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Specifications ad Definition

The definition of a delinquent in the United States is a person who is yet to reach the age of 18 years old which is the age of maturity and one whose behavior has been determined as delinquent by a court of law. The requirements for one to be referred to as delinquent vary from one state to another. The federal government came up with legislation that was meant to unify how the delinquents are handled under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act of 1974. It is this act which came up with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) which is in the Justice Department (McCord & Conway, 2018). The office is the one which administers grants for programs to deal with the delinquency as well as provide statistics on this type of crime. The office also funds research on the crimes of the youth as well as administration of juvenile custody mandates.

There are specific orders that are there and provided under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act of 1974. The first one is deinstitutionalization which means that the young people who are charged with status offenses that would not be crimes if done by adults must be deinstitutionalized (Garbarino & Plantz, 2017). The status offences include being caught with tobacco and alcohol, truancy, and running away. The young people should not be held by the police except in certain situations such as where they are found in possession of guns. The mandate brings several problems such as overriding of local and state law, limits the powers of the law enforcement officers (Hoffmann & Dufur, 2018). The second mandate that it provides is segregation. The segregation means that the youth who are arrested need to be kept separate from the adults who are in custody. The out of sight and sound means that the juveniles should not be given food by anyone who has served the adults and the juvenile should not walk past an interrogation room with an adult (Pardini, 2016). The mandate is very expensive for law enforcement because it forces them to main duplicate personnel and facilities or result to freeing the juveniles. The small urban centers are more affected because they increase the criminal justice costs to the tax payer.

The third mandate which is established is the jail and lockup removal. The youths who are subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts should not be held in lockups and jails where the adults can be held. There is a six hour period within which the juvenile should identified, processed, interrogated and transferred to the proper facilities before they are released to their parents. The rural areas exception periods are 24 hours (McCord & Conway, 2018). The final mandate that is provided by the act is that there should not be overrepresentation of the minority youths. There should be a reduction of the confinement of the minority youths to their proportion of the groups in the population. The mandate provides that justice can be provided by quota where there is affirmative action for the young criminals. The remedies which are provided need to be race conscious and prevent the proliferation of other social ills.

History of Juvenile Delinquency

Juveniles have been involved in crime in the United States since back in history but what has changed is the approach and the policies applied. Before the early 19th century, the children who committed crimes as early as 7 years were tried in criminal courts and given the same punishment as the adult counterparts. Some of the delinquents at the time were even sent to death or prison. At the time, the children who were under 7 years old were seen to be unable to commit any crime because of the lack of criminal intent (McCord & Conway, 2018). They were exempted from any form of punishment.

The Progressive Era reforms saw the establishment of incarceration facilities and special courts for the juveniles. There was also introduction of child labor laws as well as mandatory education to ensure that there was optimal child development in the cities. The reformers at the time held the belief that the treatment of adolescents and children as adult criminals was harsh and it led to them being destroyed more. The main reason for coming up of the juvenile courts was to ensure the children were not being treated as criminals. The young adolescents are presumed to be different from adults and more likely to be rehabilitated as opposed to being punished. The specific crimes at the time were not considered but what was looked at is having individualized rehabilitative services.

The first juvenile court was established in Chicago in 1899 under the Illinois Juvenile Court Act of 1899. The act provided the court with jurisdiction over the dependent, neglected, as well as the delinquent children who were under the age of 16 (Pardini, 2016). This court was set so as to rehabilitate the children as opposed to punishing them. The records of this particular court were kept private to make sure that there was no stigma. The act also required for the juveniles to be separate from adults when put in jail and those under 12 could not be detained. The procedures in the juvenile courts also had to be informal to ensure that the children are well considered and not subjected to excessive laws. The idea of the juvenile court spread all over the country and by 1925 they were present in all states except Wyoming and Maine (Garbarino & Plantz, 2017).

The juvenile courts continued to evolve over the years and their jurisdiction and systems depended on each state. The juvenile courts in the 1990s had jurisdiction over abuse and neglect, criminal delinquency, and status offences. The criminal delinquency cases are the ones where the child has committed a crime which can be committed also by an adult. The status offences are the ones which would be legal if they were committed by the adult. The status delinquency cases include run aways, truancy, as well as disobeying lawful commands by guardians or parents. There are states which also provide jurisdiction over other cases such as those of traffic cases, adoption, child support, consent cases, as well as termination of parental rights.

