Mid-Term

The Juvenile Justice System

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There is no specific system to track the number of juvenile delinquent children, but an estimated one million youth is said to be placed in some sort of detention around the world. In the U.S., the highest number of detained minors has been observed. The United States Department of Justice defines the following crimes as serious crimes: aggravated assault, arson, motor vehicle theft, murder and non-negligent homicide, robbery, burglary, and rape (Fauziah et al., 2018). A total of 70% of these juvenile delinquents are males, and the most common punishment or consequence of the crimes committed by the juveniles is probation (Cox et al., 2017) (Appendix-1).

A mix of both environmental and genetic factors are responsible for these juvenile acts as they highly influence their individual behavior and mental state. Some of the influencing factors that may push a minor towards juvenile delinquency include poor performance in school or poor school readiness, feeling of rejection by friends and family, poor parenting style, low or poor socioeconomic status, and a fear of failure. As a result of these influencing factors, the minor may end up considering that committing certain crimes may protect him against lack of resources or threats (Fauziah et al., 2018). Some theories have been proposed to explain the factors that push a minor into the world of crime. The two theories are: (Incomplete thoughts here?)

Sociological theories (The Anomie and Strain Theory by Robert Merton)

Conformity is the most common adaptation, and the conformists comprise of those individuals who have lowered their heads, look at it as a challenge in a positive way and attempt to play the game. They have accepted the goals of wealth and success that are set by society, and thus these individuals spend their lives trying to attain these goals in a legitimate way. A conformist is a university student who work toward their degree with full dedication and hard work so they may obtain a good paying job and become successful in their life (Cox et al., 2017). According to Merton (Date?) [Merton is not listed in the reference section – each in-text citation must have a corresponding reference and vice-a- versa.], the single adaptation to strain and anomie that was also non-deviant in nature was conformity. In additions, the second process of adaptation is known as innovation. These individuals have also accepted the goals for success and wealth that are set by society, and thus they try to attain these goals but in an unlawful and illegal way. For instance, innovation would be any crimes that were or are being committed for profit. In accordance with Merton (Date?) [Merton is not listed in the reference section – each in-text citation must have a corresponding reference and vice-a- versa.] Like errors continue on in your paper., people that would be considered classified as innovators are; high-priced prostitutes or call girls, drug dealers, thieves, embezzlers or robbers. To add, third category (Ritualism) are individuals that don’t believe in the attainment of these goals that are set by the culture and society, and as a result, they have abandoned these goals, but continue to make money or earn a living in a legitimate way (Wickert, 2019). In Robert Merton’s typology, those employees might be classified as ritualists who will go on to work in the same position their entire life, and so they never advance to management or another high position. The last category (Retreatism) comprises those people who have also rejected the goals of success and wealth that are set by the society like ritualists, and in doing so, they have also rejected the legal or lawful ways of earning a living. These people are those that constitute the true aliens of society. According to this model, serious drug addicts or chronically homeless individuals might be considered the real retreats.

Robert Merton's “Anomie and Strain Theory” were then adapted by Cohen in 1995 in order to explain the occurrence of juvenile gangs. He explained one of the reasons why minors join such gangs is because they have experienced some strain due to failure in their past or are dealing with it on a daily basis. These individuals usually belong to middle-class families, and the strain is experienced by them in a school setting. Also, middle-class values are rejected by these individuals when they find it difficult to achieve success in school, and the result demonstrates failure, and ending up engaging in indecent and unlawful behavior in an attempt to gain some status. These individuals engage in these illegitimate activities because they have rejected their middle-class values and have established their own middle-class value system. As a result of this, these individuals end up becoming a part of these delinquent gangs or in worse cases end up forming these gangs through mutual recruitment (Cox et al., 2017).

In 1958, Miller adapted this theory and gave his own statement that differed from those of Cohen’s. Miller argued that apart from Cohen’s theory that states that inverted middle-class value systems tend to influence youth that belongs to the lower or middle class into delinquent behavior, he said that the main sources of delinquent behavior in the lower social class are termed as focal concerns which include excitement, trouble, autonomy, toughness, fate, and smartness (Bernburg, 2019).The anomie and strain theory were further extended by Cloward and Ohlin in 1960. They focused their findings on the differential opportunities that are accessible to the juveniles. He proposed that if the possibility of an illegitimate opportunity is available, then as a result of such unlawful opportunity structure, the individuals who are experiencing anomie or strain are more likely to perform delinquent acts as a result of their strong attraction to the unlawful structure. The anomie and strain theory were again revised by Agnew in 1985. He proposed that delinquent behavior may be caused by three types of strains: individual’s failure in accomplishing his/her set goals, loss of a source of stability such as the death of a parent or a loved one, and finally the presence of a negative stimulus such as failure or lack of success in school. Agnew further argues that strain is felt by those individuals who perceive that they have been treated in an unfair or unjust manner (Marwah, 2014).

One of the most consequential strains that are experienced by minors is criminal victimization, and this is one influencing factor that leads to delinquent behavior. According to this theory, some forms of strain that leads to drug use and are related to crime includes being a victim of robbery, theft or violence, emotional abuse, homelessness, physical and sexual abuse, monetary dissatisfaction, deprivation, and unemployment and these strains are conditioned by self-efficacy, poor self-esteem, deviant attitudes, deviant peers and external attributions, but all of this is not reason enough to commit a crime as the King James Bible tells us “ So whoever knows the right thing to do but fails to do it for him it is a crime” (King James Bible, 1970, James 4:17). (Underdeveloped paragraph, see the “Welcome Note” announcement for definition of a fully developed paragraph.)

