Delinquency in Military Teenagers - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents Abstract 1 Delinquency and military teenagers/family 2 Problem Statement 3 Research Problem and Purpose Statement 3 Significance of Study to the Field of Criminal Justice 4 Research Questions 5 Hypotheses 6 Limitations 6 Summary 7 Literature Review 7 Significant Types of Strain 8 Reasons behind Delinquency 10 Methods to reduce Delinquency 15 References 17 Abstract Military families often go through many difficulties. One of the main difficulties is faced in the children who are a part of the military family. In many cases it has been seen that the children are unable to adjust with the frequent deployment and they tend to get into emotional stress. The stress often leads them to commit various kinds of non-violent crimes such as underage drinking etc. These crimes are called delinquency. The dissertation is an attempt to understand the reason behind the delinquency in children belonging to military families and how to restrict them in future. Key terms: Delinquency, violent crimes, non-violent crimes, military families, Delinquency and military teenagers/family Military families are most of the time affected by deployment. In this case, the children or the teenagers are affected the most. This result into them going into stress and committing non-violent crimes. These types of crime committed by teenagers are called delinquency. Juvenile delinquency will keep on being an intriguing issue for analysts on the grounds that crime among juveniles is still moderately high (Glueck & Glueck, 1950). There are several causes of juvenile delinquency. Family can be reason where the child gets neglected and feels left alone (Cullingford, 1999). There can be financial and economic issues in the family which can lead to commitment of crime (Lahey, Moffitt & Caspi, 2003). Another case can be social causes were the child is unable to make himself or herself comfortable in the social surrounding (Hirschi, 1969). The parent also plays a major role in this situation. If the child does not get a proper parenting, then they can start disrespecting them and later on become violent (Schumann, 1991). In light of the first three inquiries proposed, General Strain Theory likely does the best occupation in clarifying sexual orientation, age, and racial contrasts in delinquency. Agnew (1992) burdens that people face strain every day and that a few people decide to carry out criminal activities as an approach to adapt to strain. Juveniles who have been enlisted in the military can additionally be influenced by serious anxiety and that can come about into crimes being carried out by them. Problem Statement It is generally realized that deployment is distressing for military families, including their kids. Another study in the Journal of Adolescent Health finds that adolescents from military families are more prone to feel miserable or sad, have contemplations about suicide and manifestations of discouragement than youngsters of non military person families. These teens often go into depression which can result into most of them getting influenced by others to commit minor crimes. This act of them is called juvenile delinquency. This has been an issue which has been increasing alarmingly. The problem happens when the society gets affected due to these delinquent crimes. Research has been undertaken in order to control this habit among the mentally effected teens. Research Problem and Purpose Statement The purpose of this research study is to measure the extent of delinquency among military teenagers, and the types of delinquent behaviors they are most likely to engage in. While there has been much research on the subject matter of delinquency, there has not been research related to military teens and the extent of their delinquent behavior; or the types of delinquent acts they are most likely to commit due to deployment. Therefore, this research study will examine the reason behind delinquent behaviour and how this problem can be controlled in them. Significance of Study to the Field of Criminal Justice Military families deal with many difficulties such as having to move frequently or having a parent away from home. One of the greatest challenges military families face is the deployment of a family member. In the family member, often the most affected are the children or the teens. They go through a rough phase during a deployment as they are unable to adjust with the new environment. This sometimes results into the teenager committing crimes. In most of the cases these are non-violent crimes. Research has shown that children belonging to military families are more involved in delinquent crimes than others. The study has been done to understand the reason behind the crimes being committed and can they be restricted further. Definition of Key Terms (Delinquency, military families, violent crimes, non-violent crimes, and status offence) Delinquency – This is a term used for a crime bring committed by a person who is below 18 years of age. These crimes are mainly non-violent in nature and include, alcohol consumption, violation of rules, etc. Military Family – This refers a family where one or more members are working with a military force. Violent Crimes – Violent crime is committed when the accused threatens or uses violent means upon the victim. There are many kinds of violent crimes. Murder is considered an act of violence. Status Offence - Status offence is an illegal behaviour by a person who is below the age of 18 years. However the same behaviour will not be considered illegal of crime if it is done by an elder person. Some of the example of status offence would be, consumption of alcohol, truancy, etc. Non-violent Crimes – Non-violent crimes are crimes where there is no use of force or the victim is unharmed physically. In this case, the seriousness of the violence is judged by the economic damage or the monetary loss of the victim. Research Questions This study will attempt to answer the following questions: 1 Are military teens likely to participate in delinquency? 