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Family structure and juvenile delinquency
Family structure and juvenile delinquency
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Families are the strongest socialization forces in juvenile’s lives. Juveniles encounter love, affection and support from their families, but many juveniles do not have this. There are juvenile that receive no affection from their families and their emotions are kept inside them and may feel no sympathy towards others. As juveniles are growing, their family environment makes a big impact if the juvenile will become a delinquent. Families teach juvenile’s aggressive behavior or violence. If a juvenile grows up with violence in their home, they will believe that violence is acceptable and it will become the norm for them. Violence also affects a juvenile’s brain, where it can lead to depression, suicide or substance abuse. Violence is a factor …show more content…
Juveniles are going through hormone changes and their emotions override their actions and feelings. As juveniles grow up, their brains are still developing and it does not stop growing until they are in their twenties. Juveniles engage in delinquency because they do not see the risks of their actions and it may be thrilling or fun for them. The juvenile’s medulla governs juvenile’s emotions and does little with thinking, where it is easy for juveniles to steal or participate in a murder. Juveniles do not think much of their actions and they engage in delinquency behavior because their emotions override their rational thoughts and feel excitement or a rush when committing a …show more content…
Dembo demonstrates a structural model that family problems, such as sexual victimization, physical abuse or family alcohol/mental health problems lead to behavior problems in juveniles where they will engage in delinquency or alcohol abuse or drug abuse. Juveniles who are physically abused by their families engage in delinquency, where they can be aggressive towards their peers and will drop out of school in their early years. Violence affects juvenile’s brain where it is not fully develop and the violence is traumatizing for them. Juveniles experience violence that leads to mental or physical problems. Benedict argues that psychiatrists argue that violence in families develop mental problems in juveniles later in their lives from anxiety, depression and substance abuse or suicide. Juveniles experience many negative emotional problems as their brain is developing; their emotions override their thoughts and grow up committing crimes. Also, if a juvenile has a parent who has alcohol problems and engage in criminal behavior, the juvenile will likely engage in the same behavior and start drinking since the are very young and that affects their brain cells and the development of their brains (McCORD, 401). Juveniles brain growth with decrease and not develop correctly with alcohol abuse and juveniles will act in delinquent behavior and commit
Parents should be more involved with their children’s lives, and try to discipline and set rules at an early age. It is better for a juvenile to be confined rather than him/her influencing average teenagers to follow in his footsteps. It is a sad day when a teenager has to spend his/her days in a juvenile facility rather than outside enjoying his freedom and childhood. Children, who attend these programs and cannot cope with the challenges, can be easily abused. The risk in enrolling these teenagers into such disciplinary programs may either break them or make them improve their behaviors and quality of life. Teenagers who come out of these camps are stronger, disciplined, educated and even become role models to other teens can someday help other delinquents. In order to change someone’s life, one must first change his/her actions and
American Psychological Association experts state that on average when compared to adults, 16 and 17 year-old juveniles are more: emotionally volatile, aggressive, impulsive, reactive to stress, vulnerable to peer pressure, likely to take menacing risks, prone to dramatize short-term advantages, under mind the long term consequences of their actions, and are likely to omit alternative courses of action. This may have something to with the fact that the adolescent brain is under developed. For example, according to experts at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law and Brain Behavior “Modern neuroscience is demonstrating that the teen behavior we all observe has a brain signature that can be scanned...” and “ Their frontal lobes, the regions that synthesize and organize information, that consider the consequences of actions, and serve to inhibit impulsive behavior are not fully developed, nor will they be until the early to mid 20s.” (Edersheim, Beresin, Schlozman 2013) The front of the brain contains important nerve circuitry that functions by ...
Naiveté and lambs are two common symbolic representations of children. However, these ‘pure’ children can also be some of the most ruthless and disturbed beings on the planet. Juvenile delinquents are the small percent of children who act on their violent urges. Juvenile delinquents are minors that are “guilty of antisocial or criminal behavior” (Houghton Mifflin Company 951). All juveniles who commit these atrocious acts have some discrepant factor whether it is genetic or environmental, that has affected them, and in turn caused them to be psychologically disturbed. A wide variety of crimes can be committed by a juvenile. Anything an adult has the capability of doing, a child can also. However, reasons why they commit these crimes have a great variation, ranging from personal to economical reasonings. Hope of rehabilitation for the juvenile never ceases, because there are many treatment options that are available and can be utilized to help. Juveniles can be treated with different types of therapy, surgery, prescription medicine, and treatment programs. Despite the contributing factors of juvenile delinquency, family background and structure, along with the influence of peer pressure are the two most significant in determining the success of the juvenile.
