Jeffrey Hart
CJ 425-01
Dr. Raleigh Blasdell
2/10/2017
Socioecominic Status and its Effect on Teen Delinquency Deviance can be derived from a numerous array of factors, whether social interactions or a dysfunctional home. Another large impact can be the household or youth’s socioeconomic status in society, which could be concurrent with other issues leading to delinquency. Typically delinquency stems from broken households, which largely exist in poor neighborhoods and environments where delinquency thrives among youths into adolescence.
When it comes to the future decisions of juveniles in these environments, “strain and rational choice accounts argue that delinquency can be a direct result of a family’s low economic resources.
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In lower socioeconomic environments, there might be a level of order that is beyond the reach of officers to combat, and gangs thrive on these neighborhoods. With gang members and recruitment surrounding youths, deviant behavior is rampant in lower class neighborhoods. Broken homes lead to this, especially in single mother homes, as children do not have a strong male figure in the household; therefore, they turn to a friend or person they admire and in numerous situations they join the gang of a person they deem as a predominant male figure. They join for support, self-confidence, and for a feeling of a greater purpose that they had not previously acquired from school, family, etc. (McNeil, Herschberger,& Nedela, 2013). Deviant behavior in gangs can control a community, as elderly will be less likely to leave their homes, citizens will be reluctant to travel to locations where social control is not in command, and vagrants populate. Police attempt to reduce these behaviors with criminologist theories, but these theories “explain crime in terms of weak internal control mechanisms developed in early childhood in combination with weak or absent social rules” (Nakhaie, Silverman, & LaGrange, 2000). Gangs and juvenile delinquency foster communities that many times police are not able to adequately restore to ‘normalcy’; therefore, the community breeds delinquent behavior at a rapid pace. There are theories as well that refer to psychological traits that contribute to young delinquent behavior as a primary concern. A study conducted by Castellana, Barros, Serafim, and Filho (2014) found that, between two groups tested, offenders and non-offenders in similar socioeconomic states had similar intelligence and age but had drasticly opposing psychological
Researchers have long sought to understand the salience of gang involvement (Varano, Huebner and Bynum, 2011). Studies show that those involved in gang activity “begin their delinquent/criminal careers earlier, experience higher levels of violent victimizations, have accelerated levels of participation in the most serious forms of delinquency, experience great number of incarceration periods, and are generally more problematic when incarcerated” (Varano, Huebner and Bynum, 2011). Gang involvement typically leads to delinquent behavior in youth and it leads them down the wrong path of life. There is typically a higher rate of youth involved in gangs who come from broken homes, do not have jobs, are on drugs or come from families that do drugs, and school drop
These pressures of being unable to obtain the economic means necessary to achieve a minimal standard of living have been show to lead to deviant behavior, particularly youth delinquency (Curry and Spergel, 1988). It can therefore be deduced that youth individuals are more likely to take part in these behaviors if they reside in these neighborhoods where gangs are already known to exist, as well as neighborhoods that are high in juvenile delinquency (Spergel, 1995).
Across the wide body of studies delving into delinquency in America, it is easy to locate research on and analysis of minorities, underprivileged socioeconomic urban centers, and turbulent family structures. However, this leaves a significant section of the delinquent population largely neglected: white middle-class youth. Contrary to the factors shown to affect delinquency in others and the applications of theory applied to them, the issues plaguing this particular portion of adolescents are in many cases entirely unique, suggesting the necessity of a more nuanced approach from angles that have up until fairly recently remained unexplored.
Juvenile deviant behavior has been long associated with poor grades. In a research study by Matthew Zingraff, Jeffrey Leiter, Matthew Johnsen, and Kristen Myers (1994), there was a direct correlation between delinquency and academic performance:
Juvenile delinquency is a conduct by a juvenile or a person below the legal age that is above parental control thus dealt with by the law. Crime in this case cannot be punishable by death or life imprisonment. There are many cases of juvenile delinquency in recent times that have raised many issues in the United State’s legal systems. There are many ways of explaining juvenile delinquency and crime when it comes to; cause, results, and legal actions pertaining to crimes. Alex Kotlowitz in his book, “There Are No Children Here” focuses on crime and juvenile delinquency through life experiences. This story is about the life of two boys who the author researched for a few years. The two boys were from Chicago, grew up in a poor family, surrounded by poverty, gangs, and violence as do many of us who come from low income, minority filled areas. The two boys unfortunately, sad to say end up in juvenile hall which clearly depicts the whole concept of crime and juvenile delinquency that arises from more issues than simply meets the eye . Issues relating to the social disorganization theory of poverty, disorganization, and low community control. This paper will analyze the story using themes that relate to juvenile delinquency and further discuss causes and ways to control juvenile delinquency
The presentation of negative stimuli has been found to be one of the forerunning causes of delinquency amongst juveniles. Some examples of undesirable stimuli that an adolescent could be facing are child abuse, neglect, and exploitation, hostile relationships with parents teachers and peers, negative academic experiences, neighborhood difficulties, and poverty. If a juvenile is surrounded by individuals who sell drugs in order to finance a way of life that is easier and more financial than their current way of life, the adolescent id more likely to imitate that behavior by association.
