Statement of the Problem
The topic for my term project is “The main causes of crime among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years.” I intend to explore the major reasons for the crime commitment among adolescents of this age group. Juvenile delinquency is a paramount topic to raise and discuss. Combatting this type of delinquency requires different approaches than combatting regular delinquency cases. To defeat the problem and decrease the cases of crime commitment among adolescents, understanding the roots of the problem, that is, the causes of its occurrence, is required. Basically, in order to prevent crime, the government, parents, and society are trying to educate, convince or punish adolescents. However, I think that in order to reduce crime among juveniles, we first need to find out the reasons for their crime commitment and try to eliminate the impetus. Detecting the main causes of juvenile crime will enhance understanding the core of the juvenile delinquency issue.
Scholarly Articles
There are three scholarly articles that I aim to analyze and use when conducting the study. The first article is carried out by Hoffman and Dufur (2018), and it addresses the influence of social bonds in family and the social capital on juvenile delinquency. The second study emphasizes the relation between psychological issues such as problems with communication and juvenile delinquency (Delcea et al., 2019). The third article that will be used aims to detect the impact of the child-father relationship and harsh behavior of the father on the child’s crime commitment (Simmons et al., 2018). These studies discuss the psychological peculiarities primarily caused by the social relationship between child and parents as a reason for the crime among adolescents. Such observations are strongly related to my research topic and will help me in coming to the results of the study.
Methodology
In order to find out the main factors that push adolescents to commit a crime, I will conduct the original research. My topic is focused on adolescents in the age range from 12 to 17 years. Focusing on the particular age range will make the study more specified and the study results more accurate. During the study, fifty participants aged from twelve to seventeen will be interviewed. In order to conduct an interview, teenagers from 12 to 17 years old who had been accused of minor, medium, and severe crimes will be selected. Questions will be formulated with the help of the analysis of the selected scholarly articles. The interview questions will refer to the relationship between the child and their parents, social relations, background, and psychological problems like grievances and fears.
I aim to prove that psychological issues are the main factors that cause crime commitment among adolescents. Social bonds between the family members influence delinquent behavior (Hoffman & Dufur, 2018). After analyzing the interviews, I will aim to detect the status of the relationship between the adolescent and their parents and their psychological issues that may arise from early childhood. Together with the literature analysis, the study results will provide the possible causes of juvenile delinquency among adolescents aged from twelve to seventeen. Based on the answers received, often matching answers will be identified, serving as the main causes of juvenile delinquency. Understanding the relationship between psychological problems coming from childhood, which primarily may relate to the social bond between parent and children, is important when exploring the reasons for juvenile delinquency.
References
Delcea, C., Fabian, A. M., Radu, C. C., & Dumbravă, D. P. (2019). Juvenile delinquency within the forensic context. Romanian Journal of Legal Medicine, 27(4), 366-372. Web.
Hoffman, J., & Dufur, M. (2018). Family social capital, family social bonds, and juvenile delinquency. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(11), 1525–1544. Web.
Simmons, C., Steinberg, L., Frick, P. J., & Cauffman, E. (2018). The differential influence of absent and harsh fathers on juvenile delinquency. Journal of Adolescence, 62, 9-17. Web.