Crime at any age and in any form is a social problem and should be stopped or curbed at any cost. Crime at a juvenile age is on one hand a crime against property and life, and on the other a crime against humanity. It is a much graver social danger that holds the seed of an evident social disaster implanted into it. Criminologists hold different views regarding the root of juvenile crime and that often leads into quite the argument. Irrespective of those theoretical head on collisions, the presence of socio economic factors behind each juvenile crime committed is almost accepted by all. No one is a born criminal and it is evident that the surrounding socio economic environment acts as an important element and a catalyst in turning a young boy or girl into a criminal who might be breaking into some one’s house or threatening someone at gun point. In the following paragraphs, a detailed analysis has been made to explore the different avenues through which these socio economic factors contribute to creating the delinquents of today’s youth.
Before moving into the details, it is worth mentioning that the following analysis would be based on a set of socio economic indicators that is made up of; family, socio-economic class and factors that also includes community factors, educational background, urbanization, media, and influence of peers.
Family:
Being a juvenile is the most influential period of human life, and family plays the most critical role in this stage. A family with a healthy atmosphere cultivate the socially acceptable norms within the children that help them to grow into responsible, respectable and moral beings in the end. In sharp contrast, a family that is subject to an unhealthy environment and does not provide en...
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...he absorption of those juveniles into our society like any other normal child of our own. Remember the old adage, “It takes a village to raise a child”.
Works Cited
Juvenile Delinquency: theories of causation, Sage Pub, 2005: http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/4880_Martin_Chapter_3_Juvenile_Delinquency.pdf
Chapter 7. Juvenile Delinquency, World Youth Report, United Nations, 2003. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/ch07.pdf
Shader, Michael. Risk Factors for Delinquency: An Overview, US Department of Justice, Office of justice programs. http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/frd030127.pdf
Social structure theories, n.d. : http://cstl-hhs.semo.edu/cveneziano/STRUC.ppt
Zarka, Heather, Sociological theories of crime, Associated content, 2007. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/227143/sociological_theories_of_crime.html
For a long time, Memphis has been considered one of the United States’ most dangerous cities. When compared to other urban communities of similar sizes, the city in the Mid-South usually tops the list in terms of the number of crimes. Its violent and property crime rates are among the country’s highest, and in the recent years, statistics have shown that they are continuing to increase (Peagler). One specific area of concern regarding Memphis’ crimes is the alarming rate of youth offenders. Like the city’s other rates, the amount of crimes involving juveniles are on the rise, and thus, more effort should be made to prevent young persons from engaging in criminal behavior. The proposed solutions are to demand more beneficial volunteering from
Crime rates across the U.S. for juveniles is at all time high. Juveniles across all demographic have been punished more severely than those of the past. Contributing factors including lower socioeconomic areas such as the Detroit Metropolitan Areas & Chicago. This paper will discuss the apparent issue within the system focusing on juveniles in urban areas.
There is no doubt that youth justice practises have changed throughout the years, these changes have been made to adapt to the new challenges that present themselves today. Crime in general, but particularly youth crime is a consistent problem for society.
“Our youths now love luxury, they have bad manners, they have disrespect for authority, disrespect for older people…” Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates acknowledges the escalation of delinquency among youth in the early age’s .The rise of young offenders furthers the Canadian government to record juvenile offenders, in addition, devise an act to better control the epidemic of young delinquents. The topic of proposal is the effectiveness of the youth justice system in its response to crime. Firstly, in order to determine the effectiveness of the youth justice system, one must grasp the premise that is a delinquency, in particular a young delinquents.
The analyst analyses the process of development of the attitude and social stigma attached to youth and then makes reverse action for delinking youth with demonization. When youth is demonized in terms of crime they tend to align themselves with one stereotype of social values and move away from other but more necessary social values (Goldson and Muncie, 2009). Moreover, the highlighting of youth in mass media also makes these youth confined to their negative roles as mass media makes these criminals more important and psychologically they tend to attract the immediate attention they receive. The attention may be for the wrong reasons but the criminals interpret it as different and consider it as fame and glory. The policy analyst needs to identify the political motivation behind demonizing youth into criminals and attend to the specific belief to address the rise of such illegitimate magnification. The juvenile system of care and welfare has been taking new forms and gets demanded to be renewed as the old efforts have not been able to curb the recurrence of juvenile and youth crimes (Musto, 2002), but has in fact segregated the rich and poor even terms of equal treatment. These factors of wilful and policy motivated practices of segregation further leads the
Many theories, at both the macro and micro level, have been proposed to explain juvenile crime. Some prominent theories include Social Disorganization theory, Differential Social Organization theory, Social Control theory, and Differential Association theory. When determining which theories are more valid, the question must be explored whether people deviate because of what they learn or from how they are controlled? Mercer L. Sullivan’s book, “Getting Paid” Youth Crime and Work in the Inner City clearly suggests that the learning theories both at the macro level, Differential social organization, and micro level, Differential association theory, are the more accurate of the two types of theory.
According to Males and Brown article, the primary cause for the youth to get involved in crime is poverty and lack of success. The statistics from California Criminal Justice and Census Poverty for 2010 refers that the lift in economic deprivation and the lack of success or jobs indulge the youth or teenagers more into the life of violent offenses. The news and article exacerbate the rate violent crime and over-represented the young age in violent crime. The peak age for crime means that the young people involved more in crime than older people. The Brown article suggests that the age-crime relationship means that the violent crime rise in young age and then decline with the age. The child who gets involved in crime at an early age becomes the chronic offenders. The teens who have less relationship with their parents, labelled as antisocial by parents, teachers, neighbors and society get more involved in crime.
