Marcus Thomas: A Case Study on Juvenile Delinquency

Marcus Thomas a 14 year old African American male from Prichard, Alabama. Marcus has a history of truancy, stealing, and fighting and this will be his third appearance in juvenile court. Marcus was placed on probation for breaking into a local convenience store with three other boys. Marcus is now in detention waiting for a hearing by the juvenile judge. Marcus is not doing well in school, he has low grades and attendance, and he associates himself with gang activities. Marcus may have some anger towards his family that plays a role in his delinquent behavior, “… We didn’t have problems ‘till your started bringin’ your big ugly self around Mama…”
A list of Marcus’ problem areas is:
1. Marcus tends to have delinquent behavioral problems.
2. Marcus

The client started experiencing delinquent behavior problems at age 11 around the time his father left out of his life, which may be hard for him to cope. To find out the cause of the client’s action, a meeting was setup with the family to discuss Marcus delinquent behavior. A social worker sat with the client and their family to gather information before client’s court appearance. The client’s family that was present at the session was 35 years old Mrs. Demetress Walker (client’s mother), 12 years old Janessa (sister), 38 Jamarcus Walker (step-father), and 14 years old Tyrus Walker (step-brother). During the session, each family member expressed their issues they have with the client. The social worker notices the tension each family member had towards Marcus. Mrs. Walker relationship towards her son is loving and protective. However, Mrs. Walker does say that Marcus is the one who refuses to get along with the family. Mrs. Walker has been married three times which seems to present a major issue with Marcus, especially since he does not like who she married. It is clear that Mrs. Walker wants to protect her son because she stated that she is scared that anything she says might get him in more trouble. Janessa and Marcus share the typical sibling relationship. Janessa expressed how she is embarrassed because her friends would know when

Marcus first charge when he got caught skipping in the neighborhood. The school called Marcus’s parent but the mother denied receiving any notification via email from them. It was stated that Marcus might have intercept all notifications so his mother would not receive them. Marcus was placed on probation for four months after his truancy hearing and a probation officer monitored his attendance and grades. During the four months’ probation, Marcus was ordered to see his probation officer every two weeks and the officer maintained weekly contact with the school counselor. By the end of his initial probation, Marcus had a “D” average in most of his classes. However, in this probation period, Marcus’s family was not involved. The second charge was for an altercation at school with three other boys, assaulted a young man for reporting him and three other juveniles for masturbating in the school’s looker room. The young man was hospitalized for a broken arm and concussion. Lastly, Marcus is currently in trouble for breaking into a convenience store with the same juveniles that were involved in the altercation at school. Marcus probation officer stated that juveniles are involved in a