Juvenile Delinquency

What Causes Juvenile Delinquency?
Antonia Ras-Bellamy
Angelo State University
August 08, 2013

Abstract
Juvenile Delinquency is a common argument that involves laws and regulations in schools and everyday life. Most common reasons for juvenile delinquency is because of family relations, media networks like music and movies, school life for most teenagers, and gang life. Most teenagers seek love and belonging but once they feel neglected and rejected, they turn to violence like gangs to feel important. A close, small family or close, knit community can prevent a child from turning to violence or becoming anti-social. Communities can change the lives of the individuals and programs designed for involvement and mediation can help a child make the right choices in being a better person in life and not resulting to violence to fill a void within their life.
Keywords: family, media, school, gang

Juvenile delinquency has always been an issue. Some people say it’s because of the society children live in. Other people say it’s because of the family they are raised in, and then there are some people who absolutely believe that some children are born bad, but can a child really be born bad? Can a child have their behavior come from what their family does? Or can a child be a result of the media and what society shows? All these questions stem a theory that most researchers have tried to come up with, their own juvenile delinquency theory. Much research has shown that juvenile delinquency comes from the child’s family and who/what they are raised around.
Starting off with the child being raised and when they are born. Studies have shown that the prenatal effects of the child can cause a child to be delinquent or not. According to the text, family can play a major role in a child becoming delinquent. The factors can range from, parental substance abuse, parental child-rearing practices, poor supervision, poor communication, physical punishment, poor relationship between parent and child, sexual abuse, parental neglect, maternal depression, mother’s smoking during pregnancy, teenage motherhood, parental disagreement on child discipline, single parenthood, large family size, high rate of care takers, low family income, unemployed parent, poorly educated mother, and family access to weapons like guns. (Regoli, 2010) So if the mother is smoking while being pregnant, the child is more likely to be delinquent because they will have felt neglected. When a mother is careless about their health while they are pregnant, this can cause defects within the child and if the child knows about their mother being careless while she was pregnant, this may cause a hatred or a type of disregard to the mother and the child wont behave correctly because they will feel as if their mother doesn’t love them. Also if the child sees their parents too busy to pay attention to them, they may feel as if they aren’t wanted and will look to outer sources like gangs to feel like a family. Some research studies have found that if a child is born with hyperactivity or cannot pay attention easily; this may lead to delinquency too. Some studies, however, have assessed cognitive functioning during the preschool years or followed the children into adolescence to understand the long-term link between early cognitive deficits and juvenile delinquency. The studies that did look at children’s early cognitive development have shown that poor language performance by the second year after birth; poor fine motor skills by the third year, and low IQ by kindergarten were all associated with later antisocial behavior (Kopp and Krakow, 1983; Stattin and Klackenberg-Larsson, 1993; White et al., 1990). Studies have also shown that children with criminal parents are more likely to participate in delinquency. (Regoli, 2010) Closely focusing on the child’s parents. Parental deviance of both the mother and father strongly disrupts family processes of social control, which in turn increases delinquency. (Regoli, 2010) Also a single parent home can affect a child’s life and cause delinquency. A nuclear family is healthy. One parent cannot do everything a father and a mother, together, could do. The child will most likely be poor and lack peer acceptance because their other peers have both parents in their lives. Peer rejection is known to be the main cause for delinquency in a child. According to the text book, peer rejection is the first step into the process of a child becoming a delinquent; “Rejected children are shunned and many times ridiculed by conventional peers because of the poor social and school skills.” (Regoli, 2010) Once a child feels rejected from their peers, they find someone who has similar aggressive behaviors and they begin to become friends with these children and that is how the delinquency begins. More than likely, if a child’s best friend or closest friend is aggressive, disregards the rules, choose to behave the way they feel like it, that is how the child will become and behave.
Furthermore another reason a child may want to become delinquent is because of their family and what they see on the day-to-day basis. According to a research done by Anika Doggett, families are one of the strongest socializing forces in life. (Doggett) They teach children to control unacceptable behavior, to delay gratification, and to respect the rights of others. Conversely, families can teach children aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior (Wright & Wright 1994). (Doggett) Research indicates that various exposures to violence are important sources of early adolescent role exits, which means that not only can a juvenile witness violence within the family but on the outside as well (Hagan & Foster 2001). (Doggett) Most delinquents come from broken homes without much guidance. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 72 percent of jailed juveniles come from a fragmented family (Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Children Marriage and Family Law, 2005). (Alfrey ) Another reason why a child may become delinquent, resulting from their family is when they see a gang that is family like. Gang free website explained in detail why each individual choose to join a gang. According to their site, youths decide to join a gang because of a need for food, need for money, a desire for protection, peer pressure, family history, tradition, for the excitement, and to appear cool. Gangs often promise family and financial support to have someone join their gang. Also according to Dr. Sharkey at the University of California, Santa Barbara, gangs offer a quite few things that juveniles longs for which are a sense of belonging, a sense of importance, and protection. (Sharkey , 2008) When a child lacks a nuclear family, and are raised in a single parent home, larger family, or a violent home in general, they choose to seek a place where they can be loved too because they do not feel like they belong or are important to their own families. Gangs bring a sense of family to the unity, it’s violent and cruel, but they give juveniles are false sense of family in which turns them against society and causes them to do horrific and violent activities to achieve the recognition and importance that they want in their own individual lives. Some of the other more specific reasons for a juvenile to join a gang are because they have low self-esteem, low ethnic identity, and confidence in their academic capabilities.("Why people join," ) According to Dr. Sharkey, some good programs to prevent children from joining a gang are social interventions that provide mentoring programs and mediation for each juvenile’s way of behavior towards situations.(Sharkey , 2008) She also brought up community activities to make the individuals feel apart, like cleaning up the streets or have residents join the neighborhood watch. Later on within Dr. Sharkey’s studies on juvenile delinquency, she found that each child needed safety away from gangs or any type of violence, education and skills to be successful, experiences of success and mastery, healthy supportive relationships, and a positive fun kind of leisure time.(Sharkey , 2008) In the end for juveniles and gang activities and membership, what showed to help were parents and teachers who cared and monitored when their child made poor decisions and had consequences to follow. Another factor that causes an individual to become a juvenile delinquent is the media they watch and/or listen to. If they child is raised around a family that only listens to non-violent music that doesn’t speak on sex, drugs, and violence, the child wouldn’t feel the need to engage in such activities. Music doesn’t constitute for all delinquent behavior, but it does influence delinquent behaviors by the lyrics and what the artists portrays within their music videos to the world. A 2003 report by the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University and other universities concluded that exposure to media violence increases the chances for teenagers to act violently and aggressively.(Davidson) Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that movie violence, sex and profanity increased from 1992 to 2003, and that Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) movie ratings during that time slipped downward, making it easier for younger audiences to view more images of violence and numerous studies have also shown that during the 1980s and early 1990s indicated that antisocial musical lyrics have an impact on an adolescent 's opinions of what behavior is socially acceptable. (Boyd) The messages within each song could either be a positive or negative impact on a child’s life or lead them into delinquency or to a law-abiding life. The studies furthermore had shown that music alone, without a video, had less of an impact than lyrics accompanied by suggestive video. (Davidson) What the artists show within their videos can impact a child’s life especially if they don’t have the fancy items that are shown within a video like a brand new Ford Edition or a Lamborghini. Once a child is exposed to a lavish lifestyle as this, they want to live like that and have the expensive jewelry as well. Most rappers rap about drugs and sex, gangs are about drugs too. If the music artists are highly influential on that individual’s life, they may go out to join a gang to achieve the status of the artist they look up to. This isn’t healthy for a child because if they are already in a poor home and their family can’t afford much, they will look to crimes to commit to get money, whether it is drugs or stealing. Media doesn’t have a big influence on a child if their parents are there to preserve whatever they may watch and listen to, but if the child is anti-social and feels rejected from their family and peers at school, the media can greatly influence their life in a significant way. Crime is always reported about teenagers and rarely ever reported the good that the teenagers do within their community.(Jamieson, 2001) The media releasing photos of how the teenagers are violent gives viewing teenagers a false reality. The images are distorted and sometimes falsely reported which means society will view and label teenagers bad, or delinquents. (Jamieson, 2001) This coincides with the labeling theory, Gary Sweeten found that high school students who were arrested and formally processed in court were more likely to drop out of school than their peers who were arrested but not processed in court. This data suggest that a negative self-concept or other negative process is associated with going to court. Also another study was completed in Australia and Ieva Cechaviciute and Dianna Kenny found that approximately one-third of delinquent youths perceived that others labeled them as “delinquent” and felt that they were bad people. (Regoli, 2010) These youths were generally more hostile and angry, engaged in more defiant behaviors directed at the public for labeling them unfairly. Labeling a youth can affect their outlook on their life for a life time, not just for a short-term moment, but for a long-term also. (Regoli, 2010) Youths who are labeled at young ages can be the cause of their behavior and have them live up to the label placed upon them. In conclusion, juvenile delinquency is not how a child is born. A youth’s environment can influence their interaction with other youths within their neighborhood and within their school environment as well. Media can cause youths to label themselves as delinquents. Family structure can help a youth not become a delinquent with both parents in their life to make the right decisions. Peer pressure can cause a youth to become a juvenile delinquent as well if it makes them appear cool or protects them.