2. Are military teens of deployed parents more likely to engage in violent crimes (i.e. rape, aggravated assault, and robbery)? 3. Do deployed parents lead military teens to commit non-violent crimes (i.e. drug possession, burglary, and theft)?  4. Do deployed parents lead military teens to commit status offenses (i.e. truancy, underage drinking, and curfew violation)? Hypotheses Ho1: Military teens of deployed parents are not likely to participate in delinquency. Ha2: Military teens of deployed parents are more likely to engage in violent crimes (i.e. rape, aggravated assault, and robbery) Ho2: Military teens of deployed parents are less likely to engage in violent crimes (i.e. rape, aggravated assault, and robbery)  Ha3: Deployed parents can lead military teens to commit non-violent crimes (i.e. drug possession, burglary, and theft).  Ho3: Deployed parents cannot lead military teens to commit non-violent crimes (i.e. drug possession, burglary, and theft).  Ha4: Deployed parents can lead military teens to commit status offenses (i.e. truancy, underage drinking, and curfew violation).  Ho4: Deployed parents cannot lead military teens to commit status offenses (i.e. truancy, underage drinking, and curfew violation). Limitations This research has one main limitation is that the study will only be conducted in Jasonville N.C.; the sample population will only be from one military base which is in Jacksonville N.C. Therefore, only the teens from this particular base will be evaluated or studied. This will effect in the accuracy of the analysis as the statistics will be strictly restricted to one area. Summary Military delinquency has been an important for many researchers. This generally happens due to Military deployment when one or more members are deployed. In this scenario, Children and teenagers are the ones who get affected by them the most. This results in them getting stressed as they are unable to adjust to the changing environment. Often this stressed leads to the child committing non-violent crimes such as underage drinking, etc. The project is a research study to understand the reason behind the crimes committed by the children and how it can be restricted further. Further research in the study will be reflected upon in the literature review which follows below. Literature Review The delinquency can be easily linked with the stress being developed in a teenager. Agnew created General Strain Theory to clarify racial contrasts in crime rates among contrasting groups. As per Cochran et al. (2005), Agnew's contention is that structural group attributes, for example, high bias and monetary hardship lead specifically and by implication to high crime rates. In the greater part of the cases, a crime is perpetrated when an individual is in need or anxiety. The theory is likewise appropriate on account of military work force who are included in perpetrating crime. Robert Agnew's modifications of the strain theory address large portions of the reactions of the first strain theory. As per the first strain theory, an expansion in yearnings and a reduction in desires ought to prompt a build in delinquency; be that as it may, this was not discovered to be the situation. Likewise, the first strain theory anticipated a centralization of reprobate conduct in the lower class; however research demonstrated that delinquency was additionally basic in the center and privileged societies. Different variables are additionally dismissed by this theory of strain, for example, the surrender of crime in late pre-adulthood and the nature of family connections. Agnew increased the extent of strain theory to incorporate a lot of people more variables that tended to the reactions of the first strain theory. He endeavored to investigate strain theory from a viewpoint that represented objectives other than cash and that considered a singular's position in social class, desires for the future, and relationship with criminal others (Agnew et al., 1996:683). Agnew's general strain theory is focused around the general thought that "when individuals are dealt with gravely they may get agitated and participate in crime" (Agnew, approaching). The general strain theory recognizes the methods for measuring strain, the diverse sorts of strain, the connection in the middle of strain and crime, and approach suggestions focused around the theory. Significant Types of Strain There are three significant sorts of strain as indicated by general strain theory. They are the disappointment to accomplish emphatically valued objectives, the misfortune of positive stimuli, and the presentation of negative stimuli. Each of these will