Single-Parent households have continually become more popular and have brought to question the possible relationship of this type of family structure having a direct impact with delinquency among juveniles. Juveniles who come from single-parent families are said to come from “broken homes”. This idea of broken homes has become the main focus of finding a relationship between juveniles and those who commit delinquent acts. Elrod and Ryder (2011) state that research has discovered statistically significant relationships between single-parent homes and delinquency. This is often thought of as true due to the fact that single-parent families are not able to supervise their children as well as families with two parents.
The overwhelming increase in crime during the mid-1980s through the early 1990s created a disenfranchisement that placed a great deal of pressure on the juvenile justice system. Pressure associated with increased levels of crime gears conservative believers in social responsibility to implement harsher punishments as an avenue for social protection. Conversely, liberally-minded individuals gravitate toward the social problems perspective, believing that rehabilitation is the only method adequate to protect society. Inherent in the controversial topic of trying juveniles as adults is an increased responsibility to create a functional system geared towards improving society as a whole. The reasons to decrease the practice of trying juveniles as adults include: the affect of prisonization; successful rehabilitative programs; and an overall decrease in juvenile offending.
Several studies conducted to determine impacts of transfers of cases from juvenile courts to adult criminal courts for trial and potential sentencing indicate higher recidivism rates among the offenders. This is because of the notion the youth possess on the strictness on the adult courts. They believe trials on these courts end up in harsh punishment for offenders. In a way, adult punishments scare youth away from committing major crimes. However, studies show that short term punishments imposed on young offenders in adult courts propagates the offenders to commit even more crimes that are serious after their sentence terminates.
This increase in juvenile crime has struck a chord of fear in many people . Motivated by this fear our society has to come up with a solution to this impending problem. While several suggestions have been offered, crime prevention is the most logical, effective and beneficial solution. Before going into detail about crime prevention, here is a little background information on juvenile crime. ‘Murders by young men between the ages of 14 and 17 jumped 161 percent between 1992 and 1993’ (Juvenile Crime, 1).
(Elkiman 242) Young people turning to crime is result of a combination a bravado, hopelessness, access to firepower, and the allures of the drug market." (Elikann 241) What are the actions that society, and or the government, should take to keep our country's young from turning to crime or being victims of crime themselves? In the past few years there has been many Americans who have come to believe that juveniles who commit terrible crimes should be tried as adults and sentenced accordingly. That swift and prompt punishment is the solution to turning young people from a life of crime. Previously, society thought we could rehabilitate juveniles and turn them away from a life of crime.
This lack of parental supervision is thought to be an influence on juvenile crime rates. Other identifiable causes of delinquent acts include frustration or failure in school, the increased availability of drugs and alcohol, and the growing incidence of child abuse and child neglect. All these conditions tend to increase the probability of a child committing a criminal act, although a direct causal relationship has not yet been established Most theories of juvenile delinquency have focused on children from disadvantaged families, ignoring the fact that children from affluent homes also commit crimes. The latter may commit crimes because of the lack of adequate parental control, delays in achieving adult status, and hedonistic tendencies. All theories, however, are tentative ... ... middle of paper ... ...in delinquency.
However, as society developed and the city become larger juvenile behavior evolved as well furthermore, “in the 1800s, the state seeing growth of developing cites and the effect it was having on the young population,... ... middle of paper ... ...pe punishment as their adult counterpart. “The courts often are face with the decision when a juvenile commit what is other wise considered an adult crime” (Bartollas & Miller, 2008, p. 155). Another question of juvenile delinquency is the harshness of the offense the juvenile commit. The problem deals with offenses such as Status offenses, which are actions committed by juvenile that can cause them to be arrested. Status offenses are violation such as non-attendance, drinking, runaways, and uncontrollable behavior.
This act was unique, since it attempted to reduce the stigma of juvenile crime and create a new approach for the process of offenders. They philosophized that children were not to be treated as criminals but in need of encouragement. III. Current View of Juvenile delinquency Over the decades, the perspective of juvenile delinquency has seemed to intensify, as it has been regarded as an epidemic. Youth violence has appeared to proliferate in some ar... ... middle of paper ... ...are inadequately being taken care of.
Overall it helps distinguish juveniles who are in immediate needs of treatment from a large group in a short amount of time, thus making it efficient and gives a more likely reason to send them to be treated properly, rather than sending them to be imprisoned. Many Juveniles have been deprived of their proper treatment due to society’s lack of understanding and compassion, yet research clearly shows that mental health treatment not only keeps them at bay from repeating their crimes, but also helps them live a more positive lifestyle in society. In times we blame the juvenile for their mistakes, however instead of pointing fingers at them, we can come together as community to help them overcome their “inner demons”. After all, it is not the children committing the crimes, but their mental disorder that is hindering them from living a normal lifestyle.
The beliefs in juvenile rehabilitation were fading and an alternative was rapidly being put into motion, juvenile incarceration. Juveniles being incarcerated was not new to the juvenile justice system at this time, but what was new was the faith that incarceration in itself a good way solving the rising rates of crime. The Reagan legacy opened up the doors to drastic change in the juvenile justice system, such as: more adult like treatment of juveniles, making them more responsible/culpable for their actions, more frequent detentions handed out, seeing juveniles in adult court, and even the death penalty for juveniles. The new direction the juvenile court was taking is what shaped the issues and controversies we see in our juvenile court system today. The main controversy with the juvenile justice system today is the new belief in the rise in the adult like punishment to being applied to juvenile offenders.