The Relationship Between Child Maltreatment And Delinquency

Abuse usually occurs due to poverty, lack of education, marital problems, changing of environments, family violence, and lack of support from family members, loneliness, social isolation, unemployment and many other factors which also relates to non-accidental incidents by caregivers, parents, older adolescents or other adults that is not within the norms of conduct and whom necessitates a considerable risk of inflicting physical or emotional harm to a child. Incidents like this can be un-intentional but other people also intentionally abuse their child which includes commission and omission. Instead of coming home to a safe environment, 40,844 children are abused. Evidentially child abuse is a very serious contemporary issue which has acquired many legal and non-legal

Incidents like abuse from family members, bullying, neglect, and sexual abuse are the most common. Repeated abuse can lead to psychological damage and emotional scarring. Not only are traumatic psychological experiences causing these juveniles to commit violent crimes. Situations, where children have poor education, a household without discipline, peer pressure, inadequate role models, low income, and substance abuse coupled with the wrong environment, can lead to a life of crime. These negative influences guide these juveniles on the wrong path towards crime. However, it does not mean these juveniles cannot succeed; it is however up to the juvenile to make the correct choices in their

There has been an enormous amount of research, going back almost thirty years, about the relationship between childhood trauma, and juvenile delinquency. Many researches cannot say that there is a direct link between the two, but after much research, researches have found that childhood trauma can perhaps be a predictor for juveniles who later in life commit crimes. Trauma is defined as, “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury,” because the definition is broad and can range from a variety of different events, for the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on neglect trauma in juveniles (Trauma, 2016). Neglect according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is, “the failure of a parent or other person with the responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision such that the child’s health, safety and well-being are threatened with harm” (Kazemian, 2011).

There have been numerous studies throughout the decades regarding childhood victimization and how it relates to adult criminality. This report will summarize a few of these studies and compare their results in order to attempt to find a correlation between childhood abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse and adult criminals.

if you had to look at all the juvenile delinquents in our society and guess what the most common crime is what would your guess be; theft, vandalism, assault, battery, murder? These would all be good guesses but are in fact incorrect. Drum roll please, and the correct answer is substance abuse, also known as drug use. The biggest issue that our communities are facing is our juveniles using drugs and this leading into the more severe violent crimes. “In 1997, courts with juvenile jurisdiction disposed of nearly 1.8 million cases nationwide for delinquency alone representing over one million individual juveniles who came into contact with the court that year. Many of these youth have alcohol, drug, or mental health (ADM) problems” (Breda, August 14, 2004, p. 3). 1.8 million Cases of drug related cases are a clear indicator of where our juvenile’s problems begin. The biggest issue that this creates is that the alcohol and substance abuse that surrounds our youth has been proven to be a gateway into more serious crimes. “

The authors utilized children who are in the juvenile justice system and the vast majority of the children were faced with abuse and neglect. This shows that aiding the the ending and treatment of child abuse would help to decrease the number of children in the juvenile justice system. It is obvious that most juvenile offenders go on to become a member of the criminal justice system, so early treatments could help prevent that from happening. These children could learn ways to deal with the trauma they faced besides going down the criminal path. If the children do have a developmental disability, early treatment could help them from falling behind in school which could also result in them not dropping out and ending up on the streets. If a child has PTSD or another emotional disorder, early help could prevent the child from using illegal drugs and ending up in the wrong circle. Increasing a child normalcy is key when discussing the best interest of the

Child maltreatment is characterized as “all intentional harm to, or avoidable endangerment of, anyone under 18 years of age” (Berger, 2014, pp. 236). Subtypes of child maltreatment includes child abuse (intentional harm inflicted on a child physically, emotionally, or sexually) and child neglect (failure to provide physical, educational or emotional needs) (Berger, 2014). Lower socioeconomic status (SES) and dysfunctional families can increases the risk for child maltreatment (Harpur, Polek, & van Harmelen, 2015). Additional circumstances that can increase the risk for child maltreatment is low maternal education, single-parenthood, non-biological caregivers, and parental substance abuse (Harpur et al, 2015). In 2012, in the United States,

According to the U.S. Department of Justice “the rate of youth involvement in the juvenile system in the United States has increase and continues to grow. However, it shows that youth in the rural communities are experiencing identical delinquent crimes as urban youth” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1965-1992). The widespread and nature of crimes that is being committed by our youth are very important issues that needs behavioral modification treatment. Issues of juvenile delinquent offenders could connect to childhood traumatic maltreatment. This social problem has affected the value of life in our society, economical system, educational system, and social structure. Studies have examined issues in method, focus and how childhood traumatic maltreatment can lead to juvenile delinquency.

