Juvenile delinquency is a term used to refer to criminal acts that are committed by a minor. In most countries, there is a set age in which a person is referred to as a minor and after that age, referred to as an adult who is capable of making decisions which a ptheseerson can be held liable for. This age is varied by the country and the most common one is 18 years though some countries have lowered it to 16 years like the United States while others have raised it up to 21 years of age (Henggeler, p. 66).
Juvenile delinquency is punishable in many countries also the punishment is not as severe as compared to the punishment subjected to an adult who has committed the same crime as the juvenile. Many countries have established juvenile detention establishments that are meant to cater for the correction of the juveniles and here they are trained to be better and resourceful citizens with no criminal intentions. However, there is concern that juveniles end up as criminals who are heartless and most of the hardcore criminals have a history of juvenile delinquency. This is worrying the society so much that there are calls for the authorities to be harsher to juveniles than what they are doing (Greenwood, p. 125).
Thesis Statement
The paper will focus on the reasons why there are rising cases of black violent juveniles and what social and psychological factors contribute to this modern trend of violence in the black community youths. The paper will also try to analyze how this rising cases can be reduced and how the black youths can be educated on refraining from criminal activities to minimize the danger they pose to the community and society at large.
Violence among black juveniles
Among the black community, there has been a rising trend of violence, especially among the juveniles. There are many underlying social and psychological factors that have contributed to this state of affairs in society. One thing that the authorities are likely to point a finger at is the accessibility to drugs which the youths are abusing at alarming rates. Drugs are the cause of many criminal acts in the world today. Since they are addictive and have other effects which make the abuser feel like they can do anything in the world. Once a minor is hooked to drugs, he can do anything to acquire them even if it means burglary, mugging, and killing. The issue within the black communities is that the juveniles attack their own and hence the rising cases of violence in the black community (GREENWOOD, p. 96).
Poor parenting is also another cause of violence among the black community juveniles. This is because many parents ignore their duty of proper upbringing of the children and hence they are exposed to many vices in their neighborhood. Some of these vices include experimenting with drugs and weapons. The parents have neglected the upbringing of their children because some of the parents are also involved in these crimes like drugs, robbery, and other criminal activities. Some parents are even known to use drugs before their children living no doubt what the children are learning from such episodes (Henggeler, p. 78).
In the black communities, there is unlimited access to weapons and this has led to the rising cases of juvenile violence in the communities. There is also a strong will to violently survive in the black communities and hence when a minor is threatened he or she will not hesitate to use the weapon that he or she has acquired. It is in this respect that there has been reported a rise in cases of juveniles because the youths are known to be very hostile (Henggeler, p. 147).
The social stigmatization that the black youth feel is that they are subjected to by the system has also led to this state of affairs as far as juvenile violence is concerned. The black juveniles have developed an ingrown animosity that is directed to the society and they will not hesitate to lay their wrath on anybody who crosses their path. There have been cases where black juveniles have even injured or even killed their family members. This is also another reason why the black juveniles have increased their violence levels and this has been a great concern to the authorities as well as to the entire society.
Juvenile Law
In Maryland, the State lawmakers passed a policy in 2004 which was to oversee and the juveniles should be supervised and the recommended treatment provided to them to cure such anti-social behaviors as drugs and weapons that the youths have been involved in. Other laws are focused on the prevention of delinquency through safe schools because of the punishments and processes of juveniles (Henggeler, p. 258).
Juvenile violence against blacks
Black juveniles have also been subjected to violence from other quarters as well. Although this is not very often there are black juveniles who have been subjected to violence and even killed by people of other races. This is mostly due to racism which has affected a lot of people in the modern world. The other races may feel that they are more superior to the blacks and hence they can do whatever they want to do to them and this include inflicting violence and even murdering them. Some youths have been fed information from other quarters that have led to this state of affairs. An example is the Ku Klux Klan which has been responsible for spreading racist messages to the youths (Greenwood, p. 195).
Black youths have also been subjected to serious victimization from authorities and this has led to them being physically abused at times. This is because there is a mentality that black youths have a higher affinity to crime and drugs than other youths and this has led to them being victimized. This is also another avenue where the black juveniles are getting violated against and in retaliation, they are forced to fend for themselves. This has shown the increased level of violence in areas that there are black communities (Henggeler, p. 369).
Prevention
The best way to prevent this is for education which should not only be directed to the youths but the entire society at large. This is because the juveniles who have been seen to follow these violent trends have been forced to do so by society and how society looks at them as prone to violence. One group that needs to be educated is the parents who have the responsibility of bringing up their children and shaping them to be what they will be. They need to be taught not to be doing things that would psychologically affect their children and then lead them to be criminals (Henggeler, p. 96).
The youths and juveniles should also be educated to prevent them from falling into criminal traps that lead them to live criminal lives. Things like drugs and substance abuse should be instilled into the juveniles from a tender age as being very dangerous to their livelihoods. They should also be taught the importance of abstaining from illegal weapons which have been identified as the main cause of violence in the black communities (Greenwood, p. 125).
The authorities should also be educated on how to effectively and efficiently deal with youths and juveniles because imposing a lot of violence on minors is doing a greater deal of harm than good to society. This is where the youths come to hate their society and environment and this leads to more violence being witnessed in the communities.
Works cited
- EMPEY, LAMAR T., and RABOW, JEROME. (1961), “The Provo Experiment in Delinquency Rehabilitation.” American Sociological Review 26, no. 5: 679–695.
- GREENWOOD, PETER W.; MODEL, KARYN E.; RYDELL, C. PETER; and CHIESA, JAMES. (1996), Diverting Children from a Life of Crime, Measuring Costs and Benefits. Santa Monica, Calif.:RAND, 1996.
- HENGGELER, SCOTT W. (1997) “Treating Serious Anti-Social Behavior in Youth: The MST Approach.” Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Washington, D.C.: USGPO.