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For the last three decades, there has been increasing concern regarding criminal acts committed by young persons. This criminal system has been seen as ineffective since it impacts the way young individuals perceive the system making them to engage in crime activities because they view the authorities as not doing anything to assist them tackle life. News accounts of grave crimes performed by children, as well as adolescents and criminologists’ cautions of an impending storm of violent juveniles, have promoted the conviction that young persons are increasingly becoming violent and unmanageable. Many are more concerned about the juvenile justice system that has been inadequate in addressing crime among young offenders (Bouchard, Wang & Beauregard, 2012). Young offending or juvenile delinquency has attracted huge attention from theorists attempting to explain the causes, demographics and the nature of crimes among young offenders. Some theorists have linked juvenile offending to factors, like race, poverty, gender, and socioeconomic status. Peer group influence has too offered a huge surface area for juvenile offending to thrive (Liqun, Ruohui, Ling, & Zhao, 2009)). The paper will critically examine the theories of young offending to investigate the nature, demographics and the potential for community/youth protection.
The word young offending or juvenile delinquency has been a debatable issue between criminologists, sociologists, and psychologists. Many individuals have contrasting plus concurring views have explained theories on young offending utilizing diverse arguments that range from classical to contemporary theories. Several philosophers have developed diverse explanations seeking to investigate these tendencies in juvenile crime. There are different social-based theories, which describe young offending together in traditional and contemporary or advanced viewpoint. These theories will comprise strain theory, feminist theory, and social disorganization theory, sub-cultural and family influence theories (Krohn & Ward, 2015).
The strain theory was developed by Robert Merton during the 1940s. Strain theory is as well called the social class or Mertonian Anomie theory. This theory elucidates that juvenile offending happens since young people do not have adequate resources that will make themselves happy. Their needs are not attained within the legal means; therefore, these young persons will explore unlawful means to achieve their goals. Thus, the society has witnessed an enormous drop from educational institutions by the susceptible youths with several mentioning this is a way to allow them to attain what was anticipated of them by the society, employing substitute techniques via criminal acts (Maimon & Browning, 2010).
The strain theory stresses that the majority of the young persons have the same values, goals, and aspirations; however, several juveniles do not have the same capacity to accomplish these goals, like an economic or social achievement. The variation amid what individuals need plus their restricted prospects to attain them will fashion dissatisfaction. Since opportunities are more open to upper and middle-class persons, those in lower socioeconomic class experiences the frustration the most resulting in different delinquent behaviors through general strain theory (Kim, Akers, & Yun, 2013). Strain as the demonstration of pessimistic stimuli, like child abuse, as well as neglect, physical reprimand, family along with peer disagreement, traumatic life situations along with criminal victimization resulting in young offending (McNeeley, 2014).
Social disorganization theory was created by Clifford and Mckay Henry, which is intimately related to the juvenile crime to social disorganization of the community dictated by the environmental elements that surround the society. Social disorganization is the incapability of the specific society to organize itself in a more communally suitable way, which perpetuates unity and the universal wellbeing of the society due to environmental modifications. The theory explains that the social disorganization will result in new social classifications in the society with low-income populations findings in one neighbourhood and vice versa (Maimon & Browning, 2010). These people normally show a greater populace turnover resulting in overcrowding and ultimately resulting in deprivation of their economic empowerment.
Additionally, higher populace heterogeneity makes it complex for these societies to unite plus develop informal social organizations. This will imply that there is the lack of homogeny in the society, which dictates that a homogenous society that may communally embrace good ethical norms remain deceptive. The youthful adults in this status would normally indulge in crimes so easily because the socioeconomic standing does not stop the youths to indulge in crimes. In addition, the peer influence is the primary vector, which spreads such unwanted behaviours amongst the adolescents living in these neighbourhoods since individuals of the similar age interact, as well as learn from one another quicker and more easily made to suppose their peers more simply again increasing juvenile criminal behaviour (Higgins, Jennings, Marcum, Ricketts & Mahoney, 2011).
The subculture theory is founded from the reality that contemporary societies have shown a culture of division in which discrete groups of individuals have disjointed from the society and developed own values. These disparity associations in the society have created a culture of learning antisocial behaviours, which are apparently described by criminal researches as a crime. Researches have demonstrated that the most susceptible cluster is the youth who primarily find it hard to cope with the customary ways of livelihood. This will result in the formation of cults that develop their own ways of living plus governance. These crimes have been reported in many societies in Australia among the Aboriginals because of the socioeconomic status. Because of the youth are the most influenced, juvenile crime have amplified in places in which the behaviour is left to thrive and young persons learn crime more easily (Kim et al., 2013).
This is one of the modern theories on juvenile offending that has been recognized by many researchers. Many theorists believe that this theory is more probable to impact the manner the parents raise them either negatