JUVENILE DELINQUENCY THEORIES.   Term Paper ID:28767 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Discuses research studies on gangs, broken homes, immature behavior, situational behavior, career criminality. Paper Introduction: Criminology: Theories of Juvenile Delinquency I. Introduction Criminology, which encompasses all study of criminal behavior, has long been concerned with the roots of juvenile delinquency. In many cases, juveniles with a history of delinquent behavior graduate into adult career criminals, and many researchers and sociologists believe that crime in the United States can be reduced by addressing the causes of juvenile delinquency. Unfortunately, there is no single universally accepted theory of juvenile delinquency. Rather, juvenile delinquency appears to occur at the convergence of numerous causative factors. Research has indicated that today street gangs exist in 94 percent of a Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. III. 124). It may come as no surprise, therefore, that the typical offender todayis a young male between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four (Herrnstein,1995, p.4 ). Wells & Rankin's meta-analysis targeted the broken home as thestructural issue that causes juvenile delinquency and crime (1991, p. Juvenile Delinquency as Immature Behavior Thus, Wells & Rankin's study offers support for the theory thatjuvenile delinquency is a function of a broken home environment. Criminal involvement wasthe dependent variable, which was measured by each student's arrest recordbefore and after they left school (Thornberry et. However, the results of their study also demonstrate thatsuch is not always the case. The purpose of Thornberry et al.'s study was to evaluate theshort- and long-term effects of the association between dropout status andlater criminal involvement (1985, p. Sucha reading of juvenile delinquency would begin to explain why some juvenilesend their delinquency when they reach adulthood while others continue intocareer criminality. Research has indicated that today street gangs exist in 94 percent ofall cities in the United States that have populations greater than 1 , . Lopez and Emmercontended that delinquency theories have not considered cognition to be anactive mediator between situational influences and behavior (2 , p. 2121). 3-18.Tittle, C. In many cases, families in such an environment are broken homesand, even when they are not, the home atmosphere is often negative ordestructive (Coplon, 1985, p. (October 1991). However, theynoted that a gap in the research did not consider the relative offendingrates for juveniles from residential placement who were returned tojurisdictions within the same state that could be characterized as urban,suburban, or rural (Heilbrun, et. 395). Consequently, Lopez and Emmer believed that anintegrated model demonstrating the ways in which cognition, emotion andmotivation influenced a juvenile offender's perception of the situationwould provide insight into why life-course-persistent offenders engaged inacts of criminal offending. Thestudy also measured for race, social status, marital status andunemployment. al., 1985, p. 392). Numerous researchers and scholars have articulated the juveniledelinquency associated with gang membership. ReferencesCoplon, J. The study attempted to measuredropout status as an independent variable based on interviews with highschool dropouts, taking into account the age at which they left highschool, and students who completed high school. VI. & Lanier, A. Particularly in a broken home, a juvenile may see no reasonablealternative to delinquency, particularly given the fact that adolescentsare generally more self-absorbed and self-concerned than adults. On the other hand,juveniles who remain in the broken environments described in the previousdiscussion are more likely to continue to choose criminality as a viablemeans of life support. (1985). (April 15, 1999). Whenanalyzed conjointly, the categories of crime type and motive combined toform several crime contexts, including emotion-driven violent assaultcontext, emotion-driven property theft context, belief-driven violentassault context, reward-driven drug-dealing context, reward-driven propertytheft context, emotion-driven mixed-crime context, and mixed-motive mixed-crime context. These include age at firstreferral or adjudication, number of prior arrests, number of out-of homeplacements or institutional commitments, academic achievement, schoolbehavior and attendance, substance abuse, family stability, parentalcontrol, and peer relationships (Heilbrun et. For example, another theory as to the roots of juveniledelinquency asserts that juveniles' self-control levels may not yet befixed. al. Thus, Tittle &Grasmick concluded that juvenile delinquency is often a function ofimmaturity. In fact, age and sex are among the most predictive variablesfor criminal behavior. & Grasmick, H. "Preventing Street Gang Violence." American Family Physician, 2121.Lopez, V. Consequently, they undertook a study to develop a"systematic, quantitative, integrative assessment of existing research" onthe relationship between broken homes and delinquency (Wells & Rankin,1991, p. 88). In essence, they sought to examine whether any studyor studies had conclusively proven a relationship between broken homes anddelinquency. Heilbrun et. Also, those who were arrested as adultswere almost three times as likely to have been arrested as juveniles as themen who had not been arrested as adults (Herrnstein, 1995, p.41). Fathers and older brothers may havepolice records or may beat their wives and live-in girlfriends and thechildren themselves may be physically or sexually abused (Coplon, 1985, p.124). (Fall 1997). & Rankin, J. 83). "Families and delinquency: A meta-analysis of the impact of broken homes." Social Problems, 38, pp. Vol.88 n.1 3 9-342.Wells, L. "Children in gangs." UNESCO Courier: 19-22.Thornberry, T., Moore, M. al., 2 ). Many theorists have offered the broken home as one of the most commonexplanations for juvenile delinquency. And studies have revealed that juvenile offendersare at risk of becoming adult offenders (Herrnstein, 1995, p.41). 