Juvenile Delinquents In The Criminal Justice System

Imagine being a child imprisoned for committing a crime for which you did not understand the consequences. Alone and afraid, with only hardened criminals and psychopaths as adult role models, you live in fear. Through a vicious combination of physical, sexual, emotional, and mental abuse, there is no option but to turn back to crime as an adult, and continue the cycle. This is a daily reality for thousands of American juveniles. Yet, we continue to call it the juvenile justice system. Where is the justice in a system that allows juveniles to be made into victims of heinous crimes while not providing these children with necessary rehabilitation?

The decision to try a juvenile as an adult varies drastically across the globe as each country or state has its own set of laws and principles regarding the approach taken to juveniles in the court system that differ from those of other countries (Juvenile Vs Adult). In countries like India and France, there are sometimes entirely separate courts (France’s being called Juvenile Assize) and certain amendments that allow for those aged 16-18 who have committed “heinous” offenses to be tried as adults (Singhl). Places such as Iran and the Middle East try everyone as though they are the same, so minors can receive equal trials and sentences as adults (Mostafaei). Considering there is a range of policy and court differences, and for the purposes

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquent Preventions, the Juvenile arrest rate in 1967 was a total of 2.4 million children ages 12-17. This was the year The Outsiders was written in. The realistic fictional novel, The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton and the article, “What Causes Juvenile Delinquency,” by Ilanna Sharon Mandel both relate to Juvenile Delinquency and its effects on children and their loved ones. Mandel’s points towards Juvenile Delinquency can be applied to Ponyboy and the other greasers through peer influences, family life, self-esteem, race discrimination, and horrible trauma.

The Juvenile system was first established around 1899 during the Progressives Era Reforms. The progressive era reform was the first system to actually try to reform juveniles due to the fact that they were being trialed as adults. Psychologist made developments with research on the psyche of the juveniles being trialed as adults not beneficial to the state of mind that some minors can’t comprehend at the adult level. The findings from the research that were conducted, made society change their views on the juvenile delinquency.

This essay will critically analyse the killing of James Bulger from three different perspectives. It will also explain how a supposed moral society experiences such gruesome killings and worst of all it is carried out by children. Analyses of parental roles in the upbringing of the children will be discussed and what the society can do to prevent further occurrences.

Researchers have invested decades worth of time and data, attempting to answer the question of what causes crime. The study of criminological theory contains a great number of explanations, focused on discovering why exactly, crime occurs. Whether causations are biological, psychological, or sociological in nature, theory has lead us closer to answering the question of why crime happens. Perhaps causations are best explained using hybrid explanations that include a little bit of everything. A significant part of theory focuses on delinquency and the domino like effect of deviant behavior that results for children into adulthood. According to the United States government, 25-33% percent of school aged children are subject to the victimization

Childress, S. (2016, June 2). More States Consider Raising the Age for Juvenile Crime. Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/more-states-consider-raising-the-age-for-juvenile-crime/

Youth violence in school continues to be a significant issue in the United States and research has repeatedly acknowledged being in a gang as one of the main causes of the violence in youths (Egley, Howell, & Harris, 2014; Huizinga & Lovegrove, 2009; Miller, 2001; Snyder & Sickmund, 2006). Youth violence can range from bullying, pushing/shoving, or emotional harm to gang violence or assault, with or without a weapon (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Research shows that in recent years, gang activity has been steadily growing—outward from larger cities (Egley, Howell, & Harris, 2014)—and about 8 percent of the youths, who surveyed for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, had belonged to a gang at some point between the

Thesis Statement: Children, as innocents and infantile, are unconsciously doing unwanted acts that may violate our laws, therefore insufficient guidance from family, environmental factors syndicates, poverty and problem on education, which are the main rationales for their involvement on crimes should be given corresponding solution by the government.

Juvenile delinquency due to gang relation has increased drastically. Many people fail to realize that gangs have a considerable influence on the decisions juveniles are making. Adolescents are easily influenced by the members of the gangs and manipulated to commit certain crimes. As juveniles they are not mentally and emotionally mature to make such critical decisions, which in turn allow gang members to manipulate and control the youth they recruit. Juveniles become a part of gangs for several reasons, including, gaining protection, governmental, and social issues. Overall, gang engagement has evidently shown to negatively impact the youth.

Understanding the risk and protective factors of child delinquency is imperative in order to create and implement treatment and intervention programs. Because children’s behavior develops during the first five years, it is important to know what risk and protective factors could increase the likelihood of a child becoming a child offender (Wasserman et al., 2003). Moreover, overcoming the risk factors would help prevent the child offender from becoming a juvenile, and later, adult offender. As Wasserman et al (2003) stated, “risk factors for child delinquency operate in several domains: the individual child, the child’s family, the child’s peer group, the child’s school, the child’s neighborhood, and the media” (pg.1). As one can see, children are exposed to risk in partially every aspect of their lives. As a parent, it’s important to understand protective factors in order to offset some of the exposure to certain risk.

Juvenile Delinquency is a phenomenon that affects communities worldwide according to media reports, both print and electronic, where worrying images of youths involved in behavior outside societal norm has been highlighted. This issue has been studied by researchers locally, regionally and internationally where results has shown that delinquency has been influenced by a number of factors such as age, gender, race, family circle, environment, socioeconomic status et cetera.

Learning theory contends that delinquent behavior is learned from peers, family members, etc. Learning theory happens all the time from something as simple as a parent not wanting their child to hang out with a friend because they are a bad influence, to hanging out with that friend and doing something wrong because you saw them do it so you did too. This is seen quite commonly in gang neighborhoods where kids grow up and join the gang because they learned from their older sibling or parent that violent behavior with a specific group is okay or learned. Learning theory is quite common for delinquents, between peers, social media, television, movies, etc. juveniles can learn delinquent behavior from anything therefore influencing their

Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, or youth crime, is participation in illegal behavior by minors (juveniles) (individuals younger than the statutory age of majority). Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers, and courts. A juvenile delinquent is a person who is typically under the age of 18 and commits an act that otherwise would have been charged as a crime if they were an adult. Depending on the type and severity of the offense committed, it is possible for persons under 18 to be charged and tried as adults .

Crime is defined as an act that violates the constitution such as theft, assault, drugs/alcohol offense, curfew violations, and murder. Despite being punishable by law, many people still commit these crimes including teenagers.