The court processes in the juvenile cases can be referred to the court by schools, parents, police, probation officers, victims, and other social service agencies. The delinquency referrals were mainly by the law enforcement agencies with them comprising 86 percent in 1996. The studies which were done from 1980 to 1990 discovered that the majority of the juveniles did not have the representation of an attorney and the rate of representation were varied depending on the state as well as rural urban areas. There were around 1.8 million of these cases back in 1996 (McCord & Conway, 2018). Today the numbers are higher but there are certain rules that govern the juvenile justice system. There are minimum sentences for certain serious cases in some states. There are some states with graduated sanctions that tie the disposition of justice to past offense as well as the current one. The United States is also unique because it is among the few countries which legitimize the capital punishment for the juveniles. There are 23 states where there would be capital punishment as long as the offenders were underage at the time when they were involved in the crimes.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency is the same as any crime which is committed by any human being except that this one is committed by young people. The friends, teachers, parents, and the general community are responsible together with the juvenile who commits a crime. The courts put this under consideration and do not punish the juveniles the same as they do to adults who commit crimes. The purpose of juvenile courts is to help the teenager to reform and understand why it is critical to stay on the right side of the law (Hirschi, 2017). There are several reasons that have been identified as leading to juvenile delinquency.

The first general cause of juvenile delinquency can be described as the family. The family is where the life of a child begins and it is where the child learns the basic socialization. The child will learn how to differentiate the various concepts such as bad and good as well as the values and the norms of the family and the society (Nisar et al., 2015). The family is the one which is responsible for making of the personality of the child and it can break it too. The critical roles in the families are plead by the siblings as well as the parents. The teenagers who are involved in crime lack the firm foundation to take them through life. There are several factors that have been identified in this regard such as single parent families, broken families, separated families, lack of confidence and trust in parents, family abuse, psychological problems in parents, as well as crime among the parents (Pardini, 2016). There are also cases where there is unequal treatment between the children or there is excessive sibling rivalry. It is important for parents as well as elder siblings to mold the character of the children as it should be. The parents also should lead by example and show moral behavior to the children to avoid giving motivation to the kids to engage in crime.

The most common cause of delinquency that is seen in the family setting are economic problems. The youth who are in families who are poor economically will usually get involved in criminal activities so as to meet their needs. The economic disparities can be seen as why there are racial differences where minorities are more in the juvenile justice system. The youth engaging in these activities are doing so to try and improve their situations. When there is lack of social support for the teenagers, they will find themselves engaging in crime. The other reason that is in the family setting are psychological problems which are within the family. The problems in psychology among siblings and parents can be a risk factor for the juvenile delinquency. There are various problems that are in the family such as aggression, depression, frustration, and hyper behavior which the child can see in the parents making them feel inferior and deprived compared to their friends. There is a possibility of the children adopting anger and depression which is in the family either from the elder siblings or from the parents.

The other problems that are seen in the family are the social problems. The parents of delinquents can be involved I various social problems. These include age discrimination, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, violation of animal rights, and child labor. The children will learn what they are seeing in the family as well as the society. There are some rich families which will use the child labor and consequently the children will not understand that it is against the moral social code. The social problems in the families will lead to stress and the teens will end up being violent. The morality problems which are seen in the families can also lead to the juvenile delinquency because the teens might not understand how to respect themselves as well as others in the society (Hirschi, 2017).

The teens are most probably not taught how to show respect to everyone that they meet and know. When children are seeing parents who do not respect others, they will end up transmitting the same disrespect to others in the society. The style of parenting is also a factor which leads to delinquency in the society. It has been identified as one of the major reasons behind the teenage crime. There are some parents who will end up being unnecessarily harsh to the children and punish them over every small issue. When the children are under such environments they will resist and end up becoming violent to everyone in their environment.