85). But rather than the usual narrative research review thatinterprets and judges the scope and conclusions of prior studies, Wells &Rankin (1991) applied a meta-analytic approach that relied on quantitativemethods to systematically summarize and analyze the results of multipleindependent studies of a given topic (p. Unfortunately, there is no single universally accepted theoryof juvenile delinquency. Thus, by linking risk assessment torisk-reduction intervention planning, juvenile agencies could moreaccurately determine who should receive intensive parole services, thelevel of supervision needed, and the most effective use of staff (Heilbrunet al., 2 ). This conclusion demonstrates that while ajuvenile's criminal act may often be spontaneous, it is not necessarilythoughtless. In a New Jersey study of 224 incarcerated juveniles, one out ofevery five reported that he had been threatened by a family member with aknife or gun and eight percent had been hurt badly enough to behospitalized (Coplon, 1985, p. (June 2 ). II. 124). 88). And tofulfill this responsibility, many correctional agencies incorporatevalidated risk assessment measure. For example, most delinquents frombroken homes engaged in status offenses such as drug use (possession)(Wells & Rankin, 1991, p. Thus, Thornberry et. In addition, Thornberry, Moore and Christenson (1985) essentiallyfollowed up on Tittle & Grasmick's and Wells & Rankin's research byattempting to examine the relationship between dropping out of school anddelinquency. However,it is undoubtedly true that not all juveniles from broken homes becomeeither delinquents or career criminals. al. For example, controllingfor race and time at risk, the study determined that the urban site had thehighest rate of recidivism, the rural site was intermediate and thesuburban site had the lowest rate (Heilbrun et. offer some support for the theory thatjuvenile delinquency is an immature behavior that may be mitigated as theindividual ages. (August 1985). In addition, the disadvantages suffered by a juvenile in abroken home can be exacerbated by other factors that can lead todelinquency. And while the scope and the nature of the problem vary widely from city tocity, estimates place the number of youths in gangs in Los Angeles between5 , to 1 , children and youths (See Rogers, 1991, p. Essentially, each crime context was associated withdifferent patterns of causal conditions, contextual conditions, interveningconditions, action or interaction strategies, and consequences (Lopez &Emmer, 2 ). 88). Introduction Criminology, which encompasses all study of criminal behavior, haslong been concerned with the roots of juvenile delinquency. 275). Nationally, 2 percent of all children in the United States live infamilies at or below the established federal poverty level (Coplon, 1985,p. IV. Another study in Chicago demonstrated that 5 percent ofall elementary school children there were affiliated with street gangs, aswere 35 percent of high school dropouts (Hixon, 1999, p. 82).Specifically, they sought to determine the following the overallassociation between parental absence and juvenile delinquency, thevariation in pattern of effects across different studies, and the extent towhich the relationship between broken homes and delinquency variedaccording to methodological factors and substantive factors (Wells &Rankin, 1991, p. Yet they never statespecifically that juvenile delinquency is a situational behavior in whichjuveniles choose to engage based on the options they see before them. 82). Lopez and Emmer undertook the study because they believedthat most theories of delinquent offending did not examine the juvenile'scriminal behavior at the situational level (2 , p. 124). Thus, crime appears to be attractive because the offenders do notcontemplate the inevitable long-term consequences (Tittle & Grasmick,1997). Significantly, they also determined thatstudies within the medical/psychiatric orientations tended to show a higheraverage correlation between broken homes and delinquency than did studieswith other disciplines. San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies.Hixon, A. "Young bad & dangerous." Ladies Home Journal: 124- 129.Heilbrun, K., Brock, W., Waite, D. al., 2 ). Lopez & Emmer's study explored the criminal offenders' interpretationof the offending situation and the meaning behind their behaviors (Lopez &Emmer, 2 , p. argued thatjuvenile correctional agencies have a responsibility to develop and deliverrisk-reducing interventions to high-risk juvenile offenders. 88). Conclusions based onanalyses of data recovered from the 14 study participants established thatthe site into which a juvenile offender is released could have asignificant impact on his or her recidivism rate. 395). They concluded that such differences could beattributed to the medical profession's use of small contrived samples fromgroups previously determined to be delinquent (1991, p. In many inner-city neighborhoods this figure approaches 1 percent. In essence, the argument goes that juveniles who areremoved from their negative situations or who remove themselves from theirnegative situations are less likely to become career criminals because theyare no longer in a situation to choose criminality. Conclusion The strongest arguments for theories of juvenile delinquency are thosethat take into consideration all the factors in a juveniles' life,including the fact that a juvenile might often choose criminality becauseof the situation in which he finds himself. They discovered that the context in which a crimewas committed emerged as a central category to differentiate cognitions andbehaviors associated with particular crimes. Juvenile Delinquency and Career Criminality While Lopez and Emmer considered the reasons for juvenile offending,Heilbrun, Brock, Waite and Lanier attempted to identify factors that couldindicate the likelihood of a juvenile's recidivism after his release from ajuvenile correctional agency (2 , p. Heilbrun et. They argued that due to this failure, many delinquency theories viewed thedelinquent as a passive recipient and filter of his or her subculture andits delinquent values and attitudes. 