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There are so many people in our prisons and jail systems today. Some are in there for crimes
that they committed, while others are in there because they were falsely accused. However, my
thoughts are that if we can find a way to prevent juvenile delinquency in our youth today, then
there’s a possibility of lowering the prison and jail numbers in the years to come. Especially
since research shows that 40% of juvenile offenders end up in adult prisons by the time they are
25 years of age, which tells us that something needs to change.
The first step would be figuring out what it is that causes juvenile delinquency in the first
place. There are so many things that could factor in to why a child is acting out or getting into
trouble, so we not only have to look at this as a whole, but individually as well. Studies have
shown that a lot of times juvenile delinquency starts from problems at home; either violence,
lack of guidance, and even the separation or divorce of parents. Then from those problems it will
stem down to poor performance at school, skipping school, and their grades dropping. Peer
pressure and substance abuse even play big parts when it comes to juvenile delinquency. Also,
something else that is very important and plays one of the biggest roles in juvenile delinquency is
the child’s friends and the crowd that they hang out with, as that will tell you a lot of what you
need to know. These are a few of the things that will help when trying to figure out what to do
and not to do when it comes to juvenile delinquency.
We all know that prevention programs can positively impact us all as a whole, since it would
be helping to stop crimes before they ever happen. So helping to get these programs up and
going should be something we all should be eager to help with honestly. Studies that have been
done tell us that early intervention and comprehensiveness in the head start programs and some
home visitation programs have really shown fantastic results when it came to targeting specific
behaviors that often lead to delinquent behavior. Then once those factors are lowered or out of
the equation, the problem behavior that causes delinquency to occur is lowered as well. Along
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with early childhood programs, good parenting provides children with a variety of skills that help
prevent future delinquency (Olds et al. 70). With there being enough research done on this to
prove these methods to be effective, and juvenile delinquency becoming such a serious problem
in our society, investing money on these types of programs will pay off in the end.
Also parental involvement makes a huge difference when it comes to preventing juvenile
delinquency. Parental involvement can be anything from being involved in school activities or
sports to taking them to the movies to spending the weekend camping with them. It really
doesn’t take a lot to be involved and to show your children that you love them and are there for
them no matter what. It honestly is something that, as a mother or father, should come natural
and you should want to do. Parents should also not only want to be involved with their children,
but they should also know their friends and who they hang out with on a daily basis. By knowing
these things, they will have more insight on what their children are doing when they are not at
home as well. Parents also need to be aware of what is going on in their community as well.
When they know what’s going on in their communities, they can make sure their child/children
aren’t involved in anything bad that has been going on and will know what to look for to find out
if they are. Studies show us that children who’s parents are divorced, often feel abandoned,
unwanted, or like it’s their fault somehow, which leads to these children often being the ones that
go down the wrong paths or are acting out more than others. These end up being the kids who
need the most guidance and help, for they are usually the ones that end up in trouble with the
police too. They say it takes a village to raise a kid, which is why communities need to come
together more. If communities and towns would have weekly or even monthly meetings for
parents and their children to attend, it would help everyone be more aware of what’ s going on
around them and in their neighborhoods. Another thought is that the school or local Department
of Human Services Counselors should make weekly unannounced visits for children that is
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suspected of having bad home lives. This way they can monitor and make sure there is no kind
of abuse or violence going on, as those are things that lead to juvenile delinquency also.
Then there is the use of programs like “Community that Cares” and “DARE”, that really seem
to be effective and help kids to understand a little better at what the use of drugs, alcohol, and
criminal activitiy can do to them and their families. In some places, the “DARE” officer will
patrol and go to local hangouts, such as pool halls, gamerooms, and the malls to check and see
what kind of things go on there and who frequents them. Things like that can prevent drugs from
being in those places and even bullying and fights from happening there. Every community
should have a good kid-friendly hang out spot, because when kids have nothing to do and get
bored, that’s when they start getting into trouble. Playing sports for their school is also another
very good way to keep children busy and out of trouble. Since they have to keep good grades in
order to play, practices and games would be after school and on weekends so it would keep
them busy most of the time, plus it would keep them physically active and help them burn off
that extra energy that kids tend to have. It would even benefit the parents as well, since by
attending games and practices you would be interacting and spending time with your kids.
Also for those youths at risk for delinquency, there are juvenile awareness programs that are
usually very effective. The goals of these types of programs is to prevent and/or deter children
from future criminal behavior. The underlying mechanism of juvenile awareness programs is
grounded in deterrence theory. Which the certainty and severity of punishment are perceived to
be important concepts in preventing and deterring them from the involvement of crime
(Paternoster, 2010). These types of programs will either take juveniles to visit prisons so they
can see what it is really like inside them, or it will bring a inmate to talk to students and tell them
the choices he made in life and where he ended up because of those choices. Research has shown
that these programs not only help the juveniles, but the prisoners as well. They say it helps the
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prisoners because it makes them feel like they are helping society by helping these kids make
better choices in their lives
There’s so many other things that we can do and paths we can take to help prevent juvenile
delinquency, but none of it can happen overnight. It will take teamwork, communities coming
together, children that want to do better, and others that want to make a difference. However,
when it is all said and done, helping our children make good decisions and better themselves is
the number one goal with this.
References
Boccio, C.M., & Beaver, K.M. (2019). The Influence of Family Structure on Delinquent
Behavior. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 17(1), 88-106.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204017727836
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Powell, Monte. “Examining the Effectiveness of Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Programs to
Reduce Juvenile Recidivism.” (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctorial Studies. 11222.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/11222
Saminsky, Alina. (2010). “Preventing Juvenile Delinquency: Early Intervention and
Comprehensiveness as Critical Factors.” Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse, 2(2). Retrieved from
http://jwww.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=165
Van der Put, C.E., Boekhout van Solinge, N.F., Stams, G.J., Hoeve, M., & Assink, M. (2021).
Effects of Awareness Programs on Juvenile Delinquency: A Three-Leel Meta-Analysis.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 65(1), 68-91.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20909239
Welsh, Brandon C. “Delinquency Prevention,” in Donna M. Bishop, and Barry C. Feld(eds), The
Oxford Handbook of Juvenile Justice. Oxford Handbooks (2011; online edn, Oxford Academics,
18 Sept. 201). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195385106.013.0018, accessed 23 Sept
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