Causes Of Juvenile Delinquency

The Strain Theory was developed by Robert Merton a Sociologist in 1938 (Richard Featherstone, 2003). It was first called the theory of anomie and deviance, then it was changed in recent years to what we know as strain theory (Richard Rosenfeld, 1989). He believed that the Theory of Anomie was that we put an emphasis on cultural goals and the means to achieve them, and that the strain of this theory is that the deviance we see in society is caused by the social norms within a society (Daniel S. Murphy and Mathew B. Robinson, 2008). This was that the ideas of our society to obtain wealth, may actually cause this deviant behavior in individuals. As an individual we will obtain the means to

It has long been a problem why some children steal, damage properties and not others. Many researches have been done to know the main factor that lead youth to delinquency, and it has been learned that there is no single path to delinquency. Although much of the research on factors that youth face has focused on predicting serious and violent offenses. Many people wonder about the factors that lead youth to commit delinquency. There are many factors that lead to delinquency, but the most known factors are family characteristics, neighborhood influences, and school conditions.

There are two types of the Modern Strain Theory, General Strain Theory and Institutional Anomie Theory. General Strain Theory (GST) was developed by Robert Agnew in 1992. This micro-level theory tries to explain why individuals who feel strain commit crime. Agnew claims there are three sources of strain, the first is the failure to achieve goals, it is based off Merton 's strain just explained a little different. Merton says the disjunction between culture and structure leads to failing to achieve the American Dream. Agnew makes it more general and talks about achieving any goals, not just the American Dream. The second source is the removal of positive stimuli, having something good taken from you. For example if you are dating someone

Merton developed the strain theory. Merton’s strain theory explains that people do crime when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate or legal means. For instance, poverty-stricken people may achieve their goals by lashing out in criminal ways, such as, theft and drug trafficking. Strain theory is defined as a branch of social structure theory that sees crime as a function of the conflict between people’s goals and the means available to obtain them. In other words, crimes occur when people, particularly, of the lower class experience strain due to their inability to achieve success (Siegel

The strain theory analyses the extent to which people are able to pursue, access and achieve success. Strain theory says that those unable to achieve success experience strain which is a disconnect between desires and aspirations along with the means to achieve these variables. There are several responses and coping strategies that are connected to strain, one being crime. The cultural messages within strain are the goals and the means. There are two main theorist who explain strain, Robert Merton and Robert Agnew. The strain theory is analyzed in depth by both theorists. Merton presents the strain theory, explains the goals and the means and discusses the coping strategies within strain. Whereas Agnew challenges Merton's theory, expands

What creates future criminal behavior among the youth? For a long period of time, we have studied juveniles and have made several conclusions with research to figure out what causes these delinquent youth and juveniles to commit crime and what causes them to keep committing crime into their adulthood. One factor that has an adverse effect on their lives in their youth is the trauma that children go through during their early years. Some research has attempted and some successfully point toward the relationship with their friends and/or gang affiliation; stating that the status of their peer relationship have an effect on their behaviors. Other research would point to their family or educational background, concerning the effects of parents,

Merton’s Strain Theory is one of the most prevalent theories to society. Merton’s theory states that people commit crimes due to strains in life. These strains can be due to financial issues, school, family issues, etc. These strains can be essentially from anything. This theory is expressed through pop culture in film, music, TV, and even the news. You can see how strains can lead individuals to do things that they otherwise, when rationally thinking, would not do. These things can be as petty as burglary to assault to even murder. Merton, the founder of the Strain Theory, concluded that the American Dream is one of the most significant means of strain, because the American Dream as we know it is a false hope and the lower class that would typically aspire to reach the American Dream begin to see that it is false.

Strain theory asserts that society fix goals and put pressure on individual to realize them. Society does not provide adequate means to achieve those goals, as a result, individual feels strained and commits crime. Often people sell drugs or engage in prostitution to become rich. So, without providing or showing the right way of achieving goals, society pressurize to accomplish those which influence people to follow some alternative or deviant course of action (“Strain Theory (Sociology),” 2017).