There are also personal reasons which lead to the juvenile delinquent. There are situations where the parents or the family has little to do with such behaviors and everything has to do with the teaser. There are adolescents who are in crime simply because they face physical or psychological problems. A physical handicap, for example, will lead to several problems for the child as they feel that they are not accepted for their abilities as well as capacitates (Aizer & Currie, 2019). There are societies who are cruel towards someone who has a handicap and the attitude towards them makes them develop negative feelings. The adolescents will find themselves taking revenge over the peers, society, as well as friends. It is the same case for the racial differences that are see. The racial differences can lead to crimes because the adolescents get aggressive and are after revenge for the unequal treatment that they are experiencing. The use of drugs is also a common cause of the juvenile delinquency. There are juveniles who will get into drugs and other illegal activities simply because they have friends who are in such behaviors.

When teenagers are experiencing this period of change they might not get properly socialized. They will end up being rude and harsh and will be unable to control their aggression as well as anger towards others mainly because it’s in their nature. There are some gender biased boys who will be disrespectful to girls and might turn violent against them. The personal problems can also be seen in the psychological context. There are teenagers who face mental disabilities (Hirschi, 2017). The mentally ill teens will commit the crimes without realizing that there are consequences of the same. The statistics show that the mental illnesses are some of the biggest contributors towards the juvenile delinquency in the United States. The other personal problem that can lead to the crimes is drug use. There are teenagers who frequently use drugs and put themselves and others in danger. They will lack the control over their impulse while under the drugs and at the same time they will get into crime to get money for the drugs.

Peer pressure is also one of the contributors to the juvenile delinquency. It is a very strong force that can cause serious problems. When their friends are involved in crime, the teenager will learn how to commit it and will view it as something that is cool and trending (Hawkins & Weis, 2017). The consequences of the crime are not clear to the teenagers who are influenced into the crime. It is the role of the parents to ensure that the children are hanging out with friends who are in the same class to prevent forms of jealous which can lead to crime. At the same time, it is critical to ensure they are hanging out with the right parties to avoid the negative influence. Children should be prevented from joining gangs or cliques. There are teenagers who will join the gangs as they feel that they are powerful when they are part of a large group (Pardini, 2016). The strong groups will influence the children to indulge in negative behavior. The peer pressure can also lead to the development of abusive behavior. There are groups which will show the teens that it is right to go around abusing others and this negativity can clearly lead the affected teens in crime. When teenagers are rejected from the peer pressure groups, they are also likely to commit crimes to prove themselves.

The society can also be a factor which leads to the negative behaviors for the youth as well as difficulties. Society is a critical factor which leads to formation of the personality of the tees. The negative feelings that one might receive from the society can lead to the juvenile delinquency. There are societies which lead to the involvement of teens in crime. Labeling a teen as a criminal can lead to them being more involved in the crime. When one is tagged a criminal they are more likely to repeat the similar crimes with little embarrassment when committing the crimes (Aizer & Currie, 2019). The society can also provide the influence through the schools. School problems can lead to juvenile delinquency. The school can lead a minor to the criminal activity through activities such as truancy. When, for example, a child misses a lot of school days, they will lack the discipline on following up on their school lives and will not benefit from the education. The child will lead to criminal activities when they are not encouraged to get into school every day.

Racial Disparity in Juvenile Delinquency

There are major disparities which are seen in the involvement of minority youth in the juvenile justice system. The disparities are witnessed when it comes to the black and white youth. The presence of disproportionate racial representation in the juvenile justice system bring forth questions about the equality of treatment as well as the fundamental fairness that is present in the juvenile justice system (Barrett, Katsiyannis & Zhang, 2015). The happenings when youth are involved in the juvenile justice system can also affect their future development and involvement in crime. The disproportional confinement of the minorities can be seen as a major problem by the federal government. There has been a struggle in the system to try and explain the overrepresentation of the groups of ethnic and racial minorities in the juvenile justice system. The offending behaviors of the various races have been used to explain this as well as the biases that are present among the people making decisions in the juvenile justice systems.

The role of social injustice has also been understated in its influence in the production of crime. There are reports which show that the black youth in the United States represent around 40 percent of the juvenile cases which are reefer to court. The percentage also goes into contrast with the 30 percent that they hold of the total juvenile arrests (Simmons, Steinberg & Cauffman, 2018). These figures lead to questions of how fair the long term institutions are. The proportion of black youths who are udder the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems is usually more than double their proportion in the total population eve very year. There are disparities which are seen when it comes to arrest, confinement in adult’s jails and other facilities, arrest, as well as the transfer to the criminal courts.