References
Development of the juvenile justice system. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://criminal.findlaw.com/juvenile-justice/development-of-the-juvenile-justice-system.html
Why people join gangs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gangfree.org/gangs_why.html
Boyd, K. (n.d.). Media influences on juvenile delinquency. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_8143011_media-influences-juvenile-delinquency.html
Sharkey , J. (2008, February 14). Juvenile delinquency and gang involvement:. Retrieved from Media Influences on Juvenile Delinquency
Davidson, J. (n.d.). Media influences on juvenile delinquency. Retrieved from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/media-influences-juvenile-delinquency-15299.html
(2001). Juvenile crime, juvenile justice. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9747&page=R1
Jamieson, R. (2001, April 09). Youth crime news: Media are problem, media are the solution. Retrieved from http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Youth-crime-news-Media-are-problem-media-are-1051626.php
Regoli, R. (2010). Delinquency in society . Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Doggett, A. (n.d.). Juvenile delinquency and family structure. Unpublished manuscript, Elon University , Retrieved from http://facstaff.elon.edu/ajones5/Anika 's paper.htm
Alfrey , C. Juvenile delinquency and family structure: Implications for marriage and relationship education. DOI: http://www.healthymarriageinfo.org/download.aspx?id=405.

References: Development of the juvenile justice system. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://criminal.findlaw.com/juvenile-justice/development-of-the-juvenile-justice-system.html Why people join gangs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gangfree.org/gangs_why.html Boyd, K. (n.d.). Media influences on juvenile delinquency. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_8143011_media-influences-juvenile-delinquency.html Sharkey , J. (2008, February 14). Juvenile delinquency and gang involvement:. Retrieved from Media Influences on Juvenile Delinquency Davidson, J. (n.d.). Media influences on juvenile delinquency. Retrieved from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/media-influences-juvenile-delinquency-15299.html (2001). Juvenile crime, juvenile justice. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9747&page=R1 Jamieson, R. (2001, April 09). Youth crime news: Media are problem, media are the solution. Retrieved from http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Youth-crime-news-Media-are-problem-media-are-1051626.php Regoli, R. (2010). Delinquency in society . Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Doggett, A. (n.d.). Juvenile delinquency and family structure. Unpublished manuscript, Elon University , Retrieved from http://facstaff.elon.edu/ajones5/Anika 's paper.htm Alfrey , C. Juvenile delinquency and family structure: Implications for marriage and relationship education. DOI: http://www.healthymarriageinfo.org/download.aspx?id=405.