Juvenile delinquency
Introduction
In the field of criminology, youth crime has become a major issue. Teenagers have picked up violent habits that go against the values and rules of society. There are a lot of crimes because people are doing things that are wrong. This is an alarming number of crimes. For instance, young people joining gangs has been a problem in the US for a long time. Even the juvenile systems haven’t been able to handle this problem, which keeps getting worse and worse. Prison officers also think that being locked up makes young people more likely to join a certain gang. For example, about 2% of the general population in the United States is made up of people who have been in jail as a child (Bates, & Swan, 2019). People think that young people join gangs for many reasons, but most of them have to do with not having a place to belong. So, young people who don’t have much control over their lives are often very interested in the power that gangs have in the community. So, the main goal of this paper is to look at the ideas behind juvenile delinquency, its theory, and the premises that are used to explain it.
Definition of juvenile delinquency
The word “delinquency” comes from the Latin word “delinquere,” which means to leave or give up. It was used to talk about parents who gave up on their kids. In the modern world, it is used for kids who commit crimes or do other things that are against the law. The word “juvenile” can also be used to describe a child who has broken the laws of his or her country. So, juvenile delinquency is when a child between the ages of 10 and 17 does something that is against the law (Bates, & Swan, 2019). It also refers to children who don’t listen to their parents and can’t be controlled by them, so they have to face legal action in a court of law.
Concepts of juvenile delinquency
There are two kinds of young people who have broken the law: those who do it more than once and those who do it because they are young. Repeat offenders show signs of being bad at a young age. They often keep doing wrong things or show signs of being angry even when they are adults. On the other hand, age-specific criminals start when they are still young but not yet adults. Before the kid becomes an adult, he or she stops being mean and showing signs of it. After they become adults, they often have more mental problems, use drugs, and have trouble with money. There are signs that the child might end up breaking the law, such as breaking the rules, being very mean to other students, and taking a long time to learn how to talk (Bates, & Swan, 2019). Teenagers who break the law range from those who don’t listen to their parents to those who kill someone.
From a legal perspective, almost all minors could be considered delinquents since most youths engage in at least one crime at some point in their teenage years. For instance, research conducted shows that approximately 80% of high school seniors reported being abusing alcohol, while 45% were using marijuana while in school (Bates, & Swan, 2019). (Bates, & Swan, 2019). The percentage of teenagers who disobeyed their parents and are incarcerated is even higher. The legal definition doesn’t distinguish between who was caught committing a crime and who commits crimes. It does not also mean that those who caught up engaging in illegal behaviors end up being incarcerated. But calling a child a juvenile delinquent would make them think of themselves as thieves or troublemakers. This would cause them to be rejected and lose some opportunities, which would make them more likely to join gangs or do illegal things.
Major factors contributing to juvenile delinquencies
Peer pressure
Peer pressure is the effect that a group of people has on a certain person. It becomes a social problem because most young people look up to their peers. How a child acts is affected by the people he or she hangs out with. For example, the main reason most teens join gangs is because of pressure from their peers. Also, they need to feel like they are part of a certain group. Parents and police officers should think about whether or not a person is in a gang. For example, nine out of ten youth detention centers have said that there are active youth gangs (Aizer, A., & Currie, 2019). This problem doesn’t just affect the juvenile facilities; it affects the whole community. Peer pressure from close friends can cause a teen to get involved in illegal activities. For example, if all of their friends are in a certain gang, the child may feel pressured to join that gang so they don’t feel left out. This happens because teens hang out with their friends more than adults do.
So, peers become delinquent when they hang out with people who are already doing bad things. So, studies show that teenagers’ bad behavior is caused by the people around them. People who don’t follow the rules and laws of society end up in jail because they did something wrong. This is because society puts a lot of value on conformity and expects its members to uphold and accept it.
Misuse of drugs
Juvenile crime is caused by the use of drugs at a young age. Children who use drugs often need basic things to live, which is the main reason they often get into trouble. People think it’s bad to abuse drugs like alcohol and marijuana. For example, drinking before you are of age is a delinquent act. When young people drink before they should, they often put themselves in more danger. They often put themselves at a higher risk of being sexually assaulted or getting into trouble. Once a teen starts using drugs, it’s hard for them to get out of that life (Walker & Cesar, 2020). People say that drugs damage the prefrontal cortex, which is in charge of judgment, decision making, and emotional control, in a way that can’t be fixed.
Because of this, drug abuse by teenagers has long-term effects. Peers often avoid people who use drugs because they are ashamed of it. Teens who use drugs stop going to school and act violently.
