Childhood and delinquency - Essay Example

March 19, Juvenile Crime: Age Discrimination Due to Juvenile’s Immaturity of Judgment Age discrimination should exist for juvenile delinquents because of their level of cognitive and psychosocial immaturity and because it reduces juvenile crimes. One of the reasons that juvenile arrest rates for violent crime have reached a historic lowest point in 2012 since 1980 (“Juvenile Arrest”) is because we have an effective juvenile justice system. Several studies showed that the youth are less capable of making the right decisions (Fried, Reppucci, and Haugaard 46; Kambam and Thompson 180).

Their age and related social conditions may correlate with poor decision-making systems that make them more likely to take risks, not consider long-term consequences of their actions, and more prone to peer pressure (Cauffman and Steinberg 741; Kambam and Thompson 180).First, juveniles are still developing their brains, wherein undeveloped brain areas may account for impulsivity and risk-taking behaviors (Siegel 16). Kambam and Thompson described the two systems that shape adolescent risk-taking actions: the socio-emotional system and the cognitive-control system.

Puberty changes can create changes in the socio-emotional system that increase the youth’s need for novelty and thrill, which tend to make them more impulsive (Kambam and Thompson 179). Moreover, children’s brains have not yet fully developed in some areas that decrease their ability to control their emotions (Kambam and Thompson 180). If children are not competent enough to make rational decisions, they cannot be held accountable for their crimes.Second, insufficient psychosocial development inhibits children from considering the long-term consequences of their actions (Siegel 16).

Cauffman and Steinberg studied the effects of psychosocial factors on the maturity of more than 1,000 respondents with ages ranging from 12 to 48 years old. They determined that responsibility, perspective, and temperance are important to making mature judgments. Their findings showed that adolescents have poor psychosocial maturity because they do not know how to fully consider the long-term effects of their actions and they have less sense of responsibility for their actions. Juveniles are not completely capable of long-term thinking.

Third, children may be more prone to peer pressure, and those who live in criminogenic environments are at risk of adapting criminal behaviors. Fried et al. wanted to know the effects of psychosocial factors, specifically temporal perspective, peer influence, and risk perception, on criminal decision making. They asked 56 delinquent adolescents to watch a movie where juveniles did something illegal that resulted to fatal consequences. These participants were asked to put themselves in the situation of these kids in the movie.

Findings showed that those who are aged 15 to 16 years old are more prone to peer pressure and feel less responsible for criminal activities. Feeling peer pressure and less personal responsibility for criminal behaviors make them at risk of juvenile delinquency. I am not saying that we should allow our kids to not know the consequences of their delinquent activities. I argue that they do not know any better yet, so we must help them do so. Society should have a separate legal category for the youth because empirical studies showed that the latter are in a stage where they have not reached the cognitive and social development needed to make the right decisions.

Society should not treat all criminals the same regardless of their ages because these ages matter in how they make decisions and behave. Instead of punishing juvenile delinquents, we should make sure that the state continues the philosophy of Parens Patriae. We must ensure that our state treats our wayward youth as children who are crying out for help and guidance. We are doing it right by having a juvenile justice system, for we are parents to our youth, not their judges and jail guards.Works CitedCauffman, Elizabeth, and Laurence Steinberg. “(Im)maturity of Judgment in Adolescence: Why Adolescents May Be Less Culpable Than Adults.

” Behavioral Sciences & The Law 18.6 (2000): 741-60.Fried, Carrie S., Reppucci, N. Dickon, and Jeffrey J. Haugaard. “Criminal Decision Making: The Development of Adolescent Judgement, Criminal Responsibility, and Culpability.” Law & Human Behavior: The Newsmagazine of the Social Sciences 25.1 (2001): 45-61. Print.“Juvenile Arrest Rate Trends.” OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.Kambam, Praveen, and Christopher Thompson. “The Development of Decision-Making Capacities in Children and Adolescents: Psychological and Neurological Perspectives and Their Implications for Juvenile Defendants.

” Behavioral Sciences & The Law 27.2 (2009): 173-90. Print.Siegel, Larry J. Juvenile Delinquency: The Core. 5th ed. California: Wadsworth, 2014. Print.