Juvenile Delinquency In America

In chapter two we start to dive into the world of measurements of delinquency, and all that applies. We able to see juvenile court statistics and a bar graph that is provided on page 30 in the text book, that a majority of the offenses was arson, then vandalism, then disorderly conduct, and so on and so forth. Lastly, in that chart, is driving under the influence. There is also a connection between racial and ethnic backgrounds and delinquency described in chapter two as well, and one of the findings was from the national longitudinal survey of adolescents health. In the chapter it also is stated that escalation of offenses is an important dimension of delinquency, this is because it shows us that if you start at a young age with breaking the law and being delinquent and defiant, it is only going to escalate from there. There are also different pathways delinquents can take, authority conflict pathway, covert pathway, and overt pathway. Authority conflict is stated to be a pathway that consists of “a sequence of stubborn behavior, defiance, and authority avoidance” (Bartollas and Schmalleger, 2008) pg. 41. There is also the idea of

In our reading (Juvenile Justice in America) it talks about a 1992 survey of law enforcement department’s product by G. David Curry and colleagues’ it says “the seventy-nine largest U.S. cities, 91 percent of respondents reported the presence of gang problems. These researchers estimated that there were 4,881 gangs with 249,324 gang members” and it also states “that juveniles made up 90 percent of the gang membership.” There have been seven stages identified for these emergent gangs with stage one being implementation. That is were gang leaders go to a new city to recruit juveniles to sell drug for money. They go into the low-income minority neighborhood where they promise their recruits protection and part of the profits from the drug sells.

Therefore, the Chicago area project was created. Theorists were known for saying that youth crime took place in urban areas, but it was later explained that crime took place in rural areas. To get a better understanding of the rates of juvenile delinquency and place in Chicago, Shaw and McKay were able to get a hold of the juvenile court records. By attaining these records, they were able to pinpoint where most of the juvenile lived and where the crime was committed the most. Many of the crime rates that were low were taking place on the outside of Chicago.

They were only concerned with one social group at the time. The continued research since they originally proposed the theory has developed, and finds crime and victimization to be the highest in communities with low social ties, lack of participation in volunteer opportunities, low levels of supervision or parenting, and high degrees of houses turning over. These findings are very consistent with the first findings that Shaw and McKay discovered when they conducted their study. Although there were some errors that were discussed years after they presented this theory, it has since been proven to still be an accurate theory. A lack of structure is not conducive to a positive environment for a child. Kids make poor choices, and will be more inclined to make poor choices if they do not have someone teaching them how to be a productive member of society. It is proven that young teenagers and early adults are more likely to commit crime, so if you combine that with a lack of structure, you are creating a situation that will not end well 9 times out of 10. If the child never had any reason to think crime was bad and that their actions would have both a victim and a consequence, if they are angry at parents or at the instability that was shown in

Shaw and McKay view for the high crime in the city was based on the five zones that they had dissected the city of Chicago into. The zone of “transition” is the zone that welcomed and housed the poor and over populated settlers. It was in this zone that the crime rate remained high regardless of the ethnicity that populated the zone at any specific time. The frequent moving of residents made it harder for the neighbors to learn or remember if a family lives in a particular location or if they had moved and was unaware of the recent move. This transition zone was a deplorable section of the city; some would deem it the bad part of town.

Social Disorganization theory is the most prominent in the film. Shaw and McKay used this theory to describe areas within a society that would be more susceptible to crime. The area that was deemed more likely for criminal activity to occur was the “zone in transition” (Lilly, 2012, p. 40). This zone consisted of “rows of deteriorating tenements” and was considered the “least desirable living area” (Lilly, 2012, p. 39).

The problem with having a not reliable home is that it generates huge numbers of runaways that are easy targets for pimps; such runners engage themselves in sex activities in exchange for food, shelter or even are exploited by known company. In the United States, such victims are citizens, non-citizens, and most of the cases those children are labeled as prostitutes or juvenile delinquents, and the big problem is that they are treated as criminals rather than being identified and treated as trafficking victims. Thus, these victims should be placed on environments where they can receive protective services rather than being treated as criminals and delinquents. I believe that the law should protect those children in an effective way and reinforce

Created by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, the two theorists believed that the community’s values and connection is what decides the increase and decrease on crime rates. A community with a high informal social control will

the safety of the community by performing safe and secure facilities which keeps the prisoners and offenders under control. In prison there are wide facilities are available for offenders and prisoners such as medical treatment, educational and vocational programs. These programs are there to help the offenders become better citizens. Corrections are providing the services to each state now for centuries. Every state has its own history of corrections, and every state is responsible for their department’s action and workers behavior. There are so many important rolls, regulation and lessons still need to be learned. Correction is not only for held the people behind the bars; it gives prisoners to reform and rearrange their lives in order.

Social disorganization theory was established by Shaw and Mckay (1942) in their famous work “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas”. The main argument of the social disorganization theory is that, the place where people live will influence the individual’s behavior, and this may lead them to crimes. More precisely, certain characteristics of the neighborhood/community will strengthen or weaken the informal social control within the community, and this has mediating effect on crimes.

A traumatic childhood may predispose a child to violence against themselves or against others, in adolescence or adulthood. This information is and has been off the records, but so far no known relationship between the magnitude of traumatic experiences and different forms of violence at puberty. A study published in Pediatrics, which involved 136,549 U.S. students between 12 and 17 has been commissioned to evaluate this relationship. The researchers sought to determine six adverse experiences for which they had passed the boys in childhood and physical and sexual abuse, witnessing abuse or problems at home by alcohol or drugs taken by a relative. Then he saw the violent behavior at puberty: crime, harassment, bullying, dating violence,

Social Disorganization “is a branch of social structure theory that focuses on the breakdown in inner-city neighborhoods of institutions such as the family, school and employment” (Seigal 164) These types of environments make it more susceptible to have youths become involved in gang activities as well as recruit other youths (164,Seigal).

The theory of social disorganization establishes that a person is not born delinquent but his environment influences the behavior of people. "The theory of social disorganization states a person's physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices that a person makes." (Bond, 2015). When I analyze this statement, I go back to my time in the neighborhood and start to remember how many young people who were my neighbors were corrupted by the atmosphere of our neighborhood. Which leads me to think because in my neighborhood although the environment was not very good, some went out being honest and studies, without ever having a problem with justice and others today are in jail.

Juvenile Delinquency is the participation of illegal behavior by a minor who falls under a statutory age limit. A delinquent is a minor who commits a crime or a status offense. A status offense is conduct that is illegal only because the child is under age i.e. smoking cigarettes (Senna 10, 20). The cases of Eric Smith, Lionel Tate, and an unidentified NJ child are similar only because, they are guilty of killing another child, but the Criminal Justice System treated and punished them very differently. In August 1993 in Savona, New York 13 year old Eric Smith killed 4 year old Derrick Robie. Smith lured Robie into the woods and strangled, beat with large rocks, and sodomized Robie. Smith was questioned by police and kept changing some

Other theories based on the Theory of the Chicago School come from Shaw and McKay as well as Sampson and Groves. Shaw and McKay utilized the Theory of the Chicago School to conduct a study of juvenile delinquency in Chicago. Shaw believed a person’s environment, particularly neighborhoods, to be the cause of their delinquent behavior. With his assumption, he analyzed the characteristics of neighborhoods in Chicago to see which one had the highest delinquency rate (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). His results revealed zone 2 to have the highest rate of delinquency regardless of the ethnic composition.