Juvenile Delinquency Has Become A Norm And A Status Code

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

Reading this book has had an effect on the way I see Juvenile delinquency and the Juvenile Justice System. The reason for this is because I now realize that these young individuals just do not become delinquent overnight and majority of the time it is not their fault that they are the way they are. It can be several factors that cause them to engage in criminal acts similar to the boys and girls in Giddings State School. This book may be very uncomfortable to read because of some of the disturbing events that these young individual experienced, but I would definitely recommend others to read it. Parents that are currently struggling with their teenage child should definitely read the book. I feel like the book may have solutions to their problems.

Based on the social disorganization theory; Shaw and McKay account for high crime begins with poverty, low socioeconomic status and the inability to “control the teenage population,” (Sampson, 2016). Shaw and McKay also knew that within the community, delinquency was a trait that was picked-up by and from other delinquents. Furthermore, if the ability to control young

Firstly functionalists would say family is to blame for teenage criminal and deviant behaviour because more youths from working class, single parent households are likely to participate in

Juvenile delinquency has become a controversial issue within the Criminal Justice system. In the United States, juvenile delinquency refers to disruptive and criminal behavior committed by an individual under the age of 18. In many states, a minor at the age of 16 to 17 ½ can be tried as an adult. Once the individual reaches adulthood, the disruptive and criminal behavior is recognized as a crime. However, the criminal justice system has divided juvenile delinquency into two general types of categories that has brought upon controversial issues of inequality and corruption. Yet, putting young individuals in juvenile detentions facilities seems to open the door for them to commit more crimes in the future. Therefore, under certain circumstances juveniles should be tried as an adult.

Juvenile delinquents have created a subculture that provides them with motives, reasons, and justifications that enable them to account for their involvement in proscribed activities. Within this subculture they have developed a rational to justify their misdeeds, during times when they are brought under scrutiny by police, courts etc. For instance, when youth engage in a crime, and are charged with a criminal offense, they deny their involvement. What youth fail to realize, is that as they engage in criminal acts, they disrupt the fabric of society.

The high incarceration rate of juveniles is a significant social problem that affects society as a whole as well as the youth’s individual welfare and developmental trajectory. Adolescents who are incarcerated in the juvenile justice system face a multitude of negative lifelong implications. The history of incarcerating youth in residential facilities such as juvenile halls, camps, ranches or group homes as a consequence for committing crimes has a deep-rooted history in the United States. “For more than a century, the predominant strategy for treatment and punishments of serious and sometimes not-so-serious juveniles offenders in the US has been placement into large juvenile corrections institutions” (Mendel, 2013, p.4). During the 18th and early 19th century, the judicial system harshly reprimanded youth and confined them in overcrowded penitentiary institutions with populations of adult offenders and the severely mentally ill (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 2014).

Juvenile Delinquent Theory and Process Midterm Shelby Horton 03/19/2015 Moral panics have always been around, and are usually correlated with crime. Moral panics are often something that is triggered by an event that makes its way through media and stories around the world. With technology growing now more than ever, these panics have found a faster way to expand throughout the world. One moral panic that seemed to cause an uproar in the United States was the effect of heavy metal music in the case of the three men that were convicted in the murders of three young boys, known as the West Memphis Three.

theories. A major theory used to explain female delinquency is the general strain theory (GST). According to Bartollas, “GST explains female delinquency by contending that many females experience harsh discipline, parental rejection, peer abuse, negative secondary school experience, homelessness, and a strong need for money;” these strains can cause females to cope through delinquent behavior (73). The social learning theory also explains female delinquency as “some females tend to associate with others who provide exposure to delinquent models, reinforce delinquent behaviors, and teach identities that are favorable to delinquency” (Bartollas 74). According to Causes and Correlates of Girls’ Delinquency, “socializing without specific activities and without guidance or supervision by positive adults—increases the likelihood that delinquent activities will occur” (Zahn 7). This is a significant finding because those female youths who hang with the wrong crowd, unsupervised, will often find themselves involved with delinquent behavior, and without activities or positive guidance from adults it is very easy to shift toward delinquent behavior. The last theory which explains female youth delinquency very well is the routine activities theory; this theory is similar to the social learning theory, but it is slightly different. The routine activities theory states that delinquent females “have less parental supervision, are less tied to their homes and families, are weakly bounded

I’m writing to you, as a concerned citizen of the United States, about the alarming rate of juvenile incarceration in the United States and the problems associated with these rates. Many young children, especially those living below the poverty line or in poverty, notably Black and Hispanic children are more likely to commit crimes than those living in the middle class or upper class and who are White. It’s simple; children with a lower social economic status are more likely to find themselves committing crimes and then being sentenced than children with higher social economic status’s. According to The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology “People in lower classes are often more visible, less powerful, and more likely to be apprehended and labeled as criminals than those from higher social classes.” (197, Ferris and Stein) This is alarming. However, this becomes more alarming when applied to children. And instead of providing help and guidance and a possibility of a future, the government places some of these children in prisons, including adult prisons, leaving them to fend for themselves. What is even more disturbing, is the institution that was created to provide students with an education, guidance and future is one of the leading causes of child incarceration besides poverty. This institution is school and this process is also known as the school-to-prison-pipeline. And for those children who do find themselves in prison, there is no help, no opportunities or

The theory of subculture delinquency was created by Albert Cohen in the 1950’s and the main study subject in this theory was boys. One of the main ideas of his was that violence and aggression, or delinquency in general, are ways for boys to earn respect and earn a title as “masculine”. The theory has evolved since then, girls are also subject to subculture delinquency, but in 1950 study was primarily focused on boys. This theory also explains the relationship between delinquency and lower class. Not only are these youths put at a disadvantage compared to their peers being in a lower class, but they are also at greater risk to be born into families where family role models have not obtained their own personal ambitions and educational goals.

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

The social structure theory deliberates delinquency as a gathering of the person’s dealings with numerous groups, organizations, and process in the society. Any person irrespective of their prominence in life is likely to become delinquents if they continue with negative social affiliations. Every aspect of the society, social and economic must be viewed using the social structure theories to find the cause of crime and deviance. The social structure theories consist of four types which include social disorganization theory, anomie theory, differential association theory, and labeling theory. Several theories offer different answers to this delinquent of influential the key features of a social group.

The development of preventive strategies will necessarily follow from an understanding of delinquency's root causes. If social structure is a key factor in the development of juvenile delinquency, then prevention will entail addressing issues regarding place, identity, or socioeconomic status. For example, if poverty is considered a significant causative factor, then taking steps such as providing jobs, job training, and perhaps additional welfare benefits becomes an important social concern. By eliminating poverty, society will thus