2 ; Hixon,1999, p. Wells & Rankin's meta-analysis determined that most prior studies hadindeed demonstrated a positive relationship between broken homes andjuvenile delinquency (1991, p. The results of Thornberry et al.'s study did not support the theorythat dropping out of school reduced delinquency in the short-term (1985, p.88). (June 2 ) "Adolescent male offenders: A grounded theory study of cognition, emotion, and delinquent crime," Criminal Justice and Behavior, 27, 3, 292-311,Rogers, C. This paper examines severalstudies that attempt to determine the roots of juvenile delinquency basedon juvenile behavior as well as juveniles' own articulation of the roots oftheir delinquency. In particular, Lopez & Emmer (2 ) concluded that the context inwhich a juvenile commits a crime is often determinative of what type ofcrime the juvenile will commit. & Christenson, R. However, whencontrolled for age, which as Tittle & Grasmick asserted generally has anegative effect on criminal involvement, the study determined that droppingout of high school is positively related to criminal involvement(Thornberry et al., 1985, p. On the other hand, they noted thatmore recent theories viewed the delinquent as an active agent who had apart in how he or she thought about criminal offending events (Lopez &Emmer, 2 , p. "Criminal Behavior and Age: A Test of Three Provocative Hypothesis." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 396). Unfortunately, but perhaps not fatal to the problem ofsolving juvenile delinquency, the paper then concludes that there may existalmost as many reasons for juvenile delinquency as there exist juveniledelinquents. Broken Homes and Juvenile Delinquency In general, high crime rates, limited legitimate business activityand/or employment opportunities and poorly functioning public educationsystems characterize communities of the urban underclass (Coplon, 1985, p.124). al. Consequently, their study begs the questionof why some juvenile delinquents outgrow their delinquency while othersprogress into career criminals. begin their study by noting that certain variableshave been consistently identified in the research literature as moststrongly associated with juvenile recidivism. 81). Thus, rather than attempting to fashion a solution by whichall juvenile delinquents must abide, this paper suggests that juveniledelinquency must be addressed individually whenever and wherever possibleto ensure that this nation's youths become and remain aware of their worthto the future of this country. (1995). In addition, they identified three types of motives: emotion-driven, belief-driven, and reward-driven (Lopez & Emmer, 2 ). "Risk factors for juvenile criminal recidivism: The post-release community adjustment of juvenile offenders." Criminal Justice and Behavior, 27, 3, 275-291.Herrnstein, R. Clearly this paper does notaddress incidences of juvenile delinquency that occur in the absence ofbroken home environments, but understanding the motivations of suchdelinquency could be instructive in forming a more comprehensive theory ofjuvenile delinquency. Yet, despite the substantialresearch performed in this area, there is still no consensus among scholarsas to the roots of juvenile delinquency. "Crimogenic Traits." Crime. "The effect of dropping out of high school on subsequent criminal behavior." Criminology, 23, pp. Criminology: Theories of Juvenile Delinquency I. In particular, they found support forthe theory that a juvenile's family structure impacted the type ofdelinquency in which he or she engage. 2121). V. Thus, asthe costly consequences of criminal behavior unfold over time, those whobegin with low self-control may gradually learn to defer gratification.Many people may increase their self-control as they age and, consequently,perform less criminal activity (Tittle & Grasmick, 1997). (1991). Rather, juvenile delinquency appears to occur atthe convergence of numerous causative factors. 81). In addition,site comparisons revealed important differences between resources andprocedures among the three sites, which necessarily impact the recidivismrate of offenders released into each site. In many cases,juveniles with a history of delinquent behavior graduate into adult careercriminals, and many researchers and sociologists believe that crime in theUnited States can be reduced by addressing the causes of juveniledelinquency. On the other hand, the results did demonstrate that dropping out ofhigh school was positively related to adult criminal involvement.Significantly, however, the results also demonstrated that criminalbehavior across all the groups interviewed declined substantiallythroughout the early 2 s (Thornberry et. & Emmer, E. 84). al., 2 ). In particular, emotionsemerged as a key construct associated with particular crime contexts.Based on the study's results, Lopez and Emmer were able to identify fourdifferent crime types: violent assault, property theft, drug dealing, andgang crimes. 71-9 . In alarge Philadelphia study, participants who had been arrested as juvenileswere more than four times as likely to be arrested as adults as the one whowere not arrested as juveniles. al., 1985, p. Nonetheless, in a 1991 study, Wells& Rankin concluded that the support for this theory was as yet incompleteand inconclusive. Consequently, a broken home in andof itself will never serve as the sole means for explaining delinquency.Nonetheless, it does offer treatment providers one indicator ofdelinquency. Juvenile Delinquency as Situational Behavior All of the prior studies investigate juvenile delinquency as afunction of the juvenile's home and life situation. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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