be examined independently. Loss of positively valued stimuli. The primary strain results from a singular's disappointment to accomplish decidedly valued objectives. Agnew noted that there are three separate sorts of objectives for which parts of the general public strive. The main of these is cash. Cash is a reason for strain when it is not accessible to the single person through real means. Agnew (1994, pp 425-426) found that money related strain was identified with crime in a constrained manner, and that the past studies may not be precisely measuring all parts of fiscal objective blockage. The discoveries from this study do appear to affirm that delinquents yearning to addition a lot of cash (Agnew, 1994 pp 425).This can have an effect of military personnel while person is on the course of training and due to some reason; he or she is unable to perform. The lack of performance will be reflected on their respective reports and their senior officials have to take stern actions against them in order to improve their performance. During this stage many military personal can tend to get strained and this strain can have negative impact on him or her. The presentation of negative stimuli. As indicated by Agnew (1992, pp 58), this sort of strain had been to a great extent let alone for criminology. On the other hand, some exploration has been carried out on pre-adult torment evasion conduct and the powerlessness of adolescents to lawfully dodge toxic stimuli (Agnew, 1985, pp 154). A few illustrations of negative stimuli that a youthful may face are tyke misuse, disregard, unfavorable relations with folks and educators, negative school encounters, antagonistic relations with companions, neighborhood issues, and homelessness (Agnew, 1992, pp 58-59). Since its expansion to general strain theory, research has been carried out around there. In a study by Hoffmann and Miller (1998, pp 106), it was observed that negative life occasions that incorporate such things as parental unemployment, deaths in the family, and disease force a solid effect by expanding reprobate conduct in youths. This sort of strain has likewise been connected outside the domain of adolescents. Reasons behind Delinquency An article published in New York Times discussed the case of military deployments. A Study was carried out by RAND Corporation were it was found out that children in military families are more likely to show symptoms of stress and anxiety. After eight years of war, children with parents in the military are reporting signs of emotional wear and tear from long and repeated deployments, a new study shows. Those challenges included things like missing school exercises, feeling that individuals did not comprehend their issues, needing to deal with kin and battling to manage folks coming back from deployment (Dao, 2009). The study, which was to be distributed Monday by the diary Pediatrics, is viewed as the biggest on the subject, and was focused around phone meetings with almost 1,500 kids, ages 11 to 17, and their essential guardians. It was dispatched by the National Military Family Association, a not-for-profit help supportive network. Anita Chandra, the essential agent, said she was astonished by the association between the months a guardian was sent and the issues reported by their kids. "We thought the difficulties of deployment would wind down as the deployment went on," Ms. Chandra said in a meeting. Practically the greater part of the families in the study, 95 percent, said a guardian had conveyed in the past three years; those deployments endured on normal an aggregate of 11 months (Dao, 2009). The study likewise found that numerous families experienced challenges conforming to the reappearance of a conveyed guardian, a period known as reintegration. For example, Ms. Chandra said, the scientists found that guardians who met expectations were more prone to report that their youngsters were having issues throughout reintegration than parental figures who did not work. The most of those guardians were ladies. Ms. Chandra said it was conceivable that the strain of reintegration was aggravated by the anxiety on the group of a non-conveyed guardian's employment. Anyhow being utilized is for the most part considered useful for the mental wellbeing of a guardian throughout deployment, she said. The study found that young ladies had a tendency to have a bigger number of issues than young men throughout reintegration, and that more established youngsters battled more throughout and after deployments than more youthful kids. The scientists conjectured that the weight on young ladies and more established youngsters to accept family unit obligations may be one purpose behind the contrast (Dao, 2009). Ms. Chandra said the study recommended that the military ought to consider regulating administrations to families throughout the later phases of long deployments, when more families report issues. Moini, Zellman & Gates (2006) described teenagers in military families as being challenged in their upbringing due to the absenteeism by their parents who stay away from them for a long period of time. He elaborated on the various challenges that the teens in military families are likely to face some of which are similar to those from civilian families. Some of those challenges include learning difficulties, emotional problems, and neglect violence