Juvenile Delinquents: What can we do as a community


Juvenile Delinquency Definition

A young person that has not yet reached the age of 18 but is committing crime and mayhem throughout the community. Juvenile delinquents in most cases are not charge the same way as an adult. Judges will also give them a break sometimes because of their age, family situation, upbringing and all out environment.

A person will be considered a Juvenile Delinquent, if he/she is committing any serious criminal activity at younger ages, especially during the teenage

During the teenage time, the zeal and enthusiasm will be towards the optimum sides, while the sense of judgement will not be that strong. The immaturity of the teenagers makes them prone to commit such acts that are never under their control completely. It is for the reason that these folks are never so matured like adults. There can be various reasons and situations that can stimulate a teenager to commit an act that completely violates the code of law.

Though nothing can justify a criminal activity, however, when it come to the Juvenile Delinquents, they never do such acts with much of the planning. These offenders are completely different from the seasoned criminals, who earns their bread and butter by performing illegal and criminal acts.

So, these instances deserve a complete different consideration so that a permanent and a root cause solution can be offered to these issues. It is for the collective benefit of the society at large, the serious and sincere efforts are made to solve these challenges. This will certainly make human society all the more livable.

Over the last few years in the US, the rate of criminal activities among teenagers has been rising at an alarming rate. Today, nearly 20% of the youth in the US holds some history of criminal activities to their names. The fact is, the picture is not different in other parts of the globe as well.

As such, it can be rightly put that, the rate of Juvenile Delinquents has risen significant all around the world over the last few years.

This  has been a serious challenge to the society as it is one of the key areas for degradation of Human resources and the rising rate of criminal activities.  The involvement of the teens in the criminal activities is seriously challenging the social structure and balance, As such, the entire world has to come together and work in collaboration to safeguard the teens from getting into the dark  kingdom.

What are the delinquent behaviors?

Delinquency or Criminal behavior is especially the acts that are executed by juveniles. Based on the country of birth, usually a juvenile attains adulthood between the ages of 15 and 18 years. However, the ag can be lowered in  instances of convict to a serious crime like murder or rape. Delinquency are the conducts that violates the code of law and represent acts of moral degradation.

Usually such acts involve such instances that, if had been executed by an adult would have been taken into account as a gross act of crime. Thus, it is different from a status offense. This  is a terminology in the legal framework across the globe that involves activities that are taken as a misconduct, if it involves the juvenile, but never applies to an adult offender.

  1. Unsocial and overly aggressive behavior by children is the most common behavior observed in these instances. Usually, in such instances, children had a history of disturbed family background that compelled them to become less adaptive.
  2. Stealing things without any reasons. It can be any belonging to the family member or that of their relatives and friends. Such instances can happen inside the home as well as in the schools.
  3. Children taking pleasure by hurting their friends or breaking into quarrel without any reasons.
  4. Purposefully telling lies for no reasons as such.
  5. Damaging things and belongings at home or at school.
  6. Inspiring friends to get into acts that are against moral standards.

Thus, it comes out that the behavior of a juvenile delinquent can be of various types. Sometime, it involves an individual, while at times, there can be a group getting into these activities. Various factors trigger a teenager or a group of teen to get into such activities.

What are the four main types of juvenile delinquency?

Delinquency is likely to exhibit manifold conduct and behavior types. Each of these acts comes with its specific patterns and attributes of its own context. Likewise, there are different set of factors and causes that stimulate a juvenile to get into such acts. As such, different set of preventive and remedial measures would apply in these instances.

In the opinion of Howard Backer, Juvenile Delinquency can be broadly classified into 4 categories. Paragraphs underneath shall discuss the key points in that regard.

  • Individual Delinquency

These are the acts wherein there is the involvement of an individual in committing any criminal activities. As such, the stimulating factor for committing such activities will be confined to the individual concerned.

In these instances, it is basically the individual Psychological factor that stimulates the youth to perform such activities. Likewise, there can be family factors as well as social and situational factors that can pave the way for committing such acts.

Research by social experts exhibited the fact that in the majority of these instances, the victim of the delinquent is their own sibling. Likewise, it is likely to involve their friends and family members, who are very close to them.

As per this research,  more than 90% of these instances, the offenders had a history of shattered family life and very low standard social life. Another key finding from this research was that, these offenders hardly had any relationship with their mothers.

