Criminological Theories On Juvenile Delinquency

There are three main integrated theories that explain delinquent behaviors committed by juveniles. They are the General Theory of Crime, the Social Process Theory, and the Interactional Theory. After researching each theory, I believe that Terence P. Thornberry's Interactional Theory best explains why children commit crimes. This essay will explain in great detail the Interactional theory and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.

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.

Agnew agrees with the core idea of classic strain theory. However, after further examination of his very own life and that of those around him, he found that “the perceived inability to achieve success through monetary means or middle class status was not a major stressor conducive to crime,” (Agnew, 2001, p.141). In fact, Agnew stated that the major strains conducive to crime are a bit more immediate in nature. To support this claim, psychological literature on aggression and stress suggest that strain involves more than the “pursuit of happiness” (Agnew, 1992). The loss of positively valued stimuli seems to be a larger contributor to juvenile negligence and delinquency.

When it comes to juvenile delinquency an adolescent personality is usually impacted from different factors such as early child hood experiences of witnessing a crime, seeing a violent act, being the victim of a crime, or being around others or family who engaged in criminal activity, these factors can either create an adolescent with a positive or negative attitude, or an anti-social behavior which could create a path for a delinquent behavior (Wilson, p. 34). A study has shown that family interactions accounts for about 40 percent of the cause of an adolescent with an anti-social behavior, the study also shown that aggressiveness which is a common trait of adolescent who engage in delinquent acts is usually created from peer influences (Wilson, p. 34).

This essay will compare and contrast some psychological and sociological approaches to studying juvenile delinquency and disorder behaviour. The question is what makes people behave disorderly. Youth disorderly behaviours are studied using different approaches including psychological and sociological approaches. Both psychological and sociological approaches to studying juvenile delinquency are necessary. This essay starts with outlining and defining disorderly behaviour and juvenile delinquency. Then, it will look at the work of Eysenck, the Cambridge Study of Delinquent Development research which was a longitude study and the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential theory by Farrington, all fit in psychological approach; studying the connection between personality and disorder. It will then look at Sociological approach by looking at the work of Howard Becker, Stan Cohen and Stuart Hall. This essay will be analysing and comparing their theories and separating the differences and noting the similarities in their ideas. This essay will provide evidence for each theory. It will then conclude by specifying significant similarities and differences in the light of the evidence presented.

Juvenile delinquency is a social issue in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, is when “a violation of the law is committed by a juvenile and is not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Juvenile Delinquency). The juvenile system is different from the adult system in many way and most juvenile delinquents are from the age of ten to the age of seventeen (Juvenile Delinquent). Once the delinquent or anyone is at the age of eighteen, they are considered to be an adult. Therefore, in the justice system they are tried as an adult. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, peer influence, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. Teens are greatly influenced by the interactions and surroundings they are around. Their behaviors can result from the parent and/or their peer influences. Parents play a great role in the child’s life and a teen’s peers also play a strong role in how the teen behaves when the parents are not insight. This research will examine links between the social environment of teens and how it influences the teens actions and behavior which leads them to commit an offense.

This theory brings to mind an old saying, everybody tries to keep up with the Jones. The premise of the strain theory, according to Cullen & Agnew (2011) is that every citizen is encouraged to pursue the American dream of prosperity, and living a middle-class life by non-criminal means. When American citizens are unable to meet these goals of living the good life, they experience strain or pressure. This strain has an even bigger effect on juveniles. Juveniles are pressured by their peers to wear the trendiest cloths, jewelry, and some the latest mode of transportation, all which cost money. Single parents who make very little income cannot provide adequate housing or food for their dependents. These factors elevate the strain a juvenile is experiencing, that some turn to a life of crime in order to obtain these materialistic items. In order to deter and prevent juvenile delinquency, as a result of the strain theory, alternative such as job corps, trade schools, academic scholarships, and big brother or sister programs need to be offered to communities with high juvenile delinquency crime

In the United States, juvenile delinquency is becoming a major problem in the communities across the country. Because of the actions that these juveniles engage in on a regular basis, taxpayers across the country are having to shell out hundreds upon thousands of dollars to rehabilitate these children in order to help them make better choices. This leads citizens to wonder what factors actually cause juveniles to live a life of crime rather than success. In short, there are three main factors that often cause children to live a life of crime. These three factors are social influences, psychological characteristics, and academic potential.

