Deviant Behavior Analysis

Chapter four deals with peers and problems. It gives answers as to why some kids become delinquents and we find out that it stems simply from a pause of laugh response to the behavior of the kid. Mostly this chapter talks about deviance, its pathway, its source and ways to prevent it. Early adolescents are particularly susceptible to deviancy if left unmonitored and or not offered multiple opportunities for prosocial activities.

Deviant behavior is an integral part of all healthy societies. Deviance also offers society members an opportunity to rededicate themselves to their social controls. Deviant behavior actually helps teach society's rules by providing illustrations of violation. Deviance might be functional to a group in that it causes the group's members to close ranks, prompts the group to organize to limit future deviance acts, helps clarify for the group what it really does believe in, and teaches normal behavior by providing examples of rule violation. Finally, in some situations, tolerance of deviant behavior acts to a safety valve and actually prevents more serious instances of nonconformity.

The changes in family values and structure in the United States has helped contribute to juvenile delinquency today. Society needs to recognize problems within the home before trying to find solutions to problems for todays at risk youth in America. Major structural changes inside of the home could adversely affect the raising of juveniles leading to delinquency. Some of the issues I will discuss in my paper are divorce, child abuse, mothers working outside of the home, and single-parent homes. Ineffectively raising a child can cause low

This research is important because understanding what makes a juvenile delinquent is necessary to know. Parents can be educated on what is affecting their teen to contribute to delinquent behavior. The family structure has been avoided by many citizens. Educating the public on the family structure can make a different in a teen’s life.

In the video “The Lost Children of Rockdale County” produced by Dretzin and Goodman in 1999, portrays the life of teenagers engaging in peer delinquency, sexual behavior, and drugs and alcohol consumption. The video portrays the life of Nicole a 14 year old female who had engaged in sexual behavior, delinquent activity and lived under lack pf parental supervision. The General Theory of Crime and Delinquency is defined as “Motivations for crime include reinforcements for criminal activity, exposure to successful criminal models, learnijng beliefs favorable to crime” (Frailing & Harper, 2013. p.156). Robert Agnew’s theory can be related into Nicole’s life, because the environment in which she grew clearly affected the five domains explained in the theory. The family domain was affected because Cindy’s (Nicole’s mother) lack of parental attachment during Nicole’s infancy affected the relationship. Nicole argues that she started to engage in a risky behavior because she wanted to obtain her mother’s attention because her mother worked full time and didn’t had time to monitor her behavior.

In this essay I will be discussing how far sociologists would agree that teenage criminal and deviant behaviour results from parents failing to socialise their children correctly. Teenage criminal and deviant behaviour is when teenagers (13-19 yr olds) participate in activities which breach the law and are involved in activities which are seen as abnormal, for example underage drinking is illegal.

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).

There are three theories that all describe the reasons why child abuse and neglect lead to juvenile delinquency. This first of these theories is the social bonding theory which states that the weaker the bond between parent and child, the more likely the child is to become delinquent as stated by Ronald Akers. A parent’s role in an adolescent’s life is to foster a social

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.

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.

     Some causes for conduct in adolescents are no discipline, unstructured discipline and a broken home. A broken home is one of the factors that can produce a delinquent child. A broken home reduces the opportunity for creating a strong attachment between child and parents and that reduces the parent’s ability to condition the child. Many theories concerning the causes of juvenile crime focus either on the individual or on society as the major contributing influence. Theories centering on the individual suggest that children engage in criminal behavior because they were not sufficiently penalized for previous delinquent acts or that they have learned criminal behavior through interaction with others.

Both wealthy and powerful people often take part in deviant behavior. These wealthy or powerful people are in a lot of ways similar to the average people in the fact that people are all the same wealthy or not. Most people have similar motives in life. Not everyone is the same yet different classes of people share many similarities. One theory called the social conflict theory stated by, (Karl Marx) explains that people of wealth and people in power are often looked upon by others. These people can set examples for many others to see and follow. Although there is no class system in the United States there is often, unfortunately, a clear line between the classes of people. People such as politicians who are often paid well and in a position

These students that are being deviant by not obeying the rules of attending school on a regular basis may have certain beliefs or characteristics. For example, one may not be attending school because they might be going through something at home within their family. Often times, problems within the household can be transmitted and noticed through the student’s behaviors, actions and decisions. Furthermore, sometimes these acts of deviance can be caused by external things occurring outside of their households and outside of school, like through the friendships that they have constructed. Not all friends make healthy friendships. Some friendships can introduce other deviant acts like doing drugs or committing crimes in the community and also skipping

Deviant behavior refers to behavior that does not conform to norms, does not meet the expectations of a group of a society as a whole. After birth, children begin to experience situations with others. They are taught what he or she should and should not do, what is good or bad and what is right or wrong. Learning habits that conform to the customs and traditions of the groups into which the child is born develops a system of values. These values provide justification and motivation or for wanting to refrain from behavior that is disapproved.

Deviance is described as being behaviour that is not part of the norms in your particular society. This can be different throughout the world because some cultures have very different norms (Stephens and Leach, 1998:17). Most deviant behaviour will attract disapproval from others in the society or punishment from authorities. There are many different types of deviance such as addiction, mental illness, alcoholism, criminality and homosexuality. Throughout this essay six types of theories will be discussed about how and why people are deviant. Four of these theories support the idea of deviance being biological and three support the idea of it being caused by your social construction. Also the essay will talk about the differences between