Child Abuse And Neglect Cause Juvenile Delinquency

Incidents like abuse from family members, bullying, neglect, and sexual abuse are the most common. Repeated abuse can lead to psychological damage and emotional scarring. Not only are traumatic psychological experiences causing these juveniles to commit violent crimes. Situations, where children have poor education, a household without discipline, peer pressure, inadequate role models, low income, and substance abuse coupled with the wrong environment, can lead to a life of crime. These negative influences guide these juveniles on the wrong path towards crime. However, it does not mean these juveniles cannot succeed; it is however up to the juvenile to make the correct choices in their

There has been an enormous amount of research, going back almost thirty years, about the relationship between childhood trauma, and juvenile delinquency. Many researches cannot say that there is a direct link between the two, but after much research, researches have found that childhood trauma can perhaps be a predictor for juveniles who later in life commit crimes. Trauma is defined as, “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury,” because the definition is broad and can range from a variety of different events, for the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on neglect trauma in juveniles (Trauma, 2016). Neglect according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is, “the failure of a parent or other person with the responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision such that the child’s health, safety and well-being are threatened with harm” (Kazemian, 2011).

This theory assumes that deviance results from when an individuals bond to society is broken or weak (Chriss, 2007). When an individual has strong bonds they are less likely to commit crimes. The theory suggests that the more attached a person is to people in a society the more they will believe in the values, and the more they invest in and are involved the less likely they are to deviate (Chriss, 2007). There are four main elements to the social bonding theory they are attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. One of the best predictors of delinquency is the childs attachment to their parents, if there is less of an attachment they are more likely to partake in delinquent activities. The attachment is most important as the bonds people form with those around them help guide their lives, and all other elements are contingent on attachment. The content of beliefs also plays a crucial role as well through the idea that parent may be distant from a child who is about to commit a deviant act, and the parents could have been present when the temptation rises (Chriss, 2007). The child is not asking themselves what their parents may think because they do not have a bond sufficient enough with them to care. Where as children who do ask themselves this exhibit a stronger moral component of attachment, if they have the belief that their parents would not agree they are less likely to

The general strain theory is an established theory that provides a basic understanding relating to different elements leading to specific criminal behaviors. The theory has been of importance in trying to map criminal patterns among individuals involved in criminal behavior, thereby creating a platform for their rehabilitation. The general strain theory has had a close connection to juvenile delinquency, as it creates a platform where psychologists can define some of the key factors prompting teenagers and youths to engage in criminal behaviors. According to Zhang (2008), teenagers and youths tend to become highly vulnerable to lack of emotional control attributed to an aspect of negative emotions, which do not include anger, thereby creating a platform for them to engage in behaviors that would be characterized as criminal. The main research problem of this report is to create a connection between the general strain theory and juvenile delinquency.

The first factor that often leads to juvenile delinquency involves the child’s social influences within their communities. The community of individuals that a child is normally around on a normal basis includes family, friends, and neighbors. Depending on the overall quality of the relationship that the child has with each member of their community, they maybe more or less inclined to commit crimes. According to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, juveniles who experience abuse or neglect from any member of their community may be more inclined to become deviant (n.d.). For example, if a father abuses his child, the odds of the child’s willing to resort to deviance becomes significantly higher than a father who treats his son like a normal parent. Another way a child can be socially exposed to deviance is through example. If a parent is always in a run with law enforcement on a constant basis, that child may grow up to be just like them simply because that is how they were raised. The third and final social influence comes outside of the family circle where the actions that a child’s friends partake in can also determine whether or not the child will pursue acts of deviance. The influence of a friend’s actions can either be positive or negative depending on the values of the friend. For instance, say a child named Johnny hangs around a group of troublemakers who always wreck havoc, smoke joints, and talk trash about everyone. This kind of relationship between Johnny and his friends can lead Johnny to becoming just like the troublemakers because of peer pressure.

The “strain theory” argues that delinquency may be caused because of ones’ failure to achieve a specific goal or satisfy specific needs such as social acceptance, monetary status, or status among peers (Bernard et al, 2016). According to Piquero and Sealock (2004) strain has three major causes: (1) failure to accomplish valued goals [positive expectations after completing a task], (2) the loss of something or someone considered close [a parent or serious relationship], (3) the presence of something associated with a negative event [physical abuse].

Across the nation, social scientists and criminologists have researched and hypothesized the main contributing factors that promote juvenile delinquency. The Strain/ Anomie theory introduced by Robert Merton and later revised by several other theorists, attempts to explain why juvenile subculture tend to behave certain ways when confronted with pressures from everyday life. Revised by other theorists, the Strain theory attempts to provide the framework of juvenile delinquency and its sources in order to analyze the effectiveness of this assumption, as well as to implement certain crime prevention policies and programs to curb this problem. This paper is going to analyze how the Strain theory contributes it’s principles of delinquency

Delinquency is crimes that are committed by youths; as well as, adults. These delinquencies include; violent crimes, property crimes, criminal homicide, drug-related offenses, and disturbances to the public order. Status offenses illegal crimes for youths but not adults, these types of crimes are beyond parents or guardians control. Status offenses include; truancy, parental disobedience, and runaways. 23% of offenses committed by females are status offense verses the 4% of boys. Both are juvenile court jurisdictions; however, more serious crimes may be subjected to criminal court and even prison. Multiple factors exist through understanding what leads a juvenile to delinquent behavior. Biological, sociological, and psychological factors hold high merits in explaining crime to delinquency. Some also study that age definitely factors closely to offending behaviors. Children with traumatic backgrounds can exhibit symptoms such as anxiety and/or depression. This typical behavior amongst juveniles is overlooked; which in return can cause PTSD, then to a delinquency life

