Module V: Development And Environment Analysis

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

The primary risk factors for criminal behavior majorly come into play in the early years of a person’s life.

“In 1993, Moffitt states that manifestations of antisocial behavior emerge very early in the life course and remain present thereafter, suggesting childhood behaviors are links to adult criminality.” This notes the importance of exploring why these antisocial tendencies come to light in adolescence, in order to prevent future criminality. Thus, researching the differences and similarities between conduct disorder (CD), antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), and their rehabilitation can influence the likelihood of future crime, in addition to studying future criminality based on gender, individuality, and the effectivity of treatment in relation to CD.

The kind of environment a child grows up around or in has a great affect on their behavior. Human learning is somewhat a continuous reciprocal interaction of cognitive, behavioral, and what I stated early environmental factors. This type of learning is called observational learning, this is where the child observes and imitates the behavior of adults or other children around them. Another environment is the family environment, the stability of a household has a big affect on a child’s behavior. A child that has endured a parental separation, neglect, or has been abused in any way is where you can find these types of behavior. In many studies that are possing in today’s study set goals that test many different interactive involvements between themselves and their parental relationship quality. It is said that children with antisocial beliefs and bad attitudes show a different social contextual interaction with others. Showing more of aggression and delinquent behavior that brings a more

Introduction Identifying the main reason behind the crimes committed by youths in the current world is difficult because of the socialization complexity and social mechanisms that surround the presented cases. Nevertheless, there are many reason why juveniles engage in delinquent behaviors. Some reasons can be but are not limited to one’s environment which includes family institutions, friends, schools, and social systems that may put them at-risk. Personality traits also play a critical role for antisocial behaviors, which have been known to be linked with delinquent behaviors. Despite these many factors, the punitive model of juvenile justice has been embraced in order to hold juveniles more accountable for their criminal acts and to introduce a level of punishment into juvenile justice (Taylor & Fintsch, 2015).

There is not one specific response on why the juveniles resort to criminal behavior, but there are abundance amounts of biological, sociological and psychological theories that can help obtain rationales and comprehension to better comprehend thee juveniles. All of these circumstances contribute a massive role in the way adolescents view their lives and help them turn to lawbreaking behavior. Once these theories have been cautiously studied and critiqued, administering them to our juveniles in an individualized situation can help discourage and persist in these children from selecting a life of criminal behavior and abnormality. Considering the brief review of social learning hypothesis as depicted before, the focal suspicion and suggestion of social learning theory can be best compressed in the two after explanations: juveniles misbehave when they have a disorderly family life and when children hang around the same crowd that are not beneficial in their childhood development. It merits accentuating that social learning hypothesis is a general hypothesis in that it offers a clarification for why people first take an interest in wrongdoing and aberrance, why they keep on culpable, why they heighten and deescalate, why they practice and sum up, and why they cease from criminal and degenerate

Incarceration, Illegal drugs, Social drama, Abuse, Aggression, Neglect, and Violence are just a few phrases that are mentioned in “Tracing the Roots of Violence,” by Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley. Their theories on youth crime are based on science, which explains the essence of a human being from their birth to who they grow up to become. Morse highlights that the root to criminal behavior starts straight from the crib. Babies are nurtured, cared for, held, fed, and consoled by others. Their brain structure, immune cellular patterns, and hormonal responses are informed by the way they are met and treated (Weisheit & Culbertson, 2000).

Psychological theories have attempted to explain the reasons for and how criminality occurs. The psychoanalytic perspective involves two major theories - Freud's theory of the Sexual Stages of Development and the Theory of Attachment purposed by Bowlby (1947). These theories conclude that there is an association between the formation of personality in childhood and that of future criminal behaviour. The Freudian theory of development suggests that we go through several stages of development

The causes of crime seem to be indefinite and ever changing. In the 19th century, slum poverty was blamed; in the 20th century, a childhood without love was blamed (Adams 152). In the era going into the new millennium, most experts and theorists have given up all hope in trying to pinpoint one single aspect that causes crime. Many experts believe some people are natural born criminals who are born with criminal mindsets, and this is unchangeable. However, criminals are not a product of heredity. They are a product of their environment and how they react to it. This may seem like a bogus assumption, but is undoubtedly true.

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.

     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.

People who demonstrate a higher cognitive ability (higher IQ’s) have been shown to perform well academically and are able to achieve. A teenager, or even adult, with low IQ who does not perform well in school can be subject to peer pressure, which can lead to delinquent behavior. In turn, youths who demonstrate delinquent and anti-social behavior at an early age have difficulty forming social attachments, resulting in lower self-control. As we have studied previously, low self-control is but one means of predicting crime.

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.