According to the text “Juvenile Delinquency: The Core” the social structure theory associates juvenile delinquency rates to socioeconomic structure conditions, for example poor communities, families that are usually unemployed, families that have a continuous cycle of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), single parent households, families with incarcerated fathers, sons and even moms and daughters. Some of these children are raised by grandparents or placed in the foster care system. Many young people in these communities are parents themselves – babies raising babies. This I know because this describes many of the youth in my community. The social structure theories suggest that social and economic forces in poor areas can lead individuals in these communities into criminal behavior patterns. The social structure theorists believe that social conditions influence an individual’s control behavior choices …show more content…
These communities should offer services and have available resources to help the families and there is a need for better relationships in these communities with law enforcement. It does not matter what is on the outside if there are values, respect, family support at home. I do not believe that my community is a description of who I am, because growing up my mom kept us involved in activities and off the streets. Today there are charter schools with smaller settings that help to improve the education for many, when I was growing up my mother sent my brothers and I to private school. I have always wanted to be a part of change in my community because so many young males and females are either incarcerated or being killed. I have three young sons and I want them to have more like most parents. And I believe from my own personal experience that what they are exposed to and influenced by begins at
Two major sociological theories explain youth crime at the macro level. The first is Social Disorganization theory, created in 1969 by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. The theory resulted from a study of juvenile delinquency in Chicago using information from 1900 to 1940, which attempts to answer the question of how aspects of the structure of a community contribute to social control. The study found that a community that is unable to achieve common values has a high rate of delinquency. Shaw and McKay looked at the physical appearance of the neighborhoods, the average income of the population, the ethnicity of the neighborhood, the percent of renters versus owners, and how fast the population of the area changed. These factors all contribute to neighborhood delinquency.
Generally, it started as a plan by Sandy Fonzo and her husband to teach their son Edward Kenzakowski, 17 years-old at the time a lesson. Sandy Fonzo and her husband notice that Edward had been hanging out with the wrong crowed. Despite him have a clear record and excelling in school, as well as sports, such a wrestling, they feared he might or did not want to see him ruin his chances at a scholarship (Ecenbarger 2012). Thus, the devised a plan, and her husband planned paraphernalia on Edward’s truck, meanwhile tipping off the cops. They were hoping that their son who receive probation, meanwhile getting imitated by tough Judge Mark Ciavarella when in front of him. Like a little bit of a tough
The youth justice system’s functions are to not only regulate the laws and ramifications of crime in the youth population, but to rehabilitate and reintroduce these juveniles into society. Of the three criminological explanations that can shape a juvenile justice system; individual, situational and social structural, social structural implications is by far the most effective ideology in shaping a modern youth justice system. Shaw and McKay (1942) emphasize in their studies that youth deviance is strongly linked to the social structure they belong to. In support of this theory, Cunneen and White (2011) state that crime is a social phenomenon that can not be directly connected to a person’s individual or personal biology. With that being said, there are a number of theories that can be best used to construct a youth justice system from a social structural angle, including; social strain or social disorganization, social bonds and differential association theories. Each of these theories, from their own theoretical angle, can provide framework and ideologies on how to better the youth justice system in a number of facets in order to target modern youths’ social structural and delinquency struggles.
A primary shaper of the juvenile and their actions is the environment in which they grow up in. Family environment has the potential to have a major effect on the outcome and behaviors of the juvenile (Myers 430). Family has such a huge effect because it is the earliest source of interaction the juvenile experiences. According to Louise Gerdes, “72 percent of jailed juveniles
However, the question whether such an effect is universal remains unanswered. In a study by Kierkus & Hewitt, (2009) they examined the link between non-traditional family structures and delinquency based on several variables such as gender, race, age, SES, family size and place of residence. They made an interesting finding that age and family size impacts the relationship between family structures, crime, and delinquency (Kierkus & Hewitt, 2009). More specifically, the old adolescents and those from larger families were at a significant risk for participating in juvenile
Thompson, W. E. and Bynum J. E. (2010). Juvenile Delinquency: A sociological Approach Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
This theory however as some have argued has emerged from social disorganisation theory, which sees the causes of crime as a matter of macro level disadvantage. Macro level disadvantage are the following: low socioeconomic status, ethnic or racial heterogeneity, these things they believe are the reasons for crime due to the knock on effect these factors have on the community network and schools. Consequently, if th...
Juvenile delinquency may evolve around many different factors before it becomes a problem for society to solve. Gender and family structure can be a large and underlining cause of why children enter the criminal justice system. By examining the gender and family makeup, one could better understand how to treat a troubled individual.
Traditional families are becoming a thing of the past. Women are no longer staying at home and assuming their womanly roles that society once expected from them. Due to their choices and living environment, they have to do what they can to raise the children that being into this world.
Across the nation, social scientists and criminologists have researched and hypothesized the main contributing factors that promote juvenile delinquency. The Strain/ Anomie theory introduced by Robert Merton and later revised by several other theorists, attempts to explain why juvenile subculture tend to behave certain ways when confronted with pressures from everyday life. Revised by other theorists, the Strain theory attempts to provide the framework of juvenile delinquency and its sources in order to analyze the effectiveness of this assumption, as well as to implement certain crime prevention policies and programs to curb this problem. This paper is going to analyze how the Strain theory contributes it’s principles of delinquency factors in order to explain and understand juvenile delinquency.
they are currently in. A juvenile committing crime may the only way they know to display their anger and feelings of neglect.
Gang violence and murder are two factors that contribute to the delinquency that develops in young boys and girls. Violence is seen among juvenile delinquency, where teenagers are victims of violence that exists around their neighborhood or violent acts their peers around them commit. Violence exists in poor neighborhoods where juveniles do not have any money or jobs and leads to them becoming thieves. Caine is a young man that is surrounded by violence and drugs, where he becomes a delinquent due to him growing up in a dangerous neighborhood and being part of a group where his peers murder and steal.
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
In the field of criminal justice, we ask why crime happens and try to come up with theories to explain the actions of others. Coming up with theories and explaining them in the juvenile justice system is something that we have discussed in class and while doing service learning hours, I have come to find some theories being very prevalent in the environment that I was introduced to. Talking about theories and actually seeing them in action in the “real” world opens your eyes to the depth behind some of theories out there trying to explain crime.
Juvenile delinquency is one of the major social issues in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is when “a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Merriam-webster.com). Although we have one justice system in America, the juvenile system differs from the adult juvenile system. Most juvenile delinquents range from as low as the age of seven to the age of seventeen. Once the delinquent or anyone turns the age of eighteen, they are considered an adult. Therefore, they are tried as an adult, in the justice system. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. In addition, there are a variety of effects that juvenile justice systems can either bad effects or good effects. Finally there are many different solutions that can reduce juvenile delinquency. As a result, juvenile delinquency is a major issue and the likeliness of it can be reduced. In order to reduce juvenile delinquency there has to be an understanding of the causes and the effects.