However, they were strongly attached to their fathers. Again in more than 85% of these cases, either their mothers had passed away early or their parent had divorced, with the child left in the custody of the father. So, it will be right to state that, detachment with the mother at a tender age is likely to enhance the chances of falling into this trap.

  • Delinquency supported by a group

As you can make it  from the name itself, in these instances, there will be the involvement of youths as a group. These are the instances, wherein juveniles with criminal tendencies forms a group and commit something that completely shatters the moral standards and the code of law.

In more than 90% of these instances, it has been observed that all the participants in such group acts had the common factor of a disturbed childhood or grace problems in their family. Likewise, these offenders are likely to share their cultural orientations in common.

As for the targets it can either be an individual or a group, or even a significant segment of the society. As a matter of act, abuses and crimes to the opposite genders by juveniles is rising sharply across the globe. Usually, in these instances, a youth with a history of delinquency would lead a group in performing such acts.

These instances happen due to the association with an already delinquent. As such, as a caring parent, you need to keep a constant look  over the company of your child.

  • Organized Delinquency

In these instances, usually seasoned criminal act as a the kingpin to form an organized group of youth offenders.  The concept here involves the values as well as the norms that pave the way for the group members to indulge in juvenile crimes, under the influence and support of the experienced criminals.

In such cases, even the delinquent can be rewarded by the criminals for performing such acts that completely violate the social norms. Again, these cases involve strong influences of a criminal on a juvenile, acting as per his/her instructions, eventually accomplishing some of the acts, as planned by the serious offenders.

These groups are so organized that they would have their own code of conduct and there are strong framework to monitor the activities of the group members on a regular basis. Research exhibits the fact that 60% of the serious adult offenders are the output of such group activities during their teenage time.

The picture will not be different in other parts of the plant as well. As such, such groups are the incubators for the next generation of criminals to hatch and to nurture.

  • Situational Delinquency

Probably the most complex and intricate type, this refers to the activities, wherein the offender was influenced by the situation to perform criminal activities during the teenage. 

The perspective of this type of delinquency is completely different from that of the attributes in previous 3 cases. In this case, the key factor is not that deep rooted as in the previous ones, but, the offender acts on the situation, committing such acts, without any previous plans.

In more than 60% of these cases, the juvenile delinquent had no understanding about the probable outcome of their activities. As such, these are purely impulsive acts that stimulated them to act in that manner.

What are the two types of delinquent acts?

Overt Delinquency

These types of delinquent activities involve such acts that would have been treated a gross crime, if committed by adults. These acts can be performed by an individual or a group, with or without previous plans. These activities can either be triggered by previous notions or can be due to impulsive decisions and behavior. In 85% of the instances, overt delinquency has the involvement of such juveniles who had performed various acts of degraded moral standards, however, were not adequately handled, considering their tender ages.

Following are some of the most common types of activities that would come into this category:

  1. Attempts of physical attacks: over delinquency can sometime take the most stringent condition. The offender can even attempt to attack someone physically. The victim can either be their relatives, friends, or even strangers.

    The purpose of the attack can be taking revenge or for snatching some valuable belongings with the victim. A scorching example of this kind of activity is that of the acid attacks by young boys on girls, who have refused their love proposal.
  2. Rape: overt delinquency can even result in a youngster committing sinful acts like rape. The target is usually previously known to the offender. The rate is this regard is exceptionally high in the under-developed and developing nations. The rape can be followed by the  murder of the victim to ensure that no clue for the crime is left to be explored.
  3. Threatening someone: another very common example of this kind of activity is threatening someone for reasons whatsoever. In some instances, it can be that the offender got into threatening the witness who observed him/her to commit a criminal act.
  4. Murder: though the rate in this regard is not that high as in the other instances, however, it is shocking to know that teenagers can have their hands beyond such acts. Usually, such activities are triggered by deep rooted social, family and psychological factors. In some cases, it can be an act triggered by the impulsive decision.

    In the US alone, over the last decade, the rate In this regard has risen by more than 15%. The situation becomes more alarming, if stated that in the African and Asian countries, the rate in this regard is abnormally high.