Youths who have entered the justice system have often been diagnosed with mental disorders or diseases. “A majority of adolescents formally involved in juvenile court have at least one, if not more than one, significant emotional or learning impairment, or maltreatment experience” (Mallet, 2013). The existence of these diseases often effect the juvenile’s stability and ability to make rational decisions. Which may result in them engaging in criminal activities The prevalence of disruptive behavior disorders among youths in juvenile justice systems is reported to be between 30 percent and 50 percent (The mental health needs of juvenile offenders). The difficulties of these disorders are often
In a study on juvenile offenders, researchers discovered that over 83% of juveniles showed signs and symptoms of disorders that may antedated their offenses. (Arline, May 2005). Problems with behavior may have been misunderstood for a lack of discipline instead of a disorder, and many juveniles with disorders came from a home with abuse present. In cases of juvenile offenders the courts are not doing enough evaluations on juvenile families, and eon the few that they do have on file their families are stated to be stable (Arline, May 2005). However, many juvenile offenders went through unthinkable circumstances with the members of the community they live in, parents, and agencies who played a role in their life prior to being in adult criminal system (Darden, 2014). A lot of juveniles who are in the criminal system have common elements in their non-profit profiles like regretful choices, mistrusting adults, robbed childhood, and being disappointed (Darden, 2014). For instance, a juvenile offender name Jennifer Pruitt, went through physical abuse, being exposed to drunken behavior, father sexually abusing her, and domestic abuse (Darden, 2014). She ran away fro home and confided in her neighbor as someone she could trust, but her neighbor convinced her to rob another neighbor (Darden, 2014). During the attempt to the rob the neighbor Pruitt ending up witnessing a murder, and was convicted of a felony murder that landed her more than twenty years in prison (Darden,
Science supports the notation that the frontal lobe is not fully developed until an individual is in their late 20’s. One of the biggest concerns with juveniles is their impulsivity and lack of judgment, both of which are controlled by the prefrontal cortex. It is alarming to me to hold a juvenile fully accountable for their actions when unlike adults; part of their brain has not been fully developed. Biologically, they are not yet mature and their executive system is not full functioning. In addition to the profound physical changes of the brain, Deborah Yurgelun-Todd of Harvard University states that adolescents also undergo dramatic hormonal and emotional changes. For example, testosterone being one of the hormones that has the most dramatic effect on the body is closely associated with aggression and increases tenfold in adolescent boys (2004). Juveniles suffer from significant neurological deficits that may increase delinquency; therefore holding them to the same standards as adults is
Juvenile delinquency may evolve around many different factors before it becomes a problem for society to solve. Gender and family structure can be a large and underlining cause of why children enter the criminal justice system. By examining the gender and family makeup, one could better understand how to treat a troubled individual.
For every 12 homicides committed in the United States 1 of them involves a juvenile offender (Howard N. Snyder, Juvenile Offenders and Victims, 2006). Although most American don’t realize it, juvenile homicide is a problem in the United States that needs to be fixed. Even though statistics show that the homicide rate done by juveniles is at its lowest rate since the early 1980’s it is still a problem. Juvenile homicide has lowered in the recent years, but the fact that it still happens is chilling to most Americans. Most Americans believe that juveniles who show early signs of deviant acts are not a big deal, however if we try and help those juveniles, we can possibly stop them from committing homicidal acts when they get older. In fact the social learning theory, general strain theory, and social control theory point to the idea that juvenile homicide can be prevented.
The presentation of negative stimuli has been found to be one of the forerunning causes of delinquency amongst juveniles. Some examples of undesirable stimuli that an adolescent could be facing are child abuse, neglect, and exploitation, hostile relationships with parents teachers and peers, negative academic experiences, neighborhood difficulties, and poverty. If a juvenile is surrounded by individuals who sell drugs in order to finance a way of life that is easier and more financial than their current way of life, the adolescent id more likely to imitate that behavior by association.
Juveniles are not mature enough or developed psychologically, and, therefore, do not consider the consequences of their actions. In the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Thompson,
According to the text “Juvenile Delinquency: The Core” the social structure theory associates juvenile delinquency rates to socioeconomic structure conditions, for example poor communities, families that are usually unemployed, families that have a continuous cycle of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), single parent households, families with incarcerated fathers, sons and even moms and daughters. Some of these children are raised by grandparents or placed in the foster care system. Many young people in these communities are parents themselves – babies raising babies. This I know because this describes many of the youth in my community.
Families serve as one of the strongest socializing forces in a person's life. They help teach children to control unacceptable behavior, to delay gratification, and to respect the rights of others. Conversely, families can also teach children aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. In adults' lives, family responsibilities may provide an important stabilizing force. Given these possibilities, family life may directly contribute to the development of delinquent and criminal tendencies. Parental conflict and child abuse correlate with delinquency. Though not all children who grow up in conflictive or violent homes become delinquent, however, being exposed to conflict and violence appears to increase the risk of delinquency. At this point, researchers have not pin pointed what factors exactly push some at-risk youth into delinquency. A child with criminal parents faces a greater likelihood of becoming a delinquent than children with law-abiding parents. However, the influence appears not to be directly related to criminality but possibly to poor supervision.
Juvenile delinquency is committing criminal acts or offenses by a young person, generally involving people under the age of eighteen. That is what this research proposal is about. For my research proposal my research question is what can cause or deter juvenile delinquency in first time offenders? I feel that this is an important question to be asking, because in our society there is too much juvenile delinquency and if we can use this research to figure out what can cause and deter this phenomenon then we could sincerely help a lot of adolescents.
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.
In today’s generation there are many children and teens that commit crimes to satisfy their self being. Every day we see in the news about the reasons why children or teens commit crimes like murder or homicide. Sentencing juveniles to life in prison is not a right response to prevent homicide and serious murder, because their brains are not fully develop and the bad environment they live in. Teenagers or children need to be remain unformed of preventing crimes in today’s society. With this said, juvenile’s mental brains, backgrounds and growth are the reasons why they are not proficient to maintain themselves in a prison cell.