The article “Worldview of high-risk Juvenile Delinquents” written by Julie H. Goldberg is focused on the relationship between violent juvenile offenders and their devastating past experiences. The participants of this research were male adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 incarcerated who were also in the high-risk offenders Unit of a juvenile hall. The study was to predict participants’ willingness to shoot. Preexisting risk factors (delinquency, exposure to violence, and victimization) was required to be factored into any findings. There were 3 research questions and they are as follows:
Usually when a youth is classified as a delinquent it is associated with antisocial behaviors within the family and in the community such as aggression and can lead to related problems such as vandalism, substance usage and running away, theft, robbery, and larceny, gang memberships and school shootings. Juveniles are typically not charged like adults unless the crime is serious. Delinquency in the United States is examined with the emphasis on its relation to local communities and the groups and institutions that form the social world of children and adolescents (Cavan &
Two of the most important concepts are the Strain theory by Robert K. Merton and General Strain theory by Robert Agnew. Strain theory describes that society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially accepted goes such as the American dream. Though they lack the means to have the American dream, which leads to strain, but might lead to the individuals to commit crimes. On the other hand, Robert Agnew’s General theory describes as seeing crime as a coping mechanism to help people deal with socioemotional problems that are generated by negative social relations. Each member of society has similar goals and aspirations.
The juvenile justice system is a system created to handle minors who are convicted of crimes to separate them from adult court. The justice system has many problems with racial discrimination amongst juveniles. The four theories explain the reasons sociologists explain why they believe such discrimination against other race happens. The strain theorists believe strain and stressful things on racial discrimination among juvenile delinquents are the reason why there is an increase in juvenile delinquency. The control theorists idea is that people with low levels of control especially in racial situations are more likely to have an increase in delinquency.
His areas of study are Juvenile delinquency, Youth violence and Criminological theory. The main argument of the source is that General strain theory provides and explanation of crime and delinquency and that it is the latest and broadest form of strain theory. General Strain Theory represents a revision and extension of prior strain theories. “General strain theory is distinguished from other criminological theories by the central role it assigns to negative emotions in the etiology of offending. It is also distinguished by the emphasis it places on particular strains, especially strains involving negative social relations “ (Brezina, 2018).
Arriving at the connection of crime to all three of our group 's topics was fairly easy. Each member brainstormed, out loud, their thoughts on ways that plants and cars could possibly lead to juvenile incarceration, which is our third group topic, in order to reveal a general connection. Tying cars to juvenile incarceration took the least creativity, since grand theft auto, driving while intoxicated, and use of vehicles to commit crimes are all issues related to delinquency. Plants was a slightly more challenging topic to link with juvenile incarceration. In general, it was too broad of a topic.
We ask a question which came first the peer of the delinquent with selection perspective youth, selects their peers based on their own delinquency or delinquent attitudes. The socialization perspective with peer influence involvement attitudes and what are possible relationships criminal associations criminal definitions which lead to crime. This is a macro level theory on
The social disorganization theory suggests that youths turn to delinquency based on the community that they live in. Thus, if a community is primarily known to generally participate in criminal behavior, the youth will not have a strong, structured community to
Understanding the risk and protective factors of child delinquency is imperative in order to create and implement treatment and intervention programs. Because children’s behavior develops during the first five years, it is important to know what risk and protective factors could increase the likelihood of a child becoming a child offender (Wasserman et al., 2003). Moreover, overcoming the risk factors would help prevent the child offender from becoming a juvenile, and later, adult offender. As Wasserman et al (2003) stated, “risk factors for child delinquency operate in several domains: the individual child, the child’s family, the child’s peer group, the child’s school, the child’s neighborhood, and the media” (pg.1). As one can see, children are exposed to risk in partially every aspect of their lives.
In learning about Juvenile delinquency and theories on why delinquency occurs, I found that the choice theory was most applicable to a variety of juveniles and the reason why they choose to commit crimes. The choice theory suggests that “Juvenile offenders are rational decision makers who choose to engage in antisocial activity because they believe their actions will be beneficial”. (Siegel and Welsh, 2016, p. 58) It is my opinion, that most juveniles do have the ability to think for themselves and weigh the pros and the cons to committing a crime. I liked this theory most because I strongly agree that in the majority of juvenile delinquency cases, the act is a product of choice.
The social disorganization theory developed by Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay is one theory that endeavors to explain the phenomenon of crime. This essay aims to analyze, assess, and clarify whether the social disorganization theory accurately dissects the social problem of delinquency. Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay, two criminology researchers from the Chicago School of Criminology developed the social disorganization theory in 1942. The theory contends that an individual’s social and physical environments are the principle influences to the behavioral choices that they make. In their research, Shaw and McKay measured and assessed crime, truancy, juvenile delinquency, and mental disorder as part of the problems in Chicago communities.
The set of the structural-functional theories are among the most widespread perspectives on the juvenile delinquency. The group of the theories regards that the behavior of the underage delinquent is caused by the breakdown of the social process that consequently results in the increase of conformity (Thompson & Bynum, 2016). The group of theories presumably blame institutions that are responsible for the socialization of the young delinquents for the way the socialize the individuals by causing them to conform to the values of the society. One of the central theories of the juvenile delinquency is the anomie theory that is rooted in the early studies by the sociologist Emile Durkheim.
Juvenile delinquency is a growing social problem in the world today, as worldwide, about 200,000 murders occur among youth 10–29 years of age each year (more than 500 deaths a day), which is 43% of the total number of murders globally each year (WHO, 2016). It is defined as major or minor law breaking (e.g. murder, rape, robbery, and theft) by youth (Berger, 2000) and the United Nations defines ‘youth’, as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years. Consequently, juvenile delinquency is a critical problem in the society, which could lead to social instability by violence and insecurity perpetrated by and against young people. These problems are caused by various influential factors ranging from peer and parental influences, environmental, and strain. It also affected by family process variables (e.g. parent-child involvement, communication, parental monitoring), indeed parenting is one of the important factors among them.
Retrieved May 31, 2015, from Abandunadong Kahoy Website: https://imaginaryblogger.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/juvenile-delinquency-its-effects-and-how-to-solve-it/ (2014, May). Retrieved May 31, 2015, from Wikipedia Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate Bridges, K. B. (1926-1927). Factors Contributing Juvenile Delinquency. 17, 531. Farrington, D. P. (n.d.).
R. Sharma*, Sangeet Dhillon** & Sarmadi Bano noted that childhood incidents and experiences are significant in the development of criminality; on the other hand, it does not mean criminals expose their criminality early in life Causes of Juvenile delinquency required to understand from sociological theories of juvenile delinquency, these theories put prominence on the environment, social structures and the learning process. Yet, many factors that take part in vital part in a youngster’s delinquent behavior (B. R. Sharma*, Sangeet Dhillon** & Sarmadi Bano, 2009). The study by B. R Sharma, Sangeeth Dhillon and Sarmadi Bano (2009) they mentioned individual factors cause for Juvenile delinquency. Individual factors are personality traits like submissiveness, defiance, hostility, impulsiveness, feeling of insecurity, fear, lack of self-control and emotional conflicts whereas situational factors are family, companions, movies, school environment, work environment