Introduction: Recidivism or, habitual relapses into crime, has time and time again proven to be an issue among delinquents, which thereby increases the overall juvenile prison population. This issue has become more prevalent than what we realize. Unless a unit for measuring a juvenile’s risk of recidivism is enacted and used to determine a system to promote effective prevention, than the juvenile prison population will continue to increase. Our court system should not only focus on punishing the said juvenile but also enforce a program or policy that will allow for prevention of recidivism. So the question remains, how can recidivism in the juvenile prison population be prevented so that it is no longer the central cause for increased juvenile delinquency? Simply put, we must create a means of measuring juvenile’s level of risk and in turn, form an effective rehabilitation program that will decrease their risk level for future recidivism.
The United States has been affected by a number of crimes committed by juveniles. The juvenile crime rate has been increasing in recent years. Everyday more juveniles commit crimes for various reasons. They act as adults when they are not officially adults. There is a discussion about how juveniles should be punished if they commit heinous crimes. While many argue that juveniles who commit serious crimes, such as murder, should be treated as adults, the fact is, juveniles under the age of eighteen, are not adults, and should not be treated as such.
In today’s society, one will find that there are many different factors that go into the development of a criminal mind, and it is impossible to single out one particular cause of criminal behavior. Criminal behavior often stems from both biological and environmental factors. In many cases criminals share similar physical traits which the general population do not usually have. For example criminals have smaller brains than properly adjusted individuals. However biological reasons cannot solely be the cause of criminal behavior. Therefore, one must look to other sources as to how a criminal mind is developed. Social and environmental factors also are at fault for developing a person to the point at which they are lead to committing a criminal act. Often, someone who has committed a violent crime shows evidence of a poorly developed childhood, or the unsuitable current conditions in which the subject lives. In addition if one studies victimology which is the role that the victim plays in the crime, it is apparent that there are many different causes for criminal behavior. Through the examination of biological factors, in addition to the social and environmental factors which make up a criminal mind, one can conclude that a criminal often is born with traits common to those of criminals, it is the environment that exist around them that brings out the criminal within them to commit indecent acts of crime.
This “circle” may include family and friends. Over the years, the constituents of a typical household have evolved. Extended families are increasing and the probabilities of a child growing up with one or no parent are more likely to happen now than they did years ago. Studies have found that families with both parents involved in a child’s life are less likely to have delinquent juveniles than families with one or no parent as long as the parents displayed healthy communication and lifestyles among themselves and their children. Furthermore, extended families seem to have a healthier lifestyle than that of nuclear families. The main point focuses on the idea that the happier and healthier a family is, the less likely the children will grow to commit offenses. Bad parenting falls under this idea. Parents who abuse, neglect, and communicate poorly with their children will more likely raise a child who will be involved in criminal acts. Household abuse also tends to work in a cycle. If a child is abused then he or she will more likely be at risk of abusing his or her future children. Studies also show that parents who are involved in criminal offenses are more likely to have juvenile delinquents because children learn from their parents. Thus, abuse and delinquent behavior correspond with each other. Additionally, if the child has a delinquent sibling, that also
Juvenile crime is a growing problem that endangers virtually every American. Juvenile delinquency is enormously damaging to the health and well-being of the nations families and communities. A juvenile crime can consist of DUI, robbery, rape, minor in possession, weapon in possession anything an adult can be charged with. Individuals under the age of eighteen who commit these crimes can be charged as a juvenile delinquent. Statistics show that most juveniles that commit crimes are in a gang; weather its street related or school related. The average cost of caring for an incarcerated juvenile is more than $40,000 a year. Vandalism in schools cost more than two-hundred million a year, and vandalism directed at personal property is even more expensive. Most juveniles commit crimes because of peer pressure or broken homes. When a minor commits a crime, a state will classify them as a juvenile delinquent.
“Failure to make friends at school or poor academic performance can often be the cause of juvenile delinquency. Poverty and living in a dangerous neighborhood will sometimes lead children to engage in criminal activities” (Fisher, 2015). Environmental factors take their place in many theories of criminality, including juvenile criminality. Sociological theories maintain that “lack of education, poverty-level income, poor housing, slum conditions and conflict within home and family increase crime commission” (Hess et.al, p.76). Fisher also manages to hit at the social ecology theory and anomie theory in his final sentence on the topic of environmental factors: “If your child has easy access to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes or weapons, he may turn to risky behavior as a way to escape the pressure of what he feels is an unhappy life.” Delinquent behavior becomes both a normal reaction to the environment (social ecology) and a means to attain the American dream (anomie).
Bridges, K. M. Banham . "Factors Contributing to Juvenile Delinquency." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 17.4 (1927): 531-76. scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
Everyone is born into some form of family, with the family taking the responsibility of nurturing, teaching the norms or accepted behaviors within the family structure and within society. There are many types of families, which can be described as a set of relationships including parents and children and can include anyone related by blood or adoption. Family is the most important, “for it is within the family that the child is first socialized to serve the needs of the society and not only its own needs” (Goode, 1982).