Juvenile offending is a concern in society today. Juveniles account for approximately 19% of the population but are responsible for 29% of criminal arrests (Cottle, Lee, & Heilbrun, 2001). Crime overall has been found to be decreasing throughout the last two decades. The issue is that the rate in which adult crime is decreasing is significantly greater than the rate in which juvenile crime is decreasing. Since the rate of juvenile crime is so high, juvenile delinquents are seen as predators and many believe they lack morals. The way in which media of today’s society constructs juvenile delinquency impacts the views of a community towards their youth and youth offenders. Media presents an inaccurate image of youth offenders as violent predators (Rhineberger-Dunn, 2013). This inaccurate image significantly promotes the myths that juvenile crime is rising, juveniles commit crimes that are primarily violent, and that juveniles are highly effected by recidivism and continue committing crimes into adulthood (Bohm, & Walker, 2013). It has already been stated though that crime rates have been decreasing over the last two decades so the first myth is refuted. The myth that juveniles primarily commit violent crimes is also very off. In most cases, juveniles are involved in property crimes and although there are some violent crime cases, they are very rare. When these rare violent crimes do occur, youth can be tried in adult court. The

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

Through an understanding of causes of juvenile delinquency society may come to deal preventively with delinquency; certainly treatment of the offender needs to be based upon an understanding of the causal mechanisms that have produced him. In this paper we'll describe three theories of juvenile delinquency such as Social Learning Theory, General Strain Theory and Behavioral Theory and discuss appropriate preventive programs based upon these theories.

Characteristically, juvenile delinquency follows a similar path just like normal adolescent development and children tend to follow delinquent and criminal behavior rather than engaging in it randomly. Research has shown that there are two types of delinquents, those in whom the onset of severe antisocial behavior begins in early childhood, and those in whom this onset coincides with entry into adolescence. With either type, these developmental paths give families, communities, and systems the opportunity to intervene and prevent the onset of antisocial behaviors and justice system involvement (APA, 2017).

Deviance among adolescents in our society has many different causes and multiple theories throughout the history of criminal justice have been developed to attempt to explain, prevent and reduce incidents of status offenses and juvenile delinquency. There are theories varying from individual, to social and environmental. All of these theories have their merits and contribute in one way or another to the advancement of the understanding of juvenile delinquency and the treatment and prevention of delinquency within our society. Those that have proven to be successful we have applied in our justice system while those that are proven over time to be ineffective or defective we have discarded. There is no single theory that applies to all delinquent behavior in all situations. It is best to determine what theory may work best in each specific case based on the individual and the specific situation. Dodge’s information processing theory of social problem solving (Crick and Dodge 1994) was developed by Kenneth Dodge in an attempt to explain the interaction between the child’s cognitive development and their social environment. This theory combines elements of both the individual and the social environment and examines how these two variables interact with each other to present a model for juvenile delinquency. During my investigation of this topic I discovered that an adapted model of Dodge’s theory existed that seemed to be more encompassing of the causes of juvenile delinquency,

Juvenile offending is a major problem in society. Understanding the risk factors that contribute to the increased likelihood of a juvenile to engage in delinquency is important. There are many factors that can influence the increased risk of juvenile delinquency. These factors include poverty, low socioeconomic status, age (Jarjoura, Triplett, & Brinker, 2002), race, gender (Lucero, Barret, & Jensen, 2015), education (Lucero, Barret, & Jensen, 2015; Jarjoura, 1993), and family structure (Anderson, 2002; Kierkus & Hewitt, 2009). It is important to examine if some risk factors can contribute more than others and to what extent they interact with one another. This paper will discuss three important risk factors that contribute to the likelihood of juveniles engaging in deviant acts. The three risk factors discussed are poverty, family structure, and educational attainment. In addition, this paper will demonstrate how these three risk factors interact with one another, resulting in a higher propensity for involvement in juvenile delinquency.

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.