The causes for children being lest alone or orphaned may be cause by society and not necessarily by accident. Some example of these cause may include parental alcoholism, abuse by the parents, death of parents during armed conflict and poverty. Juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency refers to antisocial or illegal behavior by persons under the age of 18, mostly adolescents. Most legal codes suggest certain procedure for dealing with minors, such as juvenile detention centers. Most, if not all, of the many theories on the causes of crime may be applied to the causes of juvenile delinquency.
Firstly, there are many factors that can exacerbate childhood trauma that will later on cause a person to engage in criminal activity. For instance, some researches tend to use the term “Adverse Child Experiences’’ also known as ACE, this includes a multitude of childhood trauma’s involving sexual and emotional abuse, child neglect, or substance abuse (Going Bonkers Magazine, Kathleen Kendall Page 44. ) When a child is faced with these many unexplained acts of trauma it usually leads to Psychological changes, which causes Harmful behaviors towards themselves or others (Kendall, Page 45). This could be due to the fact that they are always exposed to physical abuse, and they will feel the need
A troubled adolescent boy may show signs of behavioral changes that become unpredictable, and beyond the normal teenage issues. These unpredictable behaviors can lead to at risk behaviors, such as; violence, drugs and alcohol, harming one self, criminal acts, and skipping school. These repeated acts can lead the adolescent into a juvenile justice system putting them into a detention center. Intergroup conflicts are disagreements that occur within a group, usually emerging from objective differences in interest, controlling attitudes, and competition for desired resources. Many of times, these conflicts arise from discrimination that is directed towards others within the group.
“By having them together, they form relationships.” When they are among so many different criminal associations with different behaviors this is more likely to increase the problem plus group experience tends to glamorize delinquency and drug use. The kids give each other more attention and comfort. They are in a competition of who can do the worst. Maia also said that, “Being put on probation, which involves more contact with misbehaving peers.”The source of one’s self esteem is how you stack up with your peer’s. Peer pressure worsens behavior.
Juvenile delinquents are defined as trouble makers, thugs, gangsters etc. But what people don’t know is why they are like this. Juvenile delinquents don’t always act out just because; they may have things in their past or present that they are trying to avoid. The things in the past or present they are trying to avoid may be more traumatic than us as adults see it. No matter how bad or good their life is kids or teens still have problems they face.
Along with the lifestyle up bring that a juvenile is surrounded by, the neighborhood and the company they keep can lead them down the path of destruction. “Conformity to peer group behavior and pressure may promote deviance. This is particularly likely among young people, where peer pressure may encourage them to adopt forms of deviant behavior (such as truancy and underage drinking) (Explanations for Patterns of Crime, n.d., p. 2). Because of the peer pressure that most teenagers face, committing these acts is a way to gain social
For this reason, dysfunctional families are more likely to bring up a future juvenile delinquent. The rise in general and violent crime parallels the rise in dysfunctional families. Families are thought to be dysfunctional when misbehavior, conflict, and regular abuse from individual members occur on a constant basis, and are leading other family members to allow such actions to continue on. Children often grow up in these families with the understanding that such a layout is normal, for it is all they have known. Dysfunctional families are often a result of single parent adults, that may also be affected by addictions, such as substance abuse.
Children and adolescents, regardless of their race, gender, culture or economic status appear to be at approximately equal risk for sexual victimization. Statistics show that girls are the gender most subjected to sexual abuse. However, studies have shown that boys, and later, men are more inclined not to report their victimization; perhaps for reason of societal pressure to be proud of their sexual activity (regardless of how unwanted this may have been at the time) proving this crime to be categorized under the abstract theory. So how do we understand the behaviour of an abuser? It is a common place to attach labels to criminals in an attempt to explain and better understand their behaviour through describing them as possessing a certain characteristic trait.
Youth crime can be a result of fear, peer pressure, boredom, exclusion from the community, a sense of anomie, socialisation and anti-social behaviour, these just being a few reasons for youth crime being committed. Parents or guardians working long hours offers more of an opportunity for children to be involved in crime without anybody watching over them. Anti-social behaviour can be seen as the gateway into criminal activity that is why institutions such as schools have rules of conduct and uniform which students must conform to and if not they are punished. Some children admit that stealing is “…part of their normal behaviour,” which relates to norms and values, what is right and wrong, part of
Youth that hang around people their age that are making bad choices and not abiding the law will involve in crimes with friends who are doing the same. Their environment can cause them to act out in negative ways, the lack of positive adults, abuse and neglect, and too much idle time and not enough planned activities. Children should not be tried as adults. “The United States Supreme Court has ruled that there are limitations on the punishment juveniles can receive even when they are tried in adult court. The law considers youth crimes to be less culpable than adult, therefore juvenile punishment should not be as severe as those available for adults, even for the exact same crime.” The punishment of a 14 year old, Arkansas teenager who wasn’t the triggerman at a video rental store that he and his robbed was fair.