Some strength of this theory is that it explains how people adapt to social strain and how this social strain plays a role in influencing minors to become deviant and commit crimes. It how does an excellent job of explaining the difference between normal and deviant individuals although many of them share the same goals (innovation and conformity). Some weakness of this theory is that it takes an individualistic approach and explains utilitarian crimes while ignoring those crimes that are non-utilitarian in nature. This theory also offers a viewpoint that deterministic is not every minor that belongs to a middle-class family resort to crime. (Underdeveloped paragraph, see the “Welcome Note” announcement for definition of a fully developed paragraph. Like errors continue throughout the remainder of your paper.)

Psychological Theories (The psychoanalytic approach by Sigmund Freud and The Behavioral Theory)

In the case of juvenile delinquency, deviance is said to happen as a result of an out-of-control id, a faculty ego, a superego that remains underdeveloped, or a combination of all three. Therefore, some sort of personality disturbance that is experienced by an individual is responsible for the delinquent or criminal acts that are committed by him. Therefore, keeping this in consideration, the techniques of retrospection or introspection are used to identify the cause of the personality disturbance in order to control or correct it. During the use of these techniques, specific emphasis is placed on childhood experiences which are then eliminated through the use of regular therapy. It is said without a doubt that these psychoanalytic theories play an important role during the treatment of an individual, but it may be too much of a generalized statement to say that all minors that commit delinquent crimes suffer from a personality disorder ("A Primer to Psychological Theories of Crime PPU Online", 2018). Such a statement employs circular reasoning without leaving any place for logical deduction. Apart from this, the psychoanalytic theory as proposed by Sigmund Freud is still used by many therapists and scholars in the Western world who continue to apply his techniques to understand and explain the act of delinquency.

In 1936, Healy and Bronner also proposed that the unlawful behavior that is exhibited by delinquents is caused due by a disturbance in their personality, and such disturbance is caused by deprivations and thwarted desires that have led to the development of a weak and fragile superego to increased levels of frustration. In order to justify their theory, they interviewed a number of delinquent minors who were admitted into detention or juvenile centers and recorded their findings. At the end of the study, they concluded that almost 90% of these juvenile delinquents were disturbed emotionally (Cox et al., 2017 8). The psychoanalytic approach also holds the view that individuals adopt crime and the criminal way of life as a means of expressing their autonomy and identity due to a continuous state of frustration, inferiority complex, and the belief that the whole world is against them.

According to the psychological theories, another term that was employed to explain delinquent behaviors and criminals was known as ‘psychopath’. The term ‘psychopath’ is referred to describe those individuals who participated in the criminal acts and/or act in an impulsive manner with a good or apparent reason.

Furthermore, another theory that can be used to explain delinquent behavior is called ‘behavioral theory’. This theory states that any behavior exhibited by an individual is learned. This theory also argues that life experiences play a major role in influencing an individual’s action. The theory of Classical Conditioning is a core concept in behavioral theory, and it states that the learning process of an individual is influenced by stimulus and rewards. For instance, a child’s actions are reinforced, then the child learns that behavior through the phenomenon of conditioning (Cox et al., 2017 8). Like errors continue on in your paper. This theory also implies that the development of certain behaviors also depends on the environment of an individual. So, if a child grows up in a community where he is surrounded by criminal activity and is even rewarded when he commits small acts of delinquency, then that child will learn that behavior through the process of reinforcement, and as a result of this, he will move on to committing bigger crimes in the future. Therefore, an association of minors or children with individuals who are criminals will cause a change in their behavioral patterns and this will lead to an increase in criminal behavior (Cox et al., 2017). (See the APA sample paper page 17 and the “Quick Guide” special rule regarding multiple paraphrases from the same source within the same paragraph and pronoun usage for corrective action. Like errors continue on in your paper.)

The strength of these psychological theories is they tend to explain delinquent and criminal behavior by placing more emphasis on the personality of an individual and his/her past experiences which can prove to be very beneficial during therapy and behavioral therapies, but the strength limits its scope because there is a large number of genetic and environmental factors that tend to play a huge role in influencing an individual to commit a crime other than saying that a disturbance in personality is responsible for the criminal acts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both the psychological and the sociological theories do a very good job at giving insights on various factors or drives that push an individual into the criminal world. According to the psychological theories, individuals tend to commit crimes due to a disturbance in their personalities. These disruptions are caused by environmental and hereditary factors that lead to change in the personality of an individual in due time. These theories are also important because they highlight the presence of an emotional or physical disturbance in a delinquent offender and thus can help therapists in finding the best therapy according to the characteristics that are possessed by them. But one big restriction of such theories is that they are too generic.

There are a number of hereditary and sociological factors that are responsible for influencing an individual to commit criminal acts other than just his personality. The sociological theory on the other hand does a better job at explaining criminal or delinquent behavior as it states that we commit these acts as a result of frustration, failure, and personal defiance and this is one of the major reasons why youngsters and minors end up committing minor and major crimes. Children cry out for help in many different ways. It is up to the parent to listen for those cries.

References

Appendix 1

Source: (Cox et al., 2017)

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