Deviance can occur in any society or home but is mostly connected and associated with broken homes. Children with single parents are believed to be at high risk of being delinquent. The reason delienquency is very likely to occur is because the child is either "motherless" or "fatherless", and this may currupt the personality of the child in many ways. This is argued may lead to a destructive delinquent future. "Bad" neighborhoods, where single parents reside often leads to delinquency as the social society that single parents often live in are surrounded by deviant behaviour. The main reason single parents tend to reside in estates and currupted areas is they cant work because they have. Single parents tend not to punish their children for deviant behaviour as some parents feel guilty because the child only has one parent and they do not wnt thier child to resent them. Most citizens today believe It is very important for children to grow up in a nuclear family (two parents and children).
Many young people join street gangs due to weak family relationships and poor social control. Social Control Theory presumes that people will naturally commit crime if there were left to their own devices (i.e. no laws in society) and people do not commit crimes because of certain controlling forces, such as social bonds that hold individuals back partaking on their anti social behavior (Bell, 2011). Examples of controlling forces are family, school, peers, and the law. Young people who are t...
According the Rogers (2013), there are causal factors at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels that can lead youth to engage in delinquent activity. At the micro level, the factors that predict delinquency involve: being male, low educational achievement, low impulse control, childhood aggression, antisocial behavior, and hyperactivity. At the mezzo level, family conflict, lack of family support and appropriate discipline, and negative peer pressure can be risk factors for juvenile. On a macro level, youth that live in poverty or in high-crime urban neighborhoods, and are exposed to violence at home and in their neighborhoods, have a higher risk of engaging in delinquent behaviors. Many poor urban communities often lack adequate schools, which can lead to poor academic performance and students disconnecting from
Finding strong evidence surrounding this topic could be significant to reducing crime rates and addressing the public health issue. What I have learn from research-based evidence and analyzing social and cultural theories, is that criminal behavior is multifaceted and is influenced by a range of determinants in which surrounds the nature versus nurture debate. I believe that nature and nurture both play significant roles to the making of a criminal.
Families are the strongest socialization forces in juvenile’s lives. Juveniles encounter love, affection and support from their families, but many juveniles do not have this. There are juvenile that receive no affection from their families and their emotions are kept inside them and may feel no sympathy towards others. As juveniles are growing, their family environment makes a big impact if the juvenile will become a delinquent. Families teach juvenile’s aggressive behavior or violence. If a juvenile grows up with violence in their home, they will believe that violence is acceptable and it will become the norm for them. Violence also affects a juvenile’s brain, where it can lead to depression, suicide or substance abuse. Violence is a factor
Families serve as one of the strongest socializing forces in a person's life. They help teach children to control unacceptable behavior, to delay gratification, and to respect the rights of others. Conversely, families can also teach children aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. In adults' lives, family responsibilities may provide an important stabilizing force. Given these possibilities, family life may directly contribute to the development of delinquent and criminal tendencies. Parental conflict and child abuse correlate with delinquency. Though not all children who grow up in conflictive or violent homes become delinquent, however, being exposed to conflict and violence appears to increase the risk of delinquency. At this point, researchers have not pin pointed what factors exactly push some at-risk youth into delinquency. A child with criminal parents faces a greater likelihood of becoming a delinquent than children with law-abiding parents. However, the influence appears not to be directly related to criminality but possibly to poor supervision.
In this report I want to review the research areas where family and household training will help to reduce the number of incarcerated juveniles and subsequently, avoid increasing the already wide racial disparities of the incarcerated population of juveniles. The values that a person acquires from its family and home are not acquired anywhere else and such ethical and core values are crucial to determined how and why was a juvenile introduced into the state’s criminal justice system and how can it be prevented.
...why youth engage in criminal activity Research suggests delinquent peers are a proximate cause than family/parental; family/parental may only be a slight cause of involvement in crime. Some research suggests that criminal propensities can be inherited through genes. Unfortunately, the media portrayals of crime aren’t a true representative of the actual crime trends, or accurately reflecting the level of crime perpetrated by youth. There are many different variables that could cause youth to engage in criminal activity, some of these major variables have been discussed throughout this essay.
Juvenile delinquency is not by any means a new phenomenon, although the way that juvenile offenders are treated when apprehended is constantly changing. Changes in family structure and urbanization have influenced the way that children act, as well as the way that they are viewed by members of society. Today, juvenile offenders are usually not treated like criminals, but rather given a lighter penance than adults and a ch...