The constant increase of after-school juvenile delinquency shaped the legal system of the United States in terms of disaster facts. The country is known to be the most armed in the world. The weapons of adults are not hidden from children. This causes most of the troubles which are observed in schools and other educational establishments. The danger of it rises in its spontaneous nature. The point is that the problem lies in the psychological area of children’s background. Looking at the quarrels between different layers of American society the diversity in race, culture, financial conditions give the ground for hatred, evil, and impatience. That is why the new after-school delinquency prevention program should be developed and established for the purpose of better situation within youth.
First of all, it is significant to point out the factors which make influence the delinquency level within American society. Drug use, unemployment, violence and truancy, as a way of using time apart from school as well as people with bad intentions surrounding a child, these are the reasons of such great percentage of juvenile delinquency in the United States. Thus, academic and social support should be used for better steps on the way of prevention of delinquency. After-school activities serve as a better filling of time. Summer programs and active entertainment supported by law and state government should accelerate the flow of juvenile delinquency lessening on the assumption of the logic fact that children will be involved into straightforward entertainments which leave them no spare time for negative reality in the hoods or somewhere within the community.
Individual approach in resolving this problem is vital and extremely necessary in order to implement concrete mechanisms of efficient results. Treating children individually in groups helps to designate the problematic areas of their everyday life. Also, it helps the counselors to work out the reasons and the ways of faster solution about this or that case of delinquency or risk of it for children aged 5 to 15. It is so because schoolchildren are usually divided into two groups being involved in the process of juvenile delinquency:
- Youths who already have had contact with the juvenile justice system.
- Youths are at risk of becoming delinquent (Joseph, p. 160).
That is why the purpose of the new program is to encompass all the aspects of the issue. As it is seen, the “punishment because of punishment” model is not usable, so that to determine and prevent the reasons for delinquency. The Law system is strict with delinquents and just holds them in the framework of official law and rules according to which it works. It does not work in the further development of individuals and can serve as a background for a child being spoilt in the future. “The construction of a model that predicts juvenile crime requires the identification of protective factors that benefit the positive development of youths and diminish the risk factors that threaten positive youth outcomes (Fraser, Richman, & Galinsky, 1999).” (Cited in Mann, p. 153).
With regards to the analysis of the main weak points of the children committing crimes, it is useful to implement and perpetually develop such steps of the program as: first, to cultivate the academic culture and use of education within the educational establishment. This will help to increase pupils’ ratings of progress in the study and, as a result, it will face them with a conclusion that intellect is the main precious thing for future prosperity and pride. “In fact, in a study predicting the occurrence of delinquency, educational measures including low achievement, low vocabulary, and low verbal reasoning increased delinquency predictions by 27% (Loeber & Dishion, 1983).” (Cited in Mann, p. 153).
Second, society should provide by means of governmental support social guarantees for children involving them in entertainment according to their interests: sport, modeling, plays, woodcraft, etc. Social activity along with its competence creates a good base for “dynamic relationships in the family, school, and community.” (Cited in Mann, p. 153). In other words, when a child is surrounded by the responsibility of every single adult at school and in the community, there is no ground for his parents’ anxiety.
Third, when speaking about family, it is too important to have a survey on their activities at home and appropriate adherence to their parental duty. Cases of alcohol or drug addiction from the side of parents make children suffer from probable violence. In return, the subtle psyche of a child can be seriously injured leaving deep wounds in his delicate soul.
Fourth, struggling against maltreatment with children due to the work of counseling organizations, especially of Christian religious character, should be participated with the Church and various charitable social organizations. It is considered that “26% of maltreated youths had official court reports of delinquency, while the comparison group had a delinquency rate of 17% (Widom, 1991).” (Cited in Mann, p. 153).
Thus, due to the support of the Government and people interested in the reformation of society, it is significant to find general agreements to provide society with this program as soon as possible.
References
- Joseph, Janice. (1995). Black youths, delinquency, and juvenile justice. Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Mann, E. A., & Reynolds, A. J. (2006). Early Intervention and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention: Evidence from the Chicago Longitudinal Study. Social Work Research, 30(3), 153+.