Juvenile Delinquency Summary

Haveripet conducted a study in the Indian setting to study juvenile delinquency with focus on its causes and consequences. The study titled “Causes and consequences of juvenile delinquency in India” published in 2013 was conducted in using a social survey method using purposive sampling. The identified causes of delinquency are divided into 4 categories. Individual factors are lack of education, low impulse control, aggression, etc. Parenting variables are: parental conflict, abuse, and neglect. Parents who offend or show lack of respect for the law may have children who are prone to criminal activity. Mental health factors include personality disorders, conduct disorder, etc. Substance abuse is an important factor and is more likely to cause

The study titled “Criminal careers and cognitive scripts: An investigation into criminal versatility” looks into specialisms and flexibility which criminals develop while engaging in criminal activity. It looks at the internal or cognitive processes involved in choosing the activity as a “career”, and the kind of crime rather than skills deficit as a cause. The study uses script theory (Schank and Abelson, 1977) to understand the minds of criminals. The script theory states that memory of events is encoded episodically, and for retention, things must be related to personal experiences in some way. The kinds of scripts are: internal scripts that guide behaviour, situational scripts that are to do with knowledge of everyday events, and personal scripts that are goal directed sequences of actions. 10 male offenders who fit the criteria of criminal offender were recruited (convicted on at the least two occasions). They were aged between 18 and 26 years. A semi-structured, written interview was used to obtain data. Subjects were initially unaware of the objective of the study but were debriefed after the study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. It was found that repeated offenders may have situational scripts for hypothetical criminal situations. However, they generally operate from personal scripts (sequences of goal directed behaviour), that may themselves change for more

It shows that, if implemented properly, the program can provide psychological and direct benefits to delinquents. The most important consideration here is that an assessment should be conducted, which will give a comprehensive picture regarding the factors and influences, and the life script assessment. Other studies too have shown the importance of studying the life of the offenders with attention to the social and cultural aspects of their life rather than only focussing on individual factors alone, which if studied in isolation, would not be as useful. Some have advocated for the use of more individualistic treatment after assessment rather than a common programme (Cullen and Gendreau,