Juvenile Delinquency Essay

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Brutal, harsh, unforgiving, and relentless . . . the worst effect of poverty is not a tangible dirtiness, but a corruption of one’s very soul. Juvenile delinquency has always been a huge problem, but it has been especially evident in recent years as the juvenile crime rate increased exponentially to more than 1.3 million delinquency cases in just 2010. In 1999, the American public ranked crime as the most important problem facing the nation("Juveniles"). In 1994 there were only 78 youth court programs in operation, whereas in 2010 there were over 1,050 youth courts in operation ("Youth Courts"). The causes of juvenile delinquency are both economic and social. Some specific examples of these factors are bad housing, broken homes, parental negligence, boy and girl gangs, and other harsh neighborhood conditions. While social influences undeniably contribute to juvenile delinquency, it is the economic circumstances that contribute most to continued delinquent behavior amongst juveniles who are in consistent trouble with the law. Current solutions are either skill-based without appropriate support or highly punitive in nature; available resources would be better spent addressing the fundamental economic disparity of communities which primarily causes most of these problems. There is an obvious and undeniable correlation between economic factors and juvenile crime. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, a “longitudinal study on the causes and correlates of juvenile delinquency reaffirm the link between delinquency and poverty. Juveniles who are part of the “underclass” confront a “significantly greater risk of engaging in delinquent behavior irrespective of race and the quality of... ... middle of paper ... ... even willing to die for money, so in order to truly address this juvenile delinquency problem we cannot just address the surface level social issues,but must also, and perhaps more importantly, focus on the economic foundation that motivates juveniles to continue a path of crime. Economic problems are the only factors that contribute to social issues, but the resources being wasted on these corrections facilities and other ineffective socially addressing programs should be better spent on improving the economic situation of communities. About one-quarter of juveniles who offended at ages 16-17 also offended as adults at ages 18-19, therefore the growing urgency and importance to address juvenile justice is undeniable, because by addressing juvenile delinquency you are addressing crime in general (“Child Maltreatment & Juvenile Delinquency: Facts and Figures").

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