Delincuency in Stanton E. Samenow´s Books

Before It’s Too Late: Why Some Kids Get Into Trouble and What Parents Can Do About It, was written by Stanton E. Samenow, Ph.D., published by Times Books. Stanton E. Samenow also wrote books Inside the Criminal Mind and Straight Talk About Criminals. He has evaluated and counseled antisocial youngsters and their families for over a decade. The purpose of this book is to teach parents an approach they can take in dealing with the antisocial youngster.

In the book, Samenow strongly emphasizes that children become delinquent by choice. The theory of choice holds that youths will engage in delinquent and criminal behavior after weighing the consequences and benefits of their actions. Delinquent behavior is a rational choice made by a motivated offender who perceives that the chances of gain outweigh any possible punishment or loss. (Siegel & Welsh, 2011)

Throughout the book, Samenow states that most parents blame themselves for the way their children behave. A lot of the time parents are blamed by others for their child’s irresponsible actions, which then causes the parents to blame themselves. Children begin to make their own choices at a very early age, as they grow older the choices they make become more complex. Although parents can be very influential to a child, they cannot control the child’s mindset. The parenting techniques that parents use may play a small role in a child’s behavior, they do not create antisocial children. Parents need to stop blaming themselves whenever their children make bad choices because it is the child himself that makes that decision, not the parents.

Ultimately, the antisocial child knows difference between what is right and what is wrong.

Many try to argue that the bad environment a child is...

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...isery of others. In an example from the book, Samenow stated that if a handicapped child tripped and fell the antisocial child would be the one taunting him. The antisocial child’s main objective is to gratify his needs and he doesn’t care who he manipulates or injures along the way.

I thought this book was an okay book. The one thing that I didn’t like about the book was that the author repeated himself a lot throughout the whole book. Something that I will always remember about this book will be the signs of antisocial behavior that the author tells parents to look out for because I am a parent myself. If I had to recommend this book I would recommend it to parents and people that deal with antisocial children as part of their occupation.

Works Cited

Siegel, L., & Welsh, B. (2011). Juvenile delinquency the core. (Fourth ed., p. 54). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.