There are, however, some disparities that are difficult to explain. For example, it is difficult to know the extent of these disparities where there are different laws from state to state. There is a lack of standard reporting method to make a proper comparison of crimes and movement through all of these processes (Rhoades et al., 2016). The overrepresentation of black youths is hard to explain given the circumstances that are there in the country. The question should be why the black youths are more lily to be involved in crimes when compared to their white counterparts. The black children, are subject to some risk factors that can lead to them being present in criminal activities compared to others. The first factor that can be identified is poverty.

The majority of black youth are growing up in environments where there is more poverty compared to the white youth. The poor neighborhoods in the urban areas are associated with black youth. The substandard living conditions lead to involvement in some antisocial conduct that often leads to more serious crimes. The social conditions and the poverty leads to racial disparities in the juvenile system and this mostly affects the black youth. Other minorities such as the Hispanic communities can also lead to some of these problems. The Hispanic children face both poverty as well as adverse family conditions. The majority are less likely to have united families and their mothers are less likely to have gotten prenatal care (Simmons, Steinberg & Cauffman, 2018). Black children when compared to the white children are more likely to grow in environments which have one resident parent. The unemployment levels are also higher among the black children. All of these factors compound to the racial disparities seen with the racial minorities.

As we can see every day there are many contributing factors that lead our youth down the path of becoming future criminals. As I believe our society plays the biggest part, no matter where you are from depending on geographical area or your upbringing, they want to fit in somewhere. For the kids that come from money, it m ay be rebellion against their parents, for the youth that are less fortunate, live in poverty and may only have one parent, they may go join a gang from peer pressure, finding that place to fit in, or thinking it going to provide them with a better life. The youth are going to choose their own path they take in life, whether it’s going to joyful or lead them to criminal activities. As much as a child’s development begins at home as soon as they walk out the door there are so many influences that can impact their life both positive and negatively. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how well you are raised or where your from sometimes the less fortunate can overcome the negative as much as someone raised with morals can do the unthinkable.

References

Aizer, A., & Currie, J. (2019). Lead and juvenile delinquency: new evidence from linked birth, school, and juvenile detention records. Review of Economics and Statistics, 101(4), 575-587.

Barrett, D. E., Ju, S., Katsiyannis, A., & Zhang, D. (2015). Females in the juvenile justice system: Influences on delinquency and recidivism. Journal of child and family studies, 24(2), 427-433.

Garbarino, J., & Plantz, M. C. (2017). Child abuse and juvenile delinquency: What are the links? In Troubled youth, troubled families (pp. 27-40). Routledge.

Hawkins, J. D., & Weis, J. G. (2017). The social development model: An integrated approach to delinquency prevention. In Developmental and Life-course Criminological Theories (pp. 3-27). Routledge.

Hirschi, T. (2017). Causes and prevention of juvenile delinquency. In The Craft of Criminology (pp. 105-120). Routledge.

Hoffmann, J. P., & Dufur, M. J. (2018). Family Social Capital, Family Social Bonds, and Juvenile Delinquency. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(11), 1525-1544.

McCord, J., & Conway, K. P. (2018). Patterns of juvenile delinquency and co-offending. In Crime and social organization (pp. 33-48). Routledge.

Nisar, M., Ullah, S., Ali, M., & Alam, S. (2015). Juvenile delinquency: The Influence of family, peer and economic factors on juvenile delinquents. Applied Science Reports, 9(1), 37-48.

Pardini, D. (2016). Empirically based strategies for preventing juvenile delinquency. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 25(2), 257-268.

Rhoades, K. A., Leve, L. D., Eddy, J. M., & Chamberlain, P. (2016). Predicting the transition from juvenile delinquency to adult criminality: Gender‐specific influences in two high‐risk samples. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 26(5), 336-351.

Simmons, C., Steinberg, L., Frick, P. J., & Cauffman, E. (2018). The differential influence of absent and harsh fathers on juvenile delinquency. Journal of adolescence, 62, 9-17.