Violent juveniles in the America Society
Violent juveniles in the America Society. Juvenile delinquency is a significant factor in society today as more youths get involved in violent crimes. The influences that drive these young adults into crime emanate from individual and environmental factors, wherein the juvenile’s direct environment plays a major role in shaping their behavior. Interventions and solutions to the problem are dependent on the knowledge around the factors that lead up to juvenile offenses in the population. It is also essential to understand the issues driving criminal behavior in the youths.
• In a study conducted by Nourollah, Fatemeh & Farhad (2017) “on a group of 450 juvenile delinquents, aged 9-18 years, results indicated that 50.8 percent of the subjects did not live with their parents”. The study confirms the notion that parental involvement shapes moral and ethical values that are likely to deter the child’s participation in the crime.
• Broken familial relationships also contribute to a high level of juvenile delinquency, and this may be shaped by divorce or detached families as a result of work or other factors. “In a survey of 26 adolescents, 61.5 percent had stolen, and over 50 percent spent less than twenty minutes with their families weekly” (Doggett, 2018).
• For juveniles living in poverty, there is a higher likelihood of being involved in violent crimes that are linked to the use of firearms as compared to the middle and high-income earners. “The rate of gun-related violence for those in poverty is at 3.5 percent, 1000 people compared to a rate of 0.8-2.5 for those in the middle and high income earning group” (Vittana, 2018).
• “Some areas have an unemployment rate of 20 percent for those between 16 and 24 years, where one-third live in poor neighborhoods and have the highest likelihood of committing a crime” (Vittana, 2018). Unemployment, therefore, has a direct impact on juvenile delinquency.
Violent juveniles in the America Society
ASSUMPTIONS
• It is assumed that increased parental involvement in the child’s life can contribute to a decline in the rate of juvenile delinquency. With both parents working, there is sometimes little involvement and hence the limited ability to shape the moral and ethical standing of the child.
• With the family environment playing a significant role in shaping behavior, it is assumed that if adolescents spend more time with their families, there will be a lesser likelihood of their being engaged in criminal activity. Familial involvement is shaped by work-related factors, divorce, or the teen’s detachment from the family through immersion in technology. It is also assumed that lowering technological immersion by teens and increasing their familial, social involvement will help reduce the level of juvenile delinquency.
• Poverty contributes to an increase in the level of crime among the youths and hence the assumption that lowering the rate of poverty in the population will significantly reduce the rate of crime in a neighborhood, state, or nation. The assumption is that addressing poverty from a macroeconomic point of view will help bring down the rate of crime in the country.
• It is also assumed that increasing the rate of employment will lead to a lower rate of criminal activity among the youths. The assumption is that unemployment and the strain from the financial obligations contribute to an increase in criminal behavior such as theft and ensuring that employment is available will lower such rates of crime.
References
Doggett, A. (2018). Juvenile delinquency and family structure. Retrieved from http://facstaff.elon.edu/ajones5/Anika’s%20paper.htm.
In this article, the author explores how family structures influence the inclination towards criminal behavior for delinquents. The author also ties delinquency to the lack of structure in the juveniles’ families. The article informs the topic by analyzing one of the contributing factors to juvenile delinquency.
Nourollah, M., Fatemeh, M., & Farhad, J. (2017). A study of factors affecting juvenile delinquency. Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal, 8(3).
The study by the three authors focuses on some of the factors leading to delinquency. The authors explore factors such as linkage between gender and crime, education and crime, and family relations and crime. Importantly, broken families and low levels of education are significant contributors to crime.
Vittana. (2018). 26 poverty and crime statistics. Retrieved from https://vittana.org/26-poverty- and-crime-statistics.
The article gives an insight on the statistics around crime and poverty, where the author projects the notion that poverty significantly contributes to crime. Some of the identifiable issues are high crime rates in areas with high poverty levels and a linkage between unemployment and crime. The statistics shed light on some contributing factors to criminal behavior.