Crime prevention is the recognition of a crime risk and the initial action of removing or reducing it. Crime prevention has three main levels to it. The first is the primary level which is aimed at general population and seeks to address risk factors for delinquency. The second is the secondary level which also attempts to address risk factors, but is aimed at a more at-risk population. The third is the tertiary level which programs are targeted at offenders and aimed at preventing recidivism.
Every child is at risk of becoming a delinquent. The risk factors for these children are school, family, peers, community, and them as an individual. The main idea is to go through the possible causes of becoming a juvenile delinquent and how to prevent it from happening. Helping prevent children from becoming delinquents will also help reduce the crime rate and the victimization rate in the world. Everyone is affected by juvenile crime, including parents, teachers, neighbors and even families.
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Children can easily become involved in crimes and delinquent actions. Some simple things that can cause it is where they live, living in a poor community can automatically be a main cause to their behavior. Poor communities have high crime rates which the children would be surrounded by. Poor communities normally result in poor academics, otherwise known as lower ranked schools. This means they do not have the same education and after school activities as wealthier communities. This can easily have a major effect on children and teens because it does not allow them to grow in the same way, meaning that they don’t have as good of school supplies or equipment which could easily make them jealous or resentful of the more middle-class communities.
The first factor being discussed will be family. There are many children born into single parent homes, which has been long associated with difficulties for both mother and child. The tend to be more likely to live in poverty and to experience long-term social and physical difficulties. There are four aspects of family dysfunction that promote delinquency. One being that families disrupted by spousal conflict or breakup. Children who are raised in broken families tend to show signs of antisocial behavior and are more likely to demonstrate behavior problems and hyperactivity. The second being families involved in interpersonal conflict. Children who grow up witnessing violence tend to also show emotional disturbance or behavior problems. The third is ineffective parents who lack proper parenting skills. Delinquency could be reduced if parents provide the proper type of structure that integrates children into families, which also can give them the ability to assert their individuality. Inconsistent supervision can promote delinquency. The last aspect is that families that containdeviant parents. Children who has parents that go to prison are at a much higher risk of becoming delinquent. Sibling influence can be a big family factor to children becoming delinquent as well. If one sibling is a delinquent then there is a significant likelihood that his or her sibling will engage in delinquent behavior as well. Abuse within the family can be a big cause of delinquency as well. Mental health and delinquency experts have found that abused kids experience mental and social problems across their lifespan. Children who experience sexual abuse are particularly at risk for stress and anxiety which could lead to them misbehaving to cope with the trauma. Family has a major impact on whether children become delinquent or not.
School plays a significant role in shaping values in youth. It is the primary instrument of socialization. Dropping out of school can significantly increase delinquency. Reasons why children may drop out of are from educational factors, such as disinterest, failing courses, low grade point average, absences, falling behind and getting pushed out. Another reason is from social factors, such as, leaving because their dislike for school, they want to get a job, did not get along with their teachers, had been suspended or expelled for misbehaving. Chronic underachievers are more likely to become delinquent. Children who also report not liking school or that they do not do well in school are more likely to become delinquents as well. Three independent views on the association between school failure and delinquency are school failure is a direct cause of delinquent behavior, failure in school leads to psychological and emotional problems that are the actual cause of antisocial behavior, and school failure and delinquency share a common cause.
Peers are another riskfactor of the five categories given in the beginning. Parents are the primary source of influence in early years of a child’s life. Although parents are the primary source, friends have a greater influence that parents do over decision making. Adolescent self-image is formed by perceptions of one’s place in the social world.
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