Whether criminality is the result of learning from social institutions, labels placed on individuals, broken bonds with society, the breakdown of neighborhoods, frustration and helpless feelings felt by the lower class, the creation of a subculture that commands criminal and deviant behavior, or traits that have been passed down from generation to generation. The theories that were covered present a logical way of understanding criminal behavior in juveniles. They provide a concept that defines and predicts what leads juveniles into a life of offending. Each theory varies in its individual explanation and reasoning behind what factors create a juvenile offender. Some theories are better understood by individuals who have a relatable background while other theories perplex others by its explanation. New theories will continue to emerge and old ones will evolve as time goes by as others will be abandoned. Theorizing what causes juvenile delinquency to happen is not only important because it helps us understand what behaviors and factors cause delinquency but if we truly comprehending the cause of crime it can lead us to discovery a deterrence and solution to halt crime. We cannot fix something if we do not fully know how and why it

Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin developed differential opportunity theory. The two researches believed that delinquency comes from the separation between what children are taught to want and what is actually available to them. Clinard (1961), ‘Now adolescents who want to achieve success often join delinquent gangs. A problem comes about when the adolescent gangs proper means of attaining success is blocked, then they resort to non-favored means, which then develops into delinquency” (P.481). According to Regoli et al. (2010) Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin believes that , “children of lower class who want to make a lot of money and make it fast are the children who would most likely join a gang. The problem is that these children are interested in having the nice cars, and flashy clothes but are not willing or don’t have the urge to make it to the middle class status or middle class way of life, which is obtained by going to school and

The group of people that typically falls into this idea of juvenile delinquency associated with “dangerous” or “criminal” usually points finger to individuals of a lower income class. Not all juvenile delinquents are from the lower class, but majority are; therefore, for a public’s eye view of delinquent behaviors are most likely caused by those juveniles of a poor background because they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Being of lower class falls prey to the malnutrition and/or maltreatment by parents or guardians. With maltreatment and lack of positive reinforcements in discipline as it should be; their way of discipline may have been carried out as physical punishments and corrective actions for unruly behavior which in turn enhanced negative reinforcements of actions and delinquency. Children who were mistreated by physical abuse and neglected increased the likelihood risk of committing unruly behavior and actions of juvenile delinquency.

The strain theory is a social structure theory. Robert Merton’s strain theory explained that crime occurs due to anomie. Anomie is a circumstance where someone does not comply with the culturally accepted means of achieving success because they are “normless”. They don’t have the same means of success as the rest of society. According to the strain theory, the universal goal is to achieve the “American Dream” by acquiring money, cars, and a house with a white picket fence. Everyone wants the same thing but their social structure doesn’t allow for the equal access to resources we need to achieve this goal in a socially acceptable way. For example, those living in poor and overcrowded neighborhoods don’t have access to quality education like those from richer areas so they look to crime to succeed.

In actuality, a 25 year-long study of 1,500 children in light-salary inner-town Chicago neighborhoods found that children who attended a full-sort preschool were 28% less likely to promote stupefy problems or be confine in adulthood. Psychological problems in parents or siblings can also be a peril element of juvenile delinquency.

In America there's a lot of juvenile delinquency.So on that note this article is going to be about to talk about the main reasons for juvenile delinquency,juvenile delinquency is a crime that is committed by kids twelve or down or teenagers thirteen or up nevertheless a child that is not an adult which is committing a crime.The main ones are rejection,growing up in a bad neighborhood,parents teaching the kids to be more aggressive,gender role coming into play,and last but not least, the child's parents could be abusing them too much.All of these are very good reasons for a child to make a mistake that causes him to get thrown into a juvenile detention center.More reasons are that the parents could motivate the child to do something bad or the child or the child's parent could be criminals themselves and the kid just picks up from them.

Juvenile delinquency is when minors commit criminal acts or offenses that are against the law and in which adult prosecution is not acceptable. It is interesting to note that this was not always the case. Before juvenile delinquency was established, juveniles were trialed and treated as adults. There was no such thing as a juvenile court, juvenile correctional facilities, or juvenile support groups, when the juvenile deviated. Later, many believed that when juveniles deviated that it meant that they needed guidance and support to help them. This change was made mainly because the value of children increased due to the fact that children were beginning to live longer and were healthier. Throughout the semester it has been intriguing to learn more about this topic and learn different theories related to it, as well as delinquency triggers. There are four theories that relate to juvenile delinquency. Strain Theory is when the juvenile experiences strain, or stress, which as a result causes them to commit delinquent acts. Strain can be caused by the juvenile failing to achieve goals, and/or the loss of positive stimuli or the presentation of negative stimuli. Social Learning Theory is when juveniles learn to engage in delinquent acts by being reinforced, positively or negatively, in some way. Control Theory is when the juvenile varies with the levels of control, which causes them to commit delinquent acts. Labeling Theory is when juveniles are labeled as “bad” or “delinquent”,