Theories of juvenile delinquencies
There are three common theories about why young people act bad: the subculture theory, the differential opportunity theory, and the strain theory. The theories explain why young people act in bad ways from a social point of view.
Theory of strain
Robert Merton first came up with the idea in the 1940s. Merton claims that adolescent misconduct happens on the grounds that the young people do not have alternative means to fulfill their desires. So, they often find that some of their goals are out of reach. This is the main reason they turn to crime to reach their goals. A young person who wants to buy a car is a good example (Featherstone & Deflem, 2015). Since the young person can’t find a job, he or she either steals a car or sells drugs to make money. He also says that people use patterns of behavior like conformity, innovation, ritualism, rebellion, or retreatism in order to deal with stress.
Merton says that people with low social status often turn to crime because they don’t have many other options (Featherstone, & Deflem, 2015). His idea makes sense. He says that people do bad things because they have no other options. This theory explains why only people from lower social classes are criminals. It says that people from higher social classes have other ways to make a living. Young people who don’t have access to education and jobs are more likely to be bored and act out. He also said that criminal subcultures tend to form among teens from lower-income families who live in areas where illegal activities are easy to do. For example, a successful criminal moves into the neighborhood and becomes a role model for young people (Featherstone, & Deflem, 2015). So, young people who want to be like their role models have to go through a process of learning to be like them. They learn the rules and skills they need to use the illegal business in the community to their advantage.
The idea of subculture
In 1955, Albert Cohen came up with the subculture hypothesis. He says that the kids learn their attitudes and values from the culture in which they grow up. For example, kids from middle-class families learn how to get ahead, while kids from working-class families learn how to be nice but not follow rules. Children from working-class families fight more often than children from middle-class families. Because of this, the situation at school gets worse as kids join different gangs. Cohen also says that teenagers who don’t meet social standards look to a subculture for approval (Blackman, 2014). There are also other young people who try not to follow the rules in the subculture groups.
In this way, the gatherings act in a way that isn’t recognized by the community, which makes people fight back. Cohen says that the main effect of a delinquency is bad behavior by teens (Blackman, 2014). So, young people do bad things like stealing not because they think it’s normal, but because they don’t fit in with the rest of society. He also says that the idea of a delinquent subculture grew out of the problems of working-class kids and their loss of status when they didn’t meet the standards of the middle class.
The theory of different chances
This theory was different from Cohen’s idea that young people act bad when they don’t meet cultural standards. The theory that Lloyd Ohlin and Richard Cloward came up with says that opportunity is a big part of why teenagers do bad things. The hypothesis says that if teenagers have more chances to succeed, they would be less likely to look to subculture groups for acceptance (Cloward & Ohlin, 2015). The theory also says that adolescent misbehavior can be caused by other social factors. For example, a teen might do well in school but not be able to find a job (Cloward & Ohlin, 2015). If the teen can’t find a job, he or she might become a criminal. The hypothesis is different from the subculture hypothesis in that it shows that an adolescent can turn into a bad person for reasons other than social ones.
In the modern world, young people face their own risks, no matter what they wear, where they come from, or where they live. Teenagers often do things that are against the law, like use drugs, get violent with their peers, and commit serious crimes. People say that teens are the ones who get hurt the most by criminal acts. They are victims because they want to join different subcultures to feel like they belong and get approval. So, parents and society can use education and other methods to stop teens from doing bad things, like breaking the law. The goal of these programs is to teach them about how dangerous it is to take risks and use drugs. So, it is up to the parents to teach their children the moral and ethical standards of society. They have to teach the differences between what is right and what is wrong. If the juvenile isn’t trained when they are young, more young people will end up in jail, which will make these places too crowded.
References
Aizer, A., & Currie, J. (2019). Lead and juvenile crime: new information from birth, school, and juvenile detention records that have been linked. Review of Economics and Statistics, 101(4), pp. 575–587.
Bates, K.A., and R.S. Swan (2019). Juvenile delinquency in a diverse society. The company name is SAGE Publications, Inc.
Blackman, S. (2014). Subculture theory is a way to look at how people have been different in the past and in the present. Deviant behavior, 35(6), 496-512 .
Cloward, R.A., and L. Ohlin (2015). Differential opportunity and delinquent subcultures. A Symbolic Interactionist Approach to Deviance, pp. 52–60.
R. Featherstone and M. Deflem (2015). Merton’s two theories of anomie and strain: what they are about and what they mean. Sociological Inquiry, 73(4), 471-489.
Walker, D. A., & Cesar, G. T. (2020). A Focal Concerns Point of View on the “Gang Penalty” in the Juvenile Justice System. Violence among teens and the justice system for kids, 1541204020916238
