The Family and Delinquency

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

THE CORE 5E

Chapter 7: The Family and

Delinquency

The Changing American Family

• Traditional family is a thing of the past

• Changing sex roles have created a family where women play a

greater role in the economic process

• Egalitarian family structure

• Fathers are now spending more time with children than they did

20 years ago and mothers are spending less time with children

than they did 20 years ago

Family Makeup

 After a decades-long decline, 2/3 of underage minors now

live in two parent families

 Significant racial differences in family makeup still exist:

 75% of White, non-Hispanic children live with two parents

 61% of Hispanic children live with two parents (decreased from 75% in

1980)

 35% of Black children live with two parents

Teen Moms/Single Moms

 Today, more than 90% of teens who give birth are

unmarried

 Living a single parent home, especially one headed by an

unmarried teenage mother, has been long associated with

difficulties for both mother and child

 Kids born into single-parent homes are more likely to live in poverty and

to experience long-term physical and social difficulties

 There are fewer teenage moms in the population today,

due to birth control and the legalization of abortion

Figure 7.1 Percentage of Children Ages 0-17 Living in various

Family Arrangements

Child Care

• 48% of children ages 0-4 with employed moms are cared for by a relative

• 24% are cared for in a formal daycare or center

• 14% are cared for by a nonrelative in a home-based environment

• Day care workers are often paid minimum wage

• Family day care homes: • Single provider takes care of three to nine children

• Although some states mandate registration and inspection of day care providers, 90% are “underground”

• Children from working poor families are likely to suffer from inadequate child care

• According to Polakow, lack of access to affordable high-quality child care is related to family poverty, joblessness, and homelessness

Economic Stress

• About 6 million American youth live in poverty

• Majority of the families live in substandard housing without

adequate health care, nutrition, or child care

• Recent political trends suggest that the social “safety net” is under attack

• Poor families can expect less government aid in the coming

years

• Will this economic pressure be reduced in the future?

• The recent economic upheaval and high unemployment rate

has caused families to remain under stress…

Family’s Influence of Delinquency

 The family is the primary unit in which children learn the

values and attitudes that guide their actions

 Family disruption or changes can have a long lasting effect

 Four categories of family dysfunction promote

delinquency:

① Families disrupted by spousal conflict or breakup

 Family breakup

② Families involved in interpersonal conflict

 Family conflict

③ Ineffective parents who lack proper parenting skills

 Family effectiveness

④ Families that contain deviant parents

 Family deviance

Figure 7.2 Family Influences on Behavior

Family Breakup

 Research states that parents whose marriage is secure

produce children who are confident and independent

 In the United States and abroad, studies show that children raised

in broken homes may be more likely to exhibit to antisocial

behavior

 Children who have experienced family breakup are more likely to

demonstrate behavior problems and

hyperactivity

The Effects of Divorce

 According to some sociologists, children who grow up

apart from their biological fathers are typically less

adjusted than children who grow up with both biological

parents.

 For example:

 They are less likely to finish high school and attend college

 They are less likely to find and keep a steady job

 They are more likely to become teen parents

 However, in some cases, divorce reduces stress and insulates kids

from exposure to harmful parents

Family Conflict

 Intra-family conflict is a common experience in many

American families

 The connection between parental conflict and delinquency was

established more than 50 years ago by F. Ivan Nye

 Contemporary studies also found that children who grow up in

maladapted homes, and witness discord or violence, later exhibit

emotional disturbance and behavior problems

 Adolescents who are incarcerated report growing up in dysfunctional

homes

 Parents of beyond control youngsters have been found to be

inconsistent rule setters and less likely to show interest in their children

Family Effectiveness

• Children raised by parents who lack proper parenting skills are more at risk

for delinquency

• Delinquency will be reduced if parents provide the type of structure that integrates

children into families, while also giving them the ability to assert their individuality-

known as “parental efficacy”

