Juvenile Delinquency : A Strong Predictor Of Adult Crime

Juvenile delinquency is an ever growing issue in the United States, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “In 2012, there were 3,941 arrests for every 100,000 youths ages 10 through 17 in the United States” (OJJDP, 2014). The way juveniles are treated in the criminal justice system is very different than the way adults are. In 1899, in Cook County, Illinois, the first juvenile justice system in the country was founded. This established an alternative way of dealing with offenders whom are inherently different, in the way they think and commit crimes, than those of adult age. There are a few distinct differences between the juvenile and adult criminal system, but the biggest difference is the

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

In the last 42 years little to no changes have been made to correct the standards that govern punitive measures towards juvenile delinquency. Today juvenile law is governed by state and many states have enacted a juvenile code. However, in numerous cases, juveniles are transferred to adult court when juvenile courts waive or relinquish jurisdiction. Adolescents should not be tried in the adult court system or sentenced to adult penitentiary's on account of: teen brains are not mature which causes a lack of understanding towards the system, incarceration in an adult facility increases juvenile crime, and children that are sentenced to adult prison are vulnerable to abuse and rape.

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.

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).

Incarceration of minors in adult prisons has been found to have low rehabilitative potential and as such results in increased engagement in criminal activities (Aizer & Doyle, 2015). Many juvenile offenders have been found to hail from particularly disadvantaged families. In addition, a significant number have a history of drug abuse. Actually, 40-70% of the young offenders have a history of substance abuse and dependence (Aizer & Doyle, 2015). Apart from drug abuse, some of these offenders may have a history of mistreatment and even psychiatric disorders.

About 200,000 Men go to prison every year. One in three Black/ African American Men will be incarcerated. One in seventeen White, and one in six Latino. However five percent are innocent. About 20,000 men are in jail on a false conviction. Being proven not guilty can still however hurt chances of finding decent jobs once released from such punishment. My personal belief is all felons deserve second chances regardless of conviction. Yes, we can argue many places do hire felons regardless of their record. However, a minimum wage job doesn't cover much. For example, John Doe was convicted of sexual offenses at the age of 18 while having sexual relations with a 16 year old high school student. Only two years separated them, however being that mr. Doe is considered an adult, he was sentenced to five years in prison, because of believed racial discrimination hate the young girl's father had towards Mr. Doe. In texas alone, there has already been over 80,000 convicted sex offenders up until the month of April. Not even half way into the 2015 year. Did all those people actually commit assault, or could it by chance be another case of “turn up” going too far?

Risk factors for juvenile delinquency have been identified from multiple studies. These risk factors are different for older and younger juveniles. When focusing on the individual juvenile between the ages of

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.

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.

In the state of Tennessee, the process of having juvenile records expunged can be extensive and time-consuming. The individual must be at least eighteen years of age and have exceeded at least one year from the most recent delinquency adjudication. Additionally, the individual must have never been convicted of a criminal offense as an adult or have never been convicted of an offense following the transfer from Juvenile court. Likewise, the offender must have never been convicted of a sexual offense either as a juvenile or adult and does not possess in his record any adjudication of delinquency for violent sexual offenses (2015 Tennessee Code, Title 37 - Juveniles, n. d.). Further, the offender must have maintained a pattern of conduct which

A sub-sample of 447 out of the original 506 number of participants took part in the study. The study consisted of questionnaires and data collection based on factors regarding the offender’s background were taken into consideration. For example, family experiences, peers, their ethnicity, substance abuse, and mental health in order to determine the basis of what causes youths to offend within their community (Corrado, 2013). In a similar study conducted in the United States and Turkey, illustrated the differences in numbers between educated youths and juvenile

It is believed that children are the products of their environment. With their brains often compared to sponges, children tend to mimic the language and the actions of those around them, and absorb those things into their memory. (Briggs, Grella, Allen-Burton, Yarmuth, & Taylor, 2012) There are many studies on the causes of juvenile delinquency, but there is much debate as to who and what is considered the primary factors of influence. This topic is important because juvenile delinquency continues to be a huge problem in the U.S; in 2012 alone, there was approximately 1,319,700 juvenile arrests (Puzzenchera, 2014). The primary group in this research are those adolescents who live inner-cities and reside in low-income based neighborhoods.

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.