Effects vary depending on the types of the maltreatment, characteristics of the child, and his or her environment. The consequences may be mild or severe; may come and go during their lifetime or last their lifetime; and affect them physically, psychologically, behaviorally, or in some combination of all three. Due to related costs to the public such as for health-care and educational systems, maltreatment impacts not just the child and family, but the public as well. Therefore, it is vital for the public to provide a scaffolding of preventative strategies and services before maltreatment occurs and to be prepared to offer remediation and treatment when

Strain theory describes the idea that there are certain events and conditions in an individual’s life that are disliked and involve the inability to achieve goals, loss of positively valued stimuli, and presentation of negative stimuli (Brezina and Agnew). Child neglect and abuse can be described by this theory, and often is, because of its elements and the effect it has on children. Before the idea of child abuse and neglect causing juvenile delinquency can be argued, juvenile delinquency must be defined. Brezina and Agnew define juvenile delinquency as law violations committed by minors. One of the largest debated consequences of child abuse and neglect is it causes juvenile delinquency in victims. Juvenile offenders are view by the justice system as “‘immature’ in the sense that they are less capable of appreciating the consequences of their actions, less able to exercise self-control and more easily lead astray by others.” Supports of this claim say abuse causes delinquency because weak bonds, low self-control, and confrontation with negative stimuli.

Juvenile delinquency is a social issue in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, is when “a violation of the law is committed by a juvenile and is not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Juvenile Delinquency). The juvenile system is different from the adult system in many way and most juvenile delinquents are from the age of ten to the age of seventeen (Juvenile Delinquent). Once the delinquent or anyone is at the age of eighteen, they are considered to be an adult. Therefore, in the justice system they are tried as an adult. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, peer influence, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. Teens are greatly influenced by the interactions and surroundings they are around. Their behaviors can result from the parent and/or their peer influences. Parents play a great role in the child’s life and a teen’s peers also play a strong role in how the teen behaves when the parents are not insight. This research will examine links between the social environment of teens and how it influences the teens actions and behavior which leads them to commit an offense.

While the theoretical reasoning that supports the idea that child abuse often leads to crime gives a basis for the concept, much of the evidence that links the two lies in the concrete details. The visible effects of child abuse and neglect that assist with the basis that has been given by the psychological theories lies in observable behavioral and emotional effects of those who are known to have been subject to maltreatment as children. Some children who have a history with abuse do not experience any repercussions while others experience extreme consequences; this is largely because of the certain child’s ability to handle and grow from negative experiences (Child Welfare Information Gateway 3). Children who experience consequences

Child abuse and neglect are considered a social phenomenon that plays a crucial role in American society as well as in the American criminal justice system. All types of ages, genders, ethnicities at some point or another are represented as victims or perpetrators of child abuse or neglect. Child abuse includes physical, psychological and sometimes sexual abuse to a person who is below the age of 18. Child abuse or neglect victims tend to grow up with long terms consequences such as low self-esteem, depression, and other major consequences such as engaging in criminal behavior as adults, teen pregnancy and not to mention the severity of physical child abuse consequences can end up in a death of an innocent victim. This literature

Many children become familiar with the Juvenile Justice System without knowledge of why they continue to commit crimes. Many of them suffered years of being abuses, which caused socialization changes that pushed them to withdraw or act out. This research is important because it shows the long terms effects child abuse has on children that become juvenile delinquents. Statistics show increasing numbers of children who are the victims of child abuse and neglect, although they decrease in delinquency may reflect a greater nation focus on the issue and the use of more effective programs to attack the problem. This research is important to me because the Criminal Justice System doesn’t address the causes of deviant behavior in juvenile delinquents to its full potential. They rather just focus on policing and tough sanctions. Hopefully with this paper and many others child abuse can be prevented along with the long-term effects of child abuse and better programs can be invented to treat child abuse victims. The Office of Justice Programs came up with a “Safe Kids Safe Streets” Program, which acknowledge the correlation between child abuse and juvenile delinquency and is aimed at breaking the cycle of early childhood victimization and later delinquency (Safe

In the current period more than ever, to prevent any unsuitable behavior, it must be well justified and financially prepared. There is little information available about the global economic costs of violence against children. However, the bill for such actions against children proves to be high. The variety of short and long term consequences associated with violence against children suggests that there are significant economic costs to society. Thus, the U.S., the cost of abuse and neglect was about 103.8 billion USD in 2007, the estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2008 is $124 billion. including both direct costs associated with early intervention, medical treatment and associated psychological and indirect consequences related to long-term ill-treatment at individual and societal.