Where Does Crime Begin? The Issue of Juvenile Offenders
Introduction
There are many theories for how juvenile offenders come to be: from strain theory to social control theory and social learning theory, researchers have postulated on what accounts for juvenile delinquency, what factors contribute to its rise, and who is to blame. Werner and Silbereisen (2003) have shown that harmonious families have greater probability of having a positive impact on childhood development than inharmonious families. Barrett, Ju, Katsiyannis, and Zhang (2015) have shown that there are personal, family, and emotional/behavioral variables that impact and/or determine a young person’s degree of delinquency, including recidivism. And Farrell, Mays, Henry and Schoeny (2011) have shown in their study that parents act as moderators of juvenile behavior, as juveniles seek to balance multiple influences from school life to peer influence as they grow and develop. In short, there are many factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency—they are social, familial, and environmental. This paper will discuss where crime begins, where blame may be placed, and what potential solutions might be applied to help remedy the situation.
Helpful Theories
One of the most helpful theories, rooted in environmental causation, is the concept known as Broken Windows Theory. This theory, developed by Wilson and Kelling in 1982 states that if a neighborhood is not physically taken care of then it will produce or allow degenerate behavior to flourish. As Bursik (1988) puts it, social disorganization fosters crime. In other words, criminals take advantage of an environment that is not kept up, viewing it as one in which people do not care about order; thus, people see this as an opportunity to engage in behavior and activity that is outside the normal spectrum of law and order. Young people who grow up in such an environment are more likely to be lured into juvenile delinquency simply because their environment seems to suggest that this type of behavior is acceptable or condoned by the community’s indifference to standards and order. Social learning theory correlates with Broken Windows Theory in the sense that the former also explains that delinquency is a learned behavior that young persons pick up from those around them.
Social disorganization might be most apparent from a macro-level—i.e.,...
References
Barrett, D., Ju, S., Katsiyannis, A., Zhang, D. (2015). Females in the juvenile justice
system: influences on delinquency and recidivism. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 427-433.
Bursik, R. (1988). Social disorganization and theories of crime and delinquency:
Problems and prospects. Criminology, 26(4), 519-552.
Farrell, A., Mays, S., Henry, D., Schoeny, M. (2011). Parents as moderators of the
impact of school norms and peer influences on aggression in middle school students. Child Development, 82(1), 146-161.
Kristjansson, K. (2014). There is something about Aristotle: the pros and cons of
Aristotelianism in contemporary moral education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 48(1), 48-68.
Relevance Juvenile offenders and reoffenders are an important problem facing the United States criminal justice system. For more than one hundred years, states held the belief that the juvenile justice system acted as a vehicle to safeguard the public via offering a structure that enables the rehabilitation of children growing into adulthood. States identified the difference of children committing crimes versus adult offenders (Loeber & Farrington, 2012). For example, the states
Dugan: Should be on its own page. Juvenile recidivism is a prevalent problem in the criminal justice system. Tackling reoffending remains a complex task requiring several strategies and aims. It involves research, acknowledgement of causes, factors, exploration, and evaluation of subgroups to generate long-term, positive changes in the lives of juvenile offenders. From gang violence to Interactive, Constructive, Active, and Passive (ICAP), researchers discover some of the reasons why juveniles
Juvenile offenders have grown to become a serious problem in many countries, especially the United States. Like adult offenders, juvenile offenders are more likely to reoffend, especially without the proper guidance and assistance they need in order to live a law abiding life. Research within the last five years has led to identification of specific program models as well theory-based intervention approaches that not only assist juvenile offenders in leading
133). In sum, low-income blacks and males continue to be responsible for a disproportionate number of juvenile homicidal acts, but juvenile homicide is not restricted to these age, ethnic or socioeconomic groups (Heckel & Shumaker, 2001). Impact of Family Violence on Incidence of Juvenile Homicide in the U.S. And New York. Around 14% of juvenile homicides involve family members as victims, compared to 55% that involve friends or acquaintances and 31%
Juvenile Delinquency The Correlation Between Juvenile Delinquency and Mental Illness Mental Illness Juvenile Delinquency The Correlation Between Juvenile Delinquency and Mental Illness Juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime are serious issues in the United States and other countries today. While it is important to stop crimes before they start, and to make sure that juveniles have other activities so they do not turn to crime, one of the overlooked areas has to do with the factors
Studies indicate that "... A higher than average incidence of delinquency occurs among youngsters of the poorest social standing and with the lowest performance at school..." (Jarvelin et al., 1994, p. 230) Similarly, studies also note that neighborhood influences on development was determinant on factors such as "...collective socialization, peer-group influence, and institutional capacity." (Sampson, Morenoff & Gannon-Rowley, 2002. p 443) Generally studies like the above present a negative picture of
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