Introduction Juvenile delinquency is a legal term used to describe children or adolescent behavior that would otherwise be termed as criminal in a court of law if done by adults. Oxford dictionary defines a delinquency as “bad or criminal behavior usually committed by young people”. The age limit that defines a juvenile varies from one country to the other. Most countries consider juveniles to be below the age of eighteen.
Children are mostly associated with theft, truancy, and general disobedience while rape and other violent behaviors are observed in late adolescence. Premeditated murder and acts that cause serious bodily harm are not common with juveniles. However, in cases that involve murder and robbery, the juveniles can be prosecuted in adults’ criminal courts. Generally, misconduct in youths is part of the process of maturing and in most cases, it disappears as they approach adulthood.
Causes of juvenile delinquency
According to Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development, children acquire knowledge through internalizing their cultures and social environments, especially in their families. Therefore, children are not born delinquent nor do they choose to commit a crime; they learn from society by socially interacting with their peers and adults. Various factors cause delinquent behavior. They include:
Economic and social factors; juvenile delinquency is catalyzed by economic crises, poor governance, and undeveloped institutional structures. Social-economic instability is related to high levels of unemployment and low earnings among the youth.
This brings about a high cost of living that eventually increases their involvement in criminal activities (world youth report, 2003).
Cultural factors and media; in some social settings, the culture of accepting normal behavior has been eroded. In such situations, rules that prevent society from behaving in an unacceptable way lose their purpose. They tend to behave rebelliously and get involved in criminal activities. Modernization for example brings about social differences which result in different standards of living. This can prompt the lower social class to engage in criminal activities to afford a better life like the upper class. The media also creates standards that are way above the capabilities of some families. Unfortunately, the young people perceive this as a virtue reality and will go to great extents to try and attain this lifestyle mostly illegally.
Family and peer pressure; a family is an important unit in a child’s growth and development. A very high percentage of what a child learns is through the family (Roberts, 2000). Children with enough parental supervision have fewer chances of involving themselves in crime. In Families that lack fathers, boys are likely to seek masculinity from their delinquent peers. These groups bring about attributes like violence, anxiety, and also strength (World youth report, 2003, p.195). Remedies of juvenile delinquent:
Income-generating projects should be set up to increase economic opportunities and organize training to facilitate entrepreneurship. Education programs should be tailored towards helping the youth to cultivate positive attitudes for them to be able to control aggression and handle conflicts.
Recreation facilities should be established to help the youth reduce idleness. For example, in the United States of America, they established basketball programs that helped in reducing the crime rate by 60 percent (World youth report, 2003, p.201). Family surveillance programs should be set to follow up children and young people who have lost their families and are living in the streets. Conclusion:
For the delinquency programs and policies to work, the government must give priority to the marginalized youths. It should emphasize matters concerning the youth and especially where they conflict with the law. Local authorities should be highly involved in the implementation of juvenile justice and in preventing young people from committing crimes and also in supporting the delinquents in re-establishing themselves back into the society through the help of support projects.
Reference list
Roberts.C.H. (2000). Juvenile Delinquency: Cause and Effect. Crime and Punishment, vol. 2. Web.
Rouček.J. S. (1970), Juvenile delinquency, Freeport, New York, Books for Libraries Press.
United Nations. (2003). World youth report: juvenile delinquency. Web.