• “Violence begetting violence” cycle

• Violent parents more likely to produce violent children

• Evidence show that inconsistent supervision can promote delinquency

• F. Ivan Nye found that mothers who threatened discipline, but failed to

carry it out, were more likely to raise delinquent children than those who

were consistent

• Poor child/parent communications have been related to dysfunctional activities

such as running away and entering the ranks of homelessness

• The more children in a family, the greater the chance of youthful misbehavior –

resource dilution

Family Deviance  Kids whose parents go to prison are at a much higher risk of delinquency than children

of non-incarcerated parents

 About 8% of sons with noncriminal fathers became chronic offenders, compared to 37% of

sons WITH criminal fathers

 The causes of intergenerational deviance is uncertain; a number of factors may play a

role:

 Genetic factors

 The link between parental deviance and child misbehavior may be genetic

 Substance abuse

 Children of drug abusing parents are more likely to get involved in drug abuse and delinquency

 Parental skills

 Deviant parents are likely to become incarcerated, and once released, will exhibit lower levels of

effective parenting

 Parental Absence

 Stigma

 Labeling and stigma associated with parental deviance

Family Members Arrested for the Same Crime –

Current Example

Family Deviance

 Sibling Influences

 Research shows that if one sibling is a delinquent, there is a

significant likelihood that his brother or sister will engage in

delinquent behavior

 They live in the same environment

 Genetically determined

 Shared interest

Birth Order and Delinquency –

Current Example

Defining Abuse and Neglect

 Child abuse is defined as any physical or emotional

trauma to a child for which no reasonable explanation can

be found

 Child abuse is seen as a pattern of behavior, rather than a single

act

 Effects of a pattern behavior are cumulative

 Child abuse and neglect are sometimes used interchangeably; they

represent different forms of maltreatment

 Neglect refers to suffering at the hands of parents

 Lack of food, shelter, health care, and love

 Child abuse is a form of aggression against the child that often requires

medical attention

Forms of Abuse and Neglect

 Physical Abuse:

 Throwing, shooting, stabbing, burning, drowning, suffocating, biting,

and deliberately disfiguring a child

 Ex: Shaken Baby Syndrome

 Physical Neglect:

 Parental failure to provide adequate food, shelter, medical care, or

protection from physical abuse for their children

 Emotional Abuse:

 Constant criticism and rejection of the child

Forms of Abuse and Neglect

• Emotional Neglect:

• Inadequate nurturing, inattention to a child’s emotional

development, lack of concern about maladaptive behavior

• Abandonment:

• Parents leave their children with the intention of severing the

parent-child relationship

• Sexual Abuse:

• Exploitation of children through rape, incest or molestation by

parents, family members, friends, or legal guardians

Fresno Family Massacre –

Current Example

The Effects of Abuse

 Mental health and delinquency experts have

found that abused kids experience mental

and social problems across their lifespan

 Ranges from substance abuse to a spectrum of

personality disorders

 Sexual abuse:

 Adolescent victims of sexual abuse are particularly

at risk for stress and anxiety

The Extent of Child Abuse

 It is almost impossible to estimate the extent of child abuse  Many victims are so young that they are not able to communicate

 Study done by Gelles and Straus (1979)  Estimated that between 1.4 and 1.9 million children were subject to

physical abuse from their parents

 Study done by Gelles and Straus (1988)  Found that the incidence of severe violence toward children had

declined due to a decrease in parental approval of corporal punishment

 The Department of Health and Human Services has been monitoring the extent of maltreatment through its annual survey of child protective services

Who are the Victims of Abuse?