during dating, and abuse which leads them into delinquency and antisocial activities. Another author George Fink is also of the same view. He wrote in his book that the extent to which military children are likely to get or be involved in juvenile delinquency is determined by the period that their parents will be away from them or the length of the deployment. This will further be attributed to the age at which the child was first left alone by the parent (Fink, 2010). Thus lack of presence of an elderly can often result in children developing stress which further pushed them towards delinquency. An article by Ron Aston views military families as being under constant stress despite being resilient in some occasions. The stress levels arise due to deployments, disabilities during the service and deaths that arise during military operations. The author established that teenagers in military families tend to have their needs go unmet as well as overlooked by both the legal and social organizations. The teens are overlooked because they are viewed as young adults who are able to take care of their own issues especially when their parents have been deployed in other war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Additionally, there are four subsets of teenagers who are sometimes forgotten and require special attention: teenagers of wounded service members, teenagers with their families on overseas tours, teenagers in National Guard and Reserve families, and those for who English is a second language (Asṭor, 2012). Kazdin found out that the majority of military children who engage in criminal activities are boys and not girls and they are more likely to engage in violent crimes such as robbery, forcible rape as well as aggravated assault cases. They mainly engage in such criminal activities so as to be able to fulfill their unmet desires in their families. He further alluded that a quarter of criminal activities conducted by the juveniles are done by those with military background since they are greatly obsessed by the military life and would desire to be like their parents on war missions (Kazdin, 2005). Nilsson has established that youth gangs are more likely to incorporate children from military background owing to the fact that their parents especially the father are absent and thus they have no one to closely monitor their activities. The gang members also target to recruit children with military background who are able to provide them with required intelligence information which they can acquire from their parents (Nilsson, 2013). Based on this finding it is clear that many times teenager related to military families get influences by others to perform delinquent activities. This always helps us in understanding one more thing that stress might not always be the only reason for a teenager to commit delinquency. Kuper (2005) contends that military children are more likely to engage in delinquency due to the fact that they can easily fall prey to criminal activities. The children who spend most of their lives in the barracks will eventually desire to face the outside world driven by the spirit of adventure.Bottom of Form Hawkins (1996) seeks to explain some of the key theories that are well equipped to explain the causes of delinquency. The social structure and the process theory as outlined in the book, explains how the behavior is shaped by the social background in which an individual has been brought up. Criminal subcultures are as a result of inability to access legitimate opportunities in the early stages of life. Mathews et. al (2009) have indicated in their work that juvenile delinquency and the family structure are closely interlinked terms that aims at explaining the behavior of children in the family set-up. It is evident that there is a worrying trend in the increase in the number of young children taking part in criminal activities. They established that family life has a big role to play in the ever increasing cases of juvenile delinquency owing to the absence of structures in the family. Burfeind and Bartusch (2011) took a keen look at the factors that are likely to cause juvenile delinquency which include cultural, economic and social background. They argued that juvenile delinquency is mainly caused by the negative consequences of both social and economic patterns of life which ranges from economic crises to the weakening and destruction of key institutions. The institutions include family, education system, state and public officers. Media also plays a major role in influencing children to commit crime. Violence is often shown in many ways in many films. With the access of internet and television, the children are able to watch all kinds of movies without any kind of restriction or supervision (Burfeind & Bartusch, 2011). Burfeind & Bartusch (2011) argued that the media through television and movies have developed the cult of heroes’ mentality which reasons that justice can only be attained through physical elimination of enemies. Young people who watch violent movies are likely to develop and acquire violent behaviors leading them into criminal activities. Methods to reduce Delinquency There are several ways through which delinquency among military children can be minimized. Such include establishing better approaches of handling the juvenile offenders as well as improving the support