Covert Delinquency

In these instances, the activities are not that extreme as in the previous cases. However, these are certainly criminal activities that are liable to attract legal consequences. Here come some of the instances that will be relevant to account in this regard:

  1. Shoplifting: more than 75% of the identified instances of shoplifting has an association of offenders, under the age of 18 years. These offenders are likely to commit these activities, either to fulfil their aspiration for an item that they cannot buy, or they are doing these acts as a part of an organized racket. If they are a part of the organized racket, they are doing so to get a minimum amount of money as their commission.
  2. Pick pocketing: the case is almost the same in the previous case. In the last few years, more than 65% of the instances of pick pocketing had the association of offenders between the age of 13 and 17 years. The rate of offense in this regard is alarmingly high in the African and the Asian countries.
  3. Drug peddling: no that aggressive, this is one act that is a serious crime that would have attracted the most stringent consequences, if would have been executed by adults. Usually, in these instances, the juvenile offender is just a carrier for the drugs, with organized and serious offenders planning, managing and controlling the entire course of actions.

    Over the recent years, 35% of the drug carriers in the US were found to be teenagers. In the majority instances, they never had the knowledge that they are actually transiting drugs. Even if such carriers are caught by the police, it becomes impossible to reach to the key men in the racket. These instances can be carried out in the local, national as well as at the international levels.

What is a synonym for juvenile delinquent?

Lawless, out of control, disobedient, and, errant is some of the synonym that applies to Child offense. You need to take a deeper look into these synonyms. Doing so, you will find that the root of such criminal minds and activities have their roots from the childhood times. These juveniles were very aggressive and uncontrollable as children.

Eventually, as they keep growing older, such tendencies consolidated into them further and driven them to commit such acts that even adults would think 10 times, before delving into such activities. In the majority instances, disturbed childhood and family life are the factors that influenced them to take such actions.

What are the traits of a juvenile delinquent?                              

There are various traits that pave the way for the birth of a juvenile offender. Some of the factors are on the personal level, whereas there are factors at the social and situation levels that can result in the same outcome. Paragraphs underneath shall delve into the depth of these instances to explore the most relevant points in this context:

  1. Individual level risks: a set of individual factors has been identified that can develop a juvenile offender. Factor in this regard is likely to include factors like age, gender as well as excessive impulsiveness, and complications during the pregnancy and delivery.
                     
  2. Age: research about criminal activities exhibited the finding that a juvenile committed the first offense during the teen ages. Some of these acts are committed individually or as a group or under the influences of organized groups.
  3. Prenatal and Perinatal factors: complications at the time of the pregnancy and at the time of delivery are also the factors that can trigger a criminal mind in the baby.
  4. Individual nature: the nature of a juvenile is like to make him/her more inclined towards crime. Some children are very aggressive and unruly. These children become almost impossible to handle, once they start growing up. Lack of value education, poverty, disturbed childhood are some of the factors that intensify the situations in these regards.
  5. Social factors that paves the way for child offenses:  the society also has some contributions in making a juvenile offender. Social deprivation, social disparity, stringent social codes, lack of role model in the society and the turbulence in the social life are some of the common factors that can be relevantly accounted in this regard.

    As in the African nations, turbulent social scenarios are among the major factors that paves the way for the youngsters to get into criminal activities during their teenage. This continues to transform the child into a serious criminal, once he/she grows up into an adult. As such, the society has to ensure that it offers the right condition for the children to develop as responsible and valued citizens.
  6. Family factors: youths have a criminal in their immediate family or growing up amidst problematic family backgrounds are more vulnerable to become a child offender. It is for the reason, in such instances, they don’t get the adequate moral lesson and guidance fr development as a good human being.

From the discussion made above, it comes out that, Juvenile delinquency is an outcome, more than an incident itself. So, as loving and caring parents, you need to monitor the development of your child, supporting them mentally during the adolescence period. Doing so, you can certainly give them the right direction for development in life. This way, the peril of child offense can be eliminated, fostering complete development of a child into a adult with high moral standards. CWP

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References
https://www.secureteen.com/juvenile-delinquency/juvenile-delinquency-what-makes-teens-commit-crimes/
https://criminal.findlaw.com/juvenile-justice/juvenile-delinquents.html
https://www.nap.edu/read/9747/chapter/5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenile_delinquency
https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/what-is-juvenile-delinquency.html

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