 The youngest children are the most vulnerable

 Boys and girls have an almost equal chance of being victimized

 Pacific Islander children and American Indian or Alaska Native

children suffer much higher rates of child abuse than European

American, Hispanic and Asian children

 4/5 of victims were maltreated by a parent either acting alone or with

someone else

 An additional 9% of maltreated children are subject to sexual abuse

Causes of Child Abuse and Neglect

 Maltreatment of children is a complex problem with

neither a single cause nor a single solution

 Factors associated with child abuse:

 Parents who themselves suffered abuse

 The presence of an unrelated adult increases the risk of abuse

 Isolated and alienated families tend to become abusive

 Other related causes: substance abuse, stepparents and abuse, and

social class and abuse

Figure 7.3 Reported Maltreatment Types of victims

Child Protection System:

Philosophy and Practice • Troxel vs. Granville (2000)

• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the due process clause of the

Constitution protects against government interference with certain

fundamental rights, including parents’ right to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children

• In 1974, Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment

Act (CAPTA)

• Provides funds to states to bolster their services for maltreated

children and their parents

• All states have statutes requiring that persons suspected of abuse

and neglect be reported by those who suspect abuse is taking place

• Many states have made failure to report child abuse a criminal offense

The Process of State Intervention

• Procedures vary from state to state

• If the allegation of abuse is confirmed, the child may be

placed in protective custody

• Most state statues require that the court be notified

“promptly” or “immediately” if the child is removed

• If the child has not been removed from the home, state

authorities are given more time to notify the court of

suspected abuse

• When an abuse or neglect petition is prosecuted, an

“advisement hearing” is held

• If the parent deny the petition, the case is continued

for a “pretrial conference”

Trial and Disposition

• Research has shown that no more than 10 cases out of every 100 actually

reach the trial stage of the process

• If the state’s case is proven, the parents may be found guilty of criminal

charges of child abuse and face probation or a prison sentence

• The most crucial part of an abuse or neglect proceeding is the “disposition

hearing”

• The social service agency presents its plan for how best to proceed

• Utmost consideration given to well being of the child

• Today, social service agents avoid removing children from the home

• Instead try to employ techniques to control abusive relationship

• Balancing-of-the-interests approach

• The courts is to balance the parents’ natural right to raise a child with the

child’s right to grow into adulthood free from abuse

The Abused Child in Court

 The most significant problems associated with abuse

cases is the trauma a child must go through in a court

hearing

 Innovative methods of testimony:

 Videotaped statement, CCTV, anatomically correct dolls, hearsay

 Two Legal Issues

① Ability of physicians and mental health professionals to testify

about statements made to them by children

② The way children testify in court

 In Court Statements:

 Children who are victims of sexual or physical abuse often make

poor witnesses

Abuse, Neglect, and Delinquency

 Literature suggests that victims of abuse are often associated

with subsequent episodes of delinquency and violence

 Children who are abused are likely to grow up to be abusers

themselves

 The Cycle of Violence:

 Being abused or neglected increases the chances of arrest as a

juvenile and as an adult

 Maltreated children were younger at the time of their first arrest

 Physically abused and neglected children were most likely to be

arrested later for a violent crime

 Abused/neglected females were at increased risk of arrest for

violence as juveniles and adults

 There are racial differences in the long-term effects

 An out-of-home placement was not related to the number of arrests

The Abuse-Delinquency Link

 Many questions remain to be answered about the abuse-

delinquency link

 Abuse and Delinquency link may be misleading

 These two factors could be connected because of some other external

factor

 Research also shows that the Timing and Extent of abuse may

shape its impact

 Abuse may impact some groups of adolescents

more than it does others

Summary

Be familiar with the link between family relationships and

juvenile delinquency

Chart the changes American families are now undergoing

Understand the complex association between family

breakup and delinquent behavior

Understand why families in conflict produce more

delinquents than those that function harmoniously

Compare and contrast the effects of good and bad

parenting on delinquency

Summary

Discuss whether having deviant parents affects a child’s

behavioral choices

Discuss the nature and extent of child abuse

Be familiar with the child protection system and the

stages in the child protection process

Know how courts have protected child witnesses

Know the various positions in the delinquency-child

maltreatment debate