aimed at reaching out to the teenagers living in chaotic homes among violent actions. Youths from military families need to be supported by the military authorities through the establishment of clear means by which they can adapt to the absence of their parents who have been deployed for active service (Britt, Adler & Castro, 2006). If these different ways are applied in the case of military delinquencies then it can help in restricting criminal activities performed by their children. Another way that can used to effectively control delinquency can be complete integration of support initiatives to all military children in various military agencies. They agree that enhancement of joint effort in support towards youths are at risk between military and civilian schools, courts and other children and family support programs so as to ensure harmony in the activities. Juvenile offenders need to be incorporated into community services that work in collaboration with youth empowerment groups (MacDermid & Riggs, 2011). A support group can be helpful because most of the time the children whose parents or a family member has been deployed, find themselves very lonely and look for company. The support groups can take up the initiatives of being there for them as a friend or a well wisher with whom they can discuss their feelings and problems. However Einstadter & Henry (2006) lay emphasis on the basic assumptions underlying juvenile delinquency. They begin by consenting that it is not possible to come up with an effective prevention program aimed at eradicating juvenile delinquency without having an in-depth understanding of its causes. The author outlines that antisocial behavior may as well be a normal way of life to a growing child or that it may on the other side be part of the beginning of a criminal mind that will manifest itself later in their lives. Hence not all criminal activities can be traced to an early antisocial behavior in life. Top of Form In order to reduce chances of juvenile delinquency among military children, Rubin et. al argues that the families need to be assisted in various ways such as counselling services to the children when their parents are away so that they can easily adapt to the changes. The military soldiers need to be trained on general approaches to parenting as well as availing relevant information to the families on the progress of their members under deployment (Rubin, Weiss & Coll, 2013). References Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency. Agnew, R. (1995). Testing the Leading Crime Theories: An Alternative Strategy Focusing on Motivational Processes. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 32(4), 363-398. Agnew, R. (1999). A General Strain Theory of Community Differences in Crime Rates. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 36, 123-155. Agnew, R., Cullen, F., Burton, V., Evans, T., and Dunaway, B. (1996). A New Test of Classic Strain Theory. Justice Quarterly. 13(4), 681-704. Asṭor, R. (2012). The military family's parent guide for supporting your child in school (1st ed.). Binder, A., Geis, G., & Bruce, D. (2001). Juvenile delinquency (1st ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Pub. Co. Britt, T., Adler, A., & Castro, C. (2006). Military life (1st ed.). Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International. Burfeind, J., & Bartusch, D. (2011). Juvenile delinquency (1st ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Cochran, J., Dembo, R., Sellers, C., and Wareham, J. (2005). Community, Strain, and Delinquency: A Test of a Multi-Level Model of General Strain Theory. Western Criminology Review. 6(1): 117-133. Cullingford, C. (1999). The causes of exclusion (1st ed.). London: Kogan Page. Dao, J. (2009). Deployments Taking Toll on Military’s Children. New York Times. DOI – 7th, December, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/07study.html?_r=0 Einstadter, W., & Henry, S. (2006). Criminological theory (1st ed.). Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. Fink, G. (2010). Stress of war, conflict and disaster (1st ed.). Amsterdam: Academic Press. Glueck, S., & Glueck, E. (1950). Unraveling juvenile delinquency (1st ed.). New York: Commonwealth Fund. Hawkins, J. (1996). Delinquency and crime (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency (1st ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. Kazdin, A. (2005). Parent management training (1st ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Kuper, J. (2005). Military training and children in armed conflict (1st ed.). New York: Nijhoff. Lahey, B., Moffitt, T., & Caspi, A. (2003). Causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency (1st ed.). New York: Guilford Press. MacDermid, S., & Riggs, D. (2011). Risk and resilience in U.S. military families (1st ed.). New York, NY: Springer. Matthews, G., Deary, I., & Whiteman, M. (2003). Personality traits (1st ed.). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Moini, J., Zellman, G., & Gates, S. (2006). Providing child care to military families (1st ed.). Santa Monica, CA: RAND. Nilsson, A. (2013). Children and youth in armed conflict (1st ed.). Rubin, A., Weiss, E., & Coll, J. (2013). Handbook of military social work (1st ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. Schumann, M. (1991). Understanding the causes of delinquency (1st ed.). Read More