A Comprehensive Analysis of Juvenile Delinquency

A Comprehensive Analysis of Juvenile Delinquency Presented by: Mr. Cueno Date: 28 July 2023 Different Approach Toward Delinquency - Biogenic approach • Biogenic views the law-breaker as a person whose misconduct is the result of faulty biology. The offender is a hereditary defective, suffers from endocrine imbalance or brain pathology, his or her body structure and temperament pattern have produced the law breaking. - Psychogenic approach • It tells us that the offender behaves as she or he does in response to psychological pathology of some kind. The critical casual factors in delinquency are - personality problems, to which juvenile misbehavior is presume to be a response. - Sociogenic approach • Sociogenic attributes the variations in delinquency pattern to influence social structures. They account for individual offender by reference process, which go on in youth gangs, stigmatizing contacts with social control agencies and other variables of that time. Classification Of Delinquency - Predisposing factor • Inclinations or inherited propensities, which cannot be, considered a criminal one unless there is a probability that a crime will be committed. - Precipitating factor • Elements which provokes crimes or factors that are signified to the everyday adjustments of an individual, like personal problems, necessities, imitation, curiosity, ignorance, and diseases. Factors Affecting Juvenile Delinquency - Individual Risk Factors- include intelligence, impulsiveness or the inability to delay gratification, aggression, empathy, and restlessness. - Family- the first and the basic institution in our society for developing the child's potential, in all its many aspects like emotional, intellectual, moral, and spiritual as well as physical and social. The following are some of the causes of delinquency as influence of family; - • The faulty development of a child • Lack of parental guidance • Lack of love and the instinct of hate or anger due to unfair treatment • Parental rejection • Broken home • Parental abuse or neglect • Criminal parents or siblings Environment - It is where the child influences after his first highly formative years. Youth in the community turns to become delinquent with companions. Some of these causes are the following: - • Associations with criminal groups/gangs • Alcoholism and drug addiction • Impulse of fear • Crime inducing situation that caused criminalistic tendencies • Imitated instinct like selfishness, violence and anti-social wishes. School- A public instrument for training young people. It is a principal institution for development of a basic commitment by young people to the goals and values of our society. - Other Department or Agencies of the Government - Some of the department and agencies of the government also create factors that influence the youth to become delinquent, such as the following: • Political interference of the higher positions • Unfair decisions of the court • Police carelessness and unfair treatment • Influence from the newspapers, movies, tv, radio, comic, and other magazine Three Types Of Delinquent Gangs By Cloward And Ohlin - The Criminal Gang • Emerge in areas where conventional as well as non- conventional values of behavior are integrated by a close connection of illegitimate and legitimate businesses. This type of gang is stable than the ones to follow. Older criminals serve as role models and they teach necessary criminal skills to the youngsters. - The conflict/violent gang. • Non-stable and non-integrated, where there is an absence of criminal organization resulting in instability. This gang aims to find reputation for toughness and destructive violence. - The Retreatism Gang • Is equally unsuccessful in legitimate as well as illegitimate means. They are known as double failures, thus retreating into a world of sex, drugs, and alcohol. Theories Of Delinquency - Social Disorganization Theory • Popularized by Clifford Shaw and Henry Mckay. • According to social disorganization theory, disorganized areas cannot exert social control over acting-out youth; these areas can be identified by their relatively high level of change, fear, instability, incivility, poverty and deterioration. - Anomie Theory • Advocated by Emile Durkheim. Breakdown of social orders as results of loss of standards and values that replaced social cohesion. - • A - Absence • Nomos- Laws or standards. • *Anomie-refers to the breakdown of norms. Differential Oppression Theory • By John D. Hewitt and Robert Regoli. • Juvenile delinquency is a product of the oppression of children by adults, particularly within the context of family. The maltreatment of children has been found to be highly correlated with both serious and moderate delinquency as well as other problem behaviors. - Strain Theory • This theory assume that children are basically good. Only under pressure do they deviate. Pressure for deviance comes from their having internalized society's goals, such as being successful and wanting to achieve them. The inability to achieve those goals was considered a driving factor behind crime. - Social Learning Theory • This theory view that behavior is modeled through observation, either directly through intimate contact with others, or indirectly through media; interactions that are rewarded are copied, where as those that are punished are avoided. - Differential Association Theory • Asserts that criminal behavior is learned primarily within interpersonal groups and that youths will become delinquent if definitions they have learned favorable to violating the law exceed definitions favorable to obeying the law within the group. Theories of Delinquency - Drift Theory (Neutralization Theory). It proposed that juveniles sense a moral obligation to be bound by the law. Such a bind between a person and the law remains in place most of the time. When it is not in place, delinquents will drift. - Labeling Theory (Social Reaction Theory). Crime is caused by societal reactions to behavior, which include exposure to the juvenile justice system. Once children are labeled delinquent, they become delinquent - Social Control Theory: Travis Hirchi's (1969) social control theory illuminates the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence a person to be non-deviant. Hirschi (1969) cited four interrelated forms of these bonds: • Attachment - this bond refers to the "level of psychological affection one has for pro-social others and institutions A juvenile may express, "I don't want to hook again into drugs because I don't want my teacher to be disappointed with me" • Commitment - this bond refers to the "importance of the social relationships that people value, which they would not want to risk jeopardizing by committing criminal or deviant acts" • Involvement - this bond refers to "the opportunity costs associated with how people spend their time...idle hands are the devil's workshop" • Belief-this bond refers to "the degree to which one adheres to the values associated with behaviors that conform to the law. In other words, belief simply implies a degree of faith or trust towards the validity of the law. - Self-derogation Theory- Introduced by Kaplan. States that low self esteem motivates youths to try out delinquent activities that are aimed at restoring self esteem. - Self-control Theory- In short, self-control theory suggests that deviance simply results from the individual's inability to effectively control his/her impulses. - Culture Deviance Theory- Links delinquent acts to the formation of independent subcultures with a unique set of values that clash with the main stream culture. - Rational Choice Theory- deviance is a result of highly calculation of risks and awards. Prospective deviants weigh their own chance of gain against the risk of getting caught, and thereby decide a course of action.