Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term delinquent usually refers to juvenile delinquency, and is also generalised to refer to a young person who behaves an unacceptable way.
In the United States, a juvenile delinquent is a person who commits a crime and is under a specific age. Most states specify a juvenile delinquent, or young offender, as an individual under 18 years of age, while a few states have set the maximum age slightly different. The term "juvenile delinquent" originated from the late 18th and early 19th centuries when the treatment of juvenile and adult criminals was similar, and punishment was over the seriousness of an offense. Before the 18th century, juveniles over age 7 were tried in the same criminal court as adults and, if convicted, could get the death penalty. Illinois established the first juvenile court. This juvenile court focused on treatment objectives instead of punishment, determined appropriate terminology associated with juvenile offenders, and made juvenile records confidential. In 2021, Michigan, New York, and Vermont raised the maximum age to under 19, and Vermont law was updated again in 2022 to include individuals under 20. Only three states, Georgia, Texas, and Wisconsin, still appropriate the age of a juvenile delinquent as someone under the age of 17. While the maximum age in some US states has increased, Japan has lowered the juvenile delinquent age from under 20 to under 18. This change occurred on 1 April 2022 when the Japanese Diet activated a law lowering the age of minor status in the country. Just as there are differences in the maximum age of a juvenile delinquent, the minimum age for a child to be considered capable of delinquency or the age of criminal responsibility varies considerably between the states. Some states that impose a minimum age have made recent amendments to raise the minimum age. Still, most states remain ambiguous on the minimum age for a child to be determined a juvenile delinquent. In 2021, North Carolina changed the minimum age from 6 to 10 years old, Connecticut moved from 7 to 10, and New York adjusted from 7 to 12. In some states, the minimum age depends on the seriousness of the crime committed. Juvenile delinquents or juvenile offenders commit crimes ranging from status offenses such as, truancy, violating a curfew or underage drinking and smoking to more serious offenses categorized as property crimes, violent crimes, sexual offenses, and cybercrimes.
Some scholars have found an increase in youth arrests and have concluded that this may reflect more aggressive criminal justice and zero-tolerance policies rather than changes in youth behavior. Youth violence rates in the United States have dropped to approximately 12% of peak rates in 1993, according to official U.S. government statistics, suggesting that most juvenile offending is non-violent. Many delinquent acts can be attributed to the environmental factors such as family behavior or peer influence. One contributing factor that has gained attention in recent years is the school-to-prison pipeline. According to Diverse Education, nearly 75% of states have built more jails and prisons than colleges. CNN also provides a diagram that shows that the cost per inmate is significantly higher in most states than the cost per student. This shows that taxpayers' dollars are going toward providing for prisoners rather than providing for the educational system and promoting the advancement of education. For every school built, the focus on punitive punishment has correlated with juvenile delinquency rates. Some have suggested shifting from zero-tolerance policies to restorative justice approaches.
Juvenile detention centers, juvenile courts, and electronic monitoring are common structures of the juvenile legal system. Juvenile courts are in place to address offenses as civil rather than criminal cases in most instances. The frequency of use and structure of these courts in the United States varies by state. Depending on the type and severity of the offense committed, individuals under 18 may be charged and treated as adults.
Overview
Juvenile delinquency, or offending, is often separated into three categories:- delinquency, crimes committed by minors younger than the statutory age of majority, which are dealt with by the juvenile courts and justice system;
- criminal behavior, crimes dealt with by the criminal justice system;
- status offenses, offenses that are only classified as such because only a minor can commit them. One example of this is possession of alcohol by a minor. These offenses are also dealt with by the juvenile courts.
According to developmental research by Moffitt, two types of offenders emerge in adolescence. The first is an age-specific offender, referred to as the adolescence-limited offender, for whom juvenile offending or delinquency begins and ends during their period of adolescence. Moffitt argues that most teenagers tend to show some form of antisocial or delinquent behavior during adolescence; it is therefore essential to account for these behaviors in childhood to determine whether they will be adolescence-limited offenders or something more long-term. The other type of offender is the repeat offender, referred to as the life-course-persistent offender, who begins offending or showing antisocial/aggressive behavior in adolescence and continues into adulthood.
Situational factors
Most of the influencing factors for juvenile delinquency tend to be caused by a mix of both genetic and environmental factors. According to Laurence Steinberg's book Adolescence, the two most significant predictors of juvenile delinquency are parenting style and peer group association. Additional factors that may lead a teenager into juvenile delinquency include poor or low socioeconomic status, poor school readiness/performance, and/or failure and peer rejection. Delinquent activity, especially the involvement in youth gangs, may also be caused by a desire for protection against violence or financial hardship. Juvenile offenders can view delinquent activity as a means of gaining access to resources to protect against such threats. Research by Carrie Dabb indicates that even changes in the weather can increase the likelihood of children exhibiting deviant behavior.Family environment
According to research done by Laura E. Berk, the style of parenting that would be most beneficial for a child, based on studies conducted by Diana Baumrind is the authoritative child-rearing style because it combines acceptance with discipline to render healthy development for the child.As concluded in Steinberg's Adolescence, children brought up by single parents are more likely to live in poverty and engage in delinquent behavior than those who live with both parents. However, according to research done by Graham and Bowling, once the attachment a child feels towards their parent and the level of parental supervision are taken into account, children in single parent families are no more likely to offend than others. It was seen that when a child has low parental supervision they are much more likely to offend. Negative peer group association is more likely when adolescents are left unsupervised. A lack of supervision is also connected to poor relationships between children and parents. Children who are often in conflict with their parents may be less willing to discuss their activities with them. Conflict between a child's parents is also much more closely linked to offending than being raised by a lone parent.
Adolescents with siblings who have committed crimes are more likely to be influenced by their siblings and become delinquent if the sibling is older, of the same sex/gender, and maintains a good relationship with the child. Cases where a younger criminal sibling influences an older one are rare. An aggressive more hostile sibling is less likely to influence a younger sibling in the direction of delinquency, if anything, the more strained the relationship between the siblings, the less they will want to be an influence on each other.
Children resulting from unintended pregnancies are more likely to exhibit delinquent behavior. They also have lower mother-child relationship quality.
Peer influence
in childhood is also a large predictor of juvenile delinquency. This rejection can affect the child's ability to be socialized properly and often leads them to gravitate towards anti-social peer groups. Association with anti-social groups often leads to the promotion of violent, aggressive and deviant behavior. Robert Vargas's "Being in 'Bad' Company," explains that adolescents who can choose between groups of friends are less susceptible to peer influence that could lead them to commit illegal acts. Aggressive adolescents who have been rejected by peers are also more likely to have a "hostile attribution bias", which leads people to interpret the actions of others as purposefully hostile and aggressive towards them. This often leads to an impulsive and aggressive reaction.Conformity plays a significant role in the vast impact that peer group influence has on an individual. Aronson, Wilson, & Akert point to the research experiment conducted by Solomon Asch, to ascertain whether a group could influence an individual's behavior. The experiment was executed by asking a participant to determine which line in the set of 3 lines matched the length of an original line. Confederates knew the purpose of the experiment and were directed to answer the questions incorrectly during certain phases of the experiment. These confederates answered the question before the participant. The confederates answered the first few questions correctly, as did the participant. Eventually, all of the confederates started to answer incorrectly. The purpose of the experiment was to see if the group would influence the participant to answer incorrectly. Asch found that seventy-six percent of the participants conformed and answered incorrectly when influenced by the group. According to these findings, it was concluded that a peer group that is involved in deviant behavior can influence an adolescent to engage in similar activities. Once the adolescent becomes part of the group, they will be susceptible to groupthink.