Why High School Runaways

75% of youth in correctional facilities for delinquency are not in for a serious violent felony crime (Ross). Many minors in such facilities are held because their families cannot take care of them. Drug use, often stemming from the parents, is prevalent in teens detained in juvenile detention. Additionally, teen pregnancy and sexual abuse are common among the incarcerated young adults. Most of them have some level of a psychiatric disorder, however, a small percentage of them actually receive treatment. An unhealthy home environment, drug addiction, and mental trauma all contribute to the cycle of juvenile detention. In fact, 66% of youth who have been arrested will become repeat offenders within 24 months (“21 Juvenile Repeat Offenders

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

Abstract: This paper will discuss the correlation of youth gangs and how the cognitive and social learning theory comes in to play, and why female and male juveniles end up in the system. It will touch bases on how youth surroundings have a lot to do with the decisions they choose to make and the life style they end up living. Gangs usually recruit youth off the street, if a child sees that being a part of a gang is an everyday thing and is normal then they will be influenced more to do that. The cognitive theory ultimately states that a child learns from observing and from there environment. This essay will touch on the different statistics and the reasoning for youth gangs and gangs in general, it will also show statics of youth who are apart of gangs and are incarcerated. It will also show how it correlates with the cognitive theory and social learning theory.

A solution to help at risk girls feel they fit into their community has been attempted through the formation of a club in Texas, where there is a large Mexican population due to the border region. A club for at-risk girls was started called Girls Acquiring Leadership Skills through Service (GALLS). Since "students who lack feelings of inclusion at school are those most at-risk for both youth gang involvement and dropping out of school" this club focuses on making girls feel they belong at school(Sonnenblick 243). Throughout the border region, enacting programs such as GALLS could be effective for lessening Hispanic girls' at-risk classification. Not being at-risk would be a benefit for Hispanic girls whom face so many other potentially problematic situations in their daily life on the border.

Broken families are the largest cause of this. Reading through the articles, I was able to make personal connections with the following aspects in relation to those I know who do not come from best home life, then act out on legal terms. Most often the case is that a juvenile had a negative experience which caused them to act out with violence, theft, or drug involvement. Many researches have shown a strong correlation between exposure to negative events and juvenile delinquency, according to the article, Superpredators.

Gangs are not a new problem to the United States. Gangs have often been romanticized in literature and the media with a classic example being “West Side Story”. Americans have long been fascinated with the Mafia, and infamous gangsters such as Al Capone and John Gotti have even been elevated in status as cultural icons. Americans have seen an uprising in “Gangster Rap” since the early 1990’s. Many people tend to think of gangs in America as being made up primarily of young inner-city black males with a small percentage of white males. Americans tend to forget that gangs also include girls, adults, and children. One area that most Americans have not started to look into yet is the influence of the growing number of Hispanic Gangs.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a growing epidemic in the U.S school system. The school-to-prison pipeline represents the policies and practices that push minority school children out of the classrooms and into the juvenile justice system. According to Best, “social problems are products of what people do” (Best p.14). When children are rejected from schools disciplinary actions and are now handled by the court system, most of these children will become criminals later in life. The school-to-prison pipeline is a growing social problem because the school system is creating more criminal behavior within children, since they refuse to deal with the situation themselves. These children are now the products of a failing system.

The School-to-Prison pipeline is known to affect minority students who share different ethnic backgrounds. Although it affects students from all ethnic minority groups, African American and Hispanic/Latino students have been recorded to be affected the most by this discriminative action. According to research by Castillo, “Students of color account for a large number of school-enforced punishment and the majority of arrests for school-related infractions. During the 2009-2010 school year, more than 70 percent of students arrested in schools were African American or Latino (2014, p. 48).” Therefore, students of color experience harsher punishments and are more likely to be removed from their educational settings when teachers or administration are attempting to correct their misbehaviors.

“Seventy percent of students involved in “in school” arrests or referred to the law enforcement are Black or Latino” (Travis doc). A majority of students attend school to graduate or further their education, but many do not have the opportunity to accomplish neither of these achievements. A great majority of students are being sent down the school-to-prison pipeline, which is a transition from school to the juvenile or prison system. Schools have adopted a strict and militaristic policy to deal with defiant, violent, and slow learning students. Most students are expelled, suspended or referred to the police, but most issues could be handled without expelling, suspending, or notifying the police. “Far too often, students are suspended, expelled

Running away from home is one of the commonest juvenile offenses in America today. Children run to escape, to hide, to start a new life, to change their routine, or to follow a dream. There are 1.3 million juveniles that live on the street each day according to the National Runaway Switchboard (NRS). The statistics regarding the rates of juveniles in this country that runaway are surprising. Unfortunately with all of the children out on the street our system is not doing much to combat the problem. In most states running away is not illegal, which leaves law enforcement with few options when attempting to locate or recover a missing runaway child.

Unfortunately, with a society that is white and only focuses on their own investments, they see people of color as a threat to their well-being. At early stages in life, those children that have been struggling, become marginalized in school, because teachers give up on them. A majority of teachers in the elementary to high schools in Escondido do not care about making a difference in a child's life. They do not bother to ask how the child is doing or ask them simple questions to demonstrate that they care. Instead, they exclude the child because either the child is a troublemaker, does not pay attention, does not engage in the subject, or tends to fall asleep in class. "If environmental factors influence levels of informal control then they will also have an indirect effect on school performance, since youth who are poorly supervised are less likely to succeed at school" (Alleyne and Wood). For many, school is a structure that helps one forget about their reality for a couple of hours, but for others, school is a setting that reminds them constantly of where they come from and that they will remain in that position because they have no other choice. Usually, the only way to forget about these issues is through joining a gang. With the support of friends that might be dealing with the same pain and struggles, the problem loses

Juvenile delinquents have been around for a long time, however it has not been until recently that society has cast light on this very serious issue. Nonetheless, there is still much that is unknown about juvenile delinquents which is why it is so easy for bystanders to label them as gangsters and criminals and forget about them. In reality, there are multiple factors that come in to play that when determining how juvenile delinquents got to the point where they are now. After watching the films Crips and Bloods: Made in America, Gran Torino, and A Better Life one is better able to understand what these factors are, such as income level as well as ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Despite the fact that all three of these films have very distinct plots, they are each able to accurately represent the various struggles that people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds have to face in their efforts to assimilate into the American culture. Now when applying the criminological theories to the protagonists in these films, one is able to gain a better insight as to why the characters in these films go down the path of delinquency. And with better explanations for their behavior, the viewer can better determine which course of action would be necessary help these troubled juveniles stay away from this dangerous lifestyle.

There is a moderate portion of juvenile law violations that are minor; however some young offenders are extremely dangerous and violent. (Caldwell, 2002) Studies have shown that most delinquent behavior stems from some sort of underlining issue or issues in a youth’s present or past history. State and county authorities must deal with these offenders while also responding to their personal social problems. This could range from child abuse and neglect, family issues and drug abuse, exposure to pornography and exposure to aggressive role models.

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.

Yet, the education does not stop at middle school, for high school really puts all the basic skills from elementary and middle school to work as the assignments and the exams become more challenging. We do not only learn about reading, writing, history, and math, we learn about the people around us as we associate with different personalities, and as we see what we have grown up to be and what we want to be later in life. Accordingly, the high school years are a time when teachers emphasize the importance of graduating and attending college in order to have a “succesful future.”