminal should be allowed to stay with their children to avoid spoiling the moral character of the children. Besides this, people should report any cases of child abuse and mistreatment to the authority for appropriate action to be taken. Education is an important aspect of a teenage life. Besides the attainment of knowledge, the school also teaches the social aspects of life. A child should be taken to school that he may also learn how to interact with other people, to create friends and not be a victim of social isolation. The parents should also help in guiding their children on how to make friends if they realize that their child is anti-social. A guiding and counseling facility should be made available in all schools to teach students on moral life lessons. This facility should also help in correction of students by advising them immediately it notices a change in behavior or character of a student. The government should also take its role in reducing criminal cases in localities. Law enforcement authorities should be able to eliminate bad characters in the society to prevent their influence to the teens in the neighborhood. The anti-drug abuse agencies should also struggle to fight drug abuse and ensure that the victims and people involved are not all over the streets influencing the children around. Parents should also ensure that they choose to stay in communities, which are conducive for their children (McClelland 62). Both the parents, teachers, counselors and the government have a joint responsibility of educating the children and creating awareness to them on the effects of drug abuse. They should be discouraged from using it or even getting near to them (McClelland 63). Children who have been discontinued or excluded from schools should be counseled by their parents and specialists to understand that crime is not the last resort. They should be trained to equip them with various skills that will help them other than being involved in criminal activities (Schumacher & Gwen 82). Conclusion The teenage is a very active stage of life and the society should take a general responsibility of ensuring that this group of people is protected from harm and harmful engagement. There are very many causes of teenage crime from family related, to education related to social life related. The teenage group should be educated on the consequences of the criminal activities. It is also important for precautions to be taken and the prevention measures to be put in place to prevent this. The whole society should have a joint responsibility of preventing teenage crime. References 1. Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, and Constance Garnett. Crime and punishment. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1999. Print. 2. Ferro, Jeffrey. Juvenile crime. New York, N.Y.: Facts on File, 2003. Print. 3. Hunter, Ronald D., and Mark L. Dantzker. Crime and criminality: causes and consequences. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. Print. 4. Longford, Frank Pakenham. Causes of crime. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1958. Print. 5. McClelland, James. My thoughts on problem kids, life, illegal drugs: causes and advice. Silverdale, N.S.W.: James McClelland Research :, 1988. Print. 6. Rutter, Michael. Psychosocial disturbances in young people: challenges for prevention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print. 7. Schumacher, Michael Allen, and Gwen A. Kurz. The 8% solution preventing serious, repeat juvenile crime. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2000. Print. 8. Shannon, Dell. Chaos of crime. New York: Morrow, 1985. Print. 9. Webber, Craig. Psychology & crime. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2010. Print. 10. Whitaker, Catherine J.. Teenage victims: a national crime survey report.. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1986. Print. Read More