The And Measure Of Juvenile Delinquency

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

In order to define the nature and scope of juvenile antisocial behavior we must determine that “gangs are variable, diverse and difficult to define in precise terms” (White, 2007) and that “adolescent antisocial behavior is an issue of major concern to parents, teachers, police and governments and is a significant cost to the

In 1968 Congress passed the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act and it was later revised in 1972. The purpose of the Act was to help assist state and local communities in providing community based prevention programs and/or services. The Prevention Act also focused on helping to train

In order to come to a solution, an understanding of different aspects of the problem is required. Gangs are not a recent trend. “While they have existed in some verifiable form in the United States since the 19th century, the 1950’s showed the worst juvenile delinquency statistics the world had seen (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).” Major cities such as New York enacted curfews to help curb this issue, however at the time not many studies had been performed to realize the widespread activity and cause of such delinquency rates.

Juvenile criminal gangs have long been a significant issue with the criminal justice establishment. Youths coming together to commit criminal acts normally attributed to adult and more vicious criminal organizations are now being routinely committed by juveniles. The reasons for these youths in committing the activities have somewhat baffled author tries as well as scholars and researchers. It must be noted however, that juvenile delinquency is not new; laws in the past have sought to control the criminal and deviant tendencies of children, and prescribing changes from rehabilitative to retribution against criminal acts committed by juveniles. Many of the common assumptions-from being accepted and venting violent behavior- have long been

Welcome to the Journal of Juvenile Justice. (2010). Retrieved April 2, 2017 from http://www.journalofjuvjustice.org/ This Journal talks about the cycle of juvenile delinquency and how we could interrupt it and break the cycle of them going to the courts getting charged, serving their time, and then repeating that process. It describes how sometimes we send that juvenile right back where he came from, in an environment that sparked his interest to be incorrigible to begin with.

The entire factor that can lead up to juveniles making the wrong choices in society of such behavior, like low self –esteem, hanging with negative people, bad choices and having a dysfunctional family can all lead to juvenile destruction. There are program out there to help trouble juveniles change not only their ways, but their ways of thinking as well. These programs are here to help them make the right choices and improved their life from the wrong type of decision making for the future. I will discuss two different programs in the state of California that is committed to helping reduce juvenile delinquent and the program that they are facing. The two programs that I will take under my wings and compare and give my opinion are Center on

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 seems to always find itself on the front pages of newspapers. The juvenile delinquency rate is very high in America, today. According to Seigel and Welsh (2014) juvenile delinquency is defined as the participation in illegal behavior by a minor who falls under the statutory age limit (p. 648). The statutory age limit varies in different states. For example, a juvenile might be considered an adult in different state for various crimes. Statistics show that each year, juvenile commits about 9.8 percent of almost 12,000 homicides (Zagar, Grove, & Busch, 2013).

“Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6 New International Version).

Criminological theory is the explanation of criminal behavior, as well as the behavior of juveniles, attorneys, prosecutors, judges, correctional personnel, victims, and other actors in the criminal justice process. Criminological theory is important because most of what is done in criminal justice is based on criminological theory, whether we or the people who propose and implement policies based on the theory know it or not. In criminology, examining why people commit the crime is very important in the ongoing debate on how crime should be handled or committed. Several criminological theories that best describe the cause for juvenile delinquency is social disorganization, strain, social process, control, labeling, conflict, and development life course theory. We will compare and contrast these different theories with a focus on adolescent involvement in criminal street gangs.

As stated by Bartol and Bartol “Juvenile delinquency is an imprecise, nebulous, social, clinical, and legal label for a wide variety of law- and norm-violating behavior” (2011, Pg 139). The juvenile delinquency term has come to imply disgrace in today's correctional institution. Our government is up hold to procedures and expected to come with a solution to solving the delinquent problem. An underage offender can be labeled a delinquent for breaking any number of laws, ranging from robbery to running away from home, and especially being involved in school violence. The following situations faced by correction officials when dealing with juvenile delinquents will be examined. Three main areas (child development, punishments, and deterrence

Juvenile delinquency is a term used to describe a minor that may under existing laws depending on what state, be punished under the conditions of the juvenile court system. Minors getting into Mischief children and misbehaving has been has been a problem and is not an issue that just began. Problems in children can begin as early as age seven, in some cases it may begin earlier. As a child offender grows up studies show between ages 15 and 17 years of age they may mature and if they began traveling down the wrong road; they change their ways to the better during this period.

About 40-80 percent of incarcerated juveniles have one ,at least, diagnosable mental health disorder. Juvenile delinquency is the act of criminal activity of a person under 18. After a juvenile is sentenced to a detention center , this punishment dates back to 1899. In 1899 the Illinois juvenile court act was created with the intention of no longer trying children under sixteen as an adult in order to avoid adult prisons. Adult prisons weren't providing the children with the rehabilitation they need, the act wanted to focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment when it came to children. Detention centers should not focus on punishment because cChildren's brain's are not yet fully developed, they have poor decision making skills, and the detention center should focus on reforming and helping the child instead of concentrating on punishment.

Clearwater police say that crime rates vary year to year and location to location. Throughout the past years crime rates have increased and decreased depending on the area we live in. This includes misdemeanor crimes such as small school fights or vandalizing textbooks. Lots of countries decide to deal with this issue with death penalties instead of doing something less drastic. I do not agree with such drastic measures, though. In order to lower crime rates, juvenile delinquents should be charged as adults when committing a crime unless the crime is a misdemeanor crime.