Lack of parental involvement is one of the main contributions to teen crimes. Parents are not involved with their children on a daily basis. Parents are not giving their teens responsibilities and allowing them to run freely. The parents do not begin disciplining their children early enough in life so when they become teens they are out of control. Many parents are also young parents, so they like to party and leave their children at home. While they believe their teens are at home they are actually out in the community committing crimes. In some single parent households the parent will sometime work 2 jobs. Parents are disillusioned again that their teens are at home doing chores, homework, or babysitting a sibling when it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Many parents are not involved in their teen’s life so they join gangs to find a family structure. teens believe if you belong to a gang then they will gain protection. Actually, once you’re in a gang they will have you commit crimes such as robbery, thievery, and killing. Gangs go as far as having teens vandalize property, spray paint graffiti and intimidate neighbors by loitering.
The city officials also contribute to teen crimes. Over the last six years Memphis has seen their only amusement park close which had provided an excess of 300 jobs. The nearest amusement park is 200 miles away which is virtually an impossible commute for a summer job. The lagging economy also caused the city to adjust the community centers hours of operation and leads to more idle time for teens. Teens once played basketball, football, baseball and many other sports, but the city decided that was not as important as raising the police salaries or sponsoring trips for politicians. Many teens submitted