Parental Criminal Behavior: A Qualitative Study

Our client Tonya Morris is currently in foster care after her mom left her behind with an unwilling caregiver sixteen days after her father, Terence Calvert, was incarcerated. Tonya has been in the same foster family for nearly nineteen months and knows nothing outside of this family. Tonyas biological mother, Paula Morris, has a reputation of long time drug use and has been unable to locate since she left her. While Tonya was in utero she was exposed to drugs causing developmental delays and she went through drug withdrawal as an infant. Her foster family has expressed their desire to adopt her on more than one occasion. Her biological father, Terence, also has the desire to reunite and raise Tonya after he is released from incarceration.

In some families, there can be different circumstances and situations which can cause any sane person to transform into a criminal. Firstly, the family environment will shape a child's welfare with a hospitable, caring parent-child interaction, a comfortable environment at home, and acceptable disciplinary skills. Accordingly, families with weak bonding between parents and children who are emotionally inhospitable and erratic in disciplining their child, are often linked to later criminal behavior. Furthermore, parents are pivotal to the socialization of a criminal, because it begins with the authority of their parenting practices. Authoritarian parental practices are excessively controlling, establishing children to meet a high set of standards, they lack the competence to be accommodating, responsiveness and cordial towards their children.

In addition to the aforementioned casual explanation the link between parental imprisonment and children delinquency may be based on family risk factor that predated the father involvement in the criminal justice. Incarcerated fathers and incarcerated men more generally tend to be highly disadvantages before their time in prison or jail with low levels of education and high rates of drug use mental health problem and impulsitively. Whatever the role of parental imprisonment in children development and behavior delinquency is shaped not only by family circumstances and more over the interaction among the individuals in the

Where parents and their children reside can have a huge impact on their lives in many different aspects. Children with parents that are incarcerated, are typically raised in poor and poverty stricken neighborhoods. “Of course there are middle-class and even some wealthy offenders, but when proportioned, over 90 percent of offenders are what we would define as poor” (Maier 93). “Poverty is the big background picture, the framework, the major context for crime, criminal behavior, and incarceration” (Maier 93). Although it may not be preventable, living in areas where crime occurs so regularly and drugs are at such easy access, it is hard for these parents to avoid it all and they end up falling short to the temptation of it all. So for those living in

There are four top social risk factors believed for the involvement of crime. Parental behavior plays a large role in a child’s risk of involvement of crime because of the parent’s influence on a child’s development (“Social Risk Factors for Involvement of Crime”). Poor parenting in supervision, maltreatment of a child, or if the parent is a

Abrahamsen, David. "Family Tension, Basic Cause of Criminal Behavior." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. January 1, 1949. Accessed October 29, 2014. http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3687&context=jclc..

Criminal behavior is not something researchers have been able to pin point the cause of indefinitely, as there are several theories and ideas of what may lead to criminal behavior. My original thoughts can be summed up to say children's upbringing by their parents and the interactions of negative peer groups within school are underlying causes of criminal behavior. I believe these thoughts, after learning specific criminology theories, are most related to the work of Travis Hirschi’s Social Bonding Theory. Social bonding theory takes the relationships and goals an individual has and examines whether these positive or negative bonds within a relationship or concerning a goal influences criminal behavior. Within my paper I will

Growing up in a family where both parents have thirty years experience working in the juvenile justice system, I have learned to value and respect parental responsibility for their children and their children's behavior. In 1995, a small community in the Willamette Valley, passed an ordinance which held parents responsible in just this way. The ordinance (No. 94-132) that was adopted in Silverton OR, in 1995 charged parents with the misdemeanor of "failing to supervise a minor" when a child under the age of 18 years violates any provision of the Silverton Municipal Code, under provisions of the ordinance, if a juvenile commits a violation of law, his or her parent(s) is served

In recent years it seems that early exposure to crime is increasing the number of crimes committed by minors. This type of crime is mostly known as juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is defined as young adults, people under eighteen, braking or violating the law (Websters). Family structure can affect juvenile delinquency in numerous ways. Family structure can include family support system, home environment, and family unity. The independent variable is family structure and the dependent variable is juvenile delinquency. Home environment plays a role in the production 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.

The First Amendment, one of the most controversial amendments in this day of age, is the freedom of speech. Many people believe that people should have the freedom of speech without any restrictions but others believe differently. In the movie “We are Legion” the First Amendment is viewed differently between the two groups, the Anonymous and the rest of the world. While the world believes that some information should be confidential and have restrictions on what should be said and how it can be said. Anonymous believes that information should be made public for the public and their actions should be protected by the First Amendment. Although the First Amendment protects the group, many people believe that they should still be charged and tried for releasing confidential information to the public. Should people be charged for exercising a right that was given to them by the country that they live in? While some people believe that freedom of speech is limited, others want no restrictions on the amendment, except for example if you are in someone’s home and have limited speech. As a citizen of the United States, I do not believe that Anonymous is doing the right thing even if they are protected by the First Amendment.

In the next study by Sander, Sharkey, Olivarri, Tanigawa, and Mauseth (2010) they looked at high risk juveniles compared to school experiences, with the help of juvenile offenders alongside with their parents. The research used qualitative data analysis in order to obtain their results. Participants were chosen from two juvenile centers in Texas and California, including their mothers. The adolescents were aged 13 to 17, with the mean being 15 years old. There were a total of 16 adolescents, with 4 of them being female. Out of the 16 participants, seven lived in California and the rest were in Texas. The group was diverse with half of the youths being white. Besides the adolescents being a part of the study, their mothers volunteered as well. Ranging from the ages 33 to 55, with the mean being 44 years old. The mothers were also asked what level of education they had received, 7 of the woman had some form of school after high school, 4 having a college dree or greater (Sander et al., 2010).

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.

Juvenile delinquency is defined as illegal acts committed by youngsters under the age of 18, especially for juveniles who grow up in low-income families and living in urban areas. Low income and juvenile delinquency is a popular theory and has always been linked in studies (Farnworth, 1984). Juveniles are usually classified as poor if they live with parent(s) or guardian whose yearly income is below the official poverty threshold. It has also been proven that children are more likely to live in poverty than adults, and that children around the ages of 6 - 11 are at risk of engaging in criminal behavior. Although children living with higher income are also reported to have committed crimes as well, researchers have proven that the crime rate is not as high as children living in low-income families (SecureTeen, 2014). According to the National Center for Children in Poverty (2008), an average family of four who live on a yearly income of $21, 200 would rank below average for the federal income level. Studies have shown that youngsters develop well in families of higher income, whereas juvenile delinquency is shown to have a connection with children who grow up in low-income households. Because yearly income of a family is associated with certain parental characteristics such as employment status, marital status, and age, it is hard to detach the source of the outcome of a youth. Reports have also shown that twenty percent of youths are charged with a crime, which is more than

When it comes to child delinquency, there are many different risk factors. There is individual risk factors, family, peers, and school and community risk factors. My main focus is on family risk factors because that leads back to poverty. Flores states, “studies have shown that inadequate child-rearing practices, home discord, and child maltreatment are associated with early-onset delinquency.” (Derzon and Lipsey, 2000) Many risk factors that involve family can tie in with child delinquency for example, family violence, divorce, parental psychopathology, family anti-social behaviors, teenage parenthood, family structure, and parenting and maltreatment. Community factors will relate back to poverty. “Children raised in poor, disadvantaged families are at greater risk for offending than children raised in relatively affluent families” (Farrington, 1989,1991,1998). Living in a low-income neighborhood can also affect the anti-social behavioral issues of the child which are known to lead to crime.