Juvenile crimes are the various offenses that children under the age of eight-teen commit. The acts involved in these crimes are called juvenile delinquency. The issue of juvenile delinquency has been a rising issue in the American society for decades. As we take a look into the factors behind this problem we will also look into what changes have been made to the juvenile justice system to combat this. Factors behind juvenile delinquency is said to be mental illness and substance abuse which are the main contributors. It is said to be that roughly thirty to ninety percent of detained and incarcerated juveniles have been found to have some sort of mental illness. In the past, there were times when these …show more content…
Strain theory applies because Jordan was under the impression he was being detached from the family or he was not given the attention he needed to receive. At the age of eleven, a young child is going through emotions and needs parental figures to provide unconditional love and affection towards which provides structure. Jordan, being in a blended family obviously felt he was not given the same affection that his future step mother had been giving to her own children which caused him to react the way that he did. He felt he was being neglected which caused him to become stressed. Stressed to a point where the only way things would ever go back to being the same was if he killed Kenzie and the baby. Being in a blended family caused Jordan to feel unappreciated of Kenzie Houk and it was a difficult time for him to cope with the changes at home. This was a particularly hard time for Jordan, who not only had to deal with his new step mom and step sisters, but also had to deal with another new born child which would eventually make him feel unimportant and out of the family. And of course children are extremely sensitive when it comes to any changes at home, and changes in family structure can take their toll. If it is not handled in a proper fashion, this can cause tremendous negative impacts on their personality. I believe that the end result of the death of Kenzie and her baby was because of the unstable structure at home and it caused Jordan to