While the theoretical reasoning that supports the idea that child abuse often leads to crime gives a basis for the concept, much of the evidence that links the two lies in the concrete details. The visible effects of child abuse and neglect that assist with the basis that has been given by the psychological theories lies in observable behavioral and emotional effects of those who are known to have been subject to maltreatment as children. Some children who have a history with abuse do not experience any repercussions while others experience extreme consequences; this is largely because of the certain child’s ability to handle and grow from negative experiences (Child Welfare Information Gateway 3). Children who experience consequences

Child abuse and neglect are considered a social phenomenon that plays a crucial role in American society as well as in the American criminal justice system. All types of ages, genders, ethnicities at some point or another are represented as victims or perpetrators of child abuse or neglect. Child abuse includes physical, psychological and sometimes sexual abuse to a person who is below the age of 18. Child abuse or neglect victims tend to grow up with long terms consequences such as low self-esteem, depression, and other major consequences such as engaging in criminal behavior as adults, teen pregnancy and not to mention the severity of physical child abuse consequences can end up in a death of an innocent victim. This literature

In the article, Which Bond Matters More? Assessing the Differential Strengths of Parental Bonding Measures on Adolescent Delinquency Over Time, author Jessica Craig refers to Travis Hirschi’s social bond theory regarding attachment when researching her questions of whether parental bonding correlates to lower delinquency, and whether a maternal bond is more strongly linked with lower delinquency as opposed to a stronger paternal bond (2015). It was found in Craig’s follow up responses from the longitudinal study on the public-use files from the data set available with the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health on 132 schools, more specifically, American children who were in middle and high school grades between 1994 to 1995, “that maternal bonding may have a greater controlling effect when compared to the paternal bond” (2015:235). It was evident that as the maternal bond increased, “the protective effect it has on delinquency was stronger than that of the paternal bond” (Craig 2015:235). However, it was also found in the cross-sectional analyses, apart from how the familial bonds were carried out, “whether it be the maternal bond, the paternal bond, or the overall parental bond, youth who reported feeling closer to their parents” were less likely to be involved in delinquent behavior, which backs Coster’s findings of

Many children become familiar with the Juvenile Justice System without knowledge of why they continue to commit crimes. Many of them suffered years of being abuses, which caused socialization changes that pushed them to withdraw or act out. This research is important because it shows the long terms effects child abuse has on children that become juvenile delinquents. Statistics show increasing numbers of children who are the victims of child abuse and neglect, although they decrease in delinquency may reflect a greater nation focus on the issue and the use of more effective programs to attack the problem. This research is important to me because the Criminal Justice System doesn’t address the causes of deviant behavior in juvenile delinquents to its full potential. They rather just focus on policing and tough sanctions. Hopefully with this paper and many others child abuse can be prevented along with the long-term effects of child abuse and better programs can be invented to treat child abuse victims. The Office of Justice Programs came up with a “Safe Kids Safe Streets” Program, which acknowledge the correlation between child abuse and juvenile delinquency and is aimed at breaking the cycle of early childhood victimization and later delinquency (Safe

In our nationality’s lapse public schools, fish have “overcrowded classrooms, a failure of qualified teachers, and unequal funding for ‘extras’ such as counselors, special teaching services, and even textbooks.”1 These inadequacies are what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says are the opening of the School-to-Prison pipeline, the policies and practices of the American school system that tease many schoolchildren on a path to incarceration. Broken families, simple father families, separated families, crowded parents conflict, lack of trust and belief among the parents, malefactor author or psychological problems in source can be the msot important motive behind juvenile delinquency. This agitation of despondence, exacerbated by the general media’s emphasis on burn trade numbers and fiscal crises, can create an environment consummate for juvenile sin. Empathize with someone’s ache Share in another person’s happiness Feel virtuous when doing the right thing Feel pity for doing unfit Display impulse government Respect others’ property Inhibit aggressive behavior toward another person in distress or who is likewise assailable With a celibate's grade in criminology, professionals can enter the field of offender psychology or criminology with an perception of the implicit causes of juvenile crime. Family is the basic socialization instrumentality for the children. What is becoming further understood is how go, drudge and other criminal activity can be profoundly authority

In order to understand the points of view on the causes of juvenile delinquency, juvenile delinquency itself must be defined. Juvenile delinquency is criminal, or illegal behavior that a minor participates in. The age of what it considered a minor varies from state to state. But a minor could be as low as 13 or under, to 18 or under; after the age that is considered a minor they could then be tried as an adult. So, what causes a child to become a juvenile delinquent? There are five views that help to explain why. The first is the life- course view. The basic principal of this is that even as a young child, as young as 2 and three, relationships begin to form that will affect the child’s entire life course. The next is the latent trait or propensity view. The main point of this view is that the propensity for a child to commit a crime is always there but the opportunity comes and goes. The third view that causes delinquency is the trait view. There are several parts to this view including biological and psychological. The fourth view is socialization, that the social development can affect delinquency. Finally, the feminist view. There are typically two points of views; liberal and critical feminism. Juvenile delinquency may be caused by something different for every child but these five views gives a good idea of some of the main causes.

The social environment of teens holds an enormous influence on how the teens act and behave. Teens are easily influenced by their surroundings and they look to others for guidance. Their behavior results from that of the parent and peer influences. Parents play a particularly influential role in their child’s life and it is up to them to make sure that they are leading their sons or daughters in the right directions. A teen’s peers also play a large role in how the teen behaves when the parents are not around. A teen’s social environment, consisting of family and peers, plays a vital role in their life, therefore becoming the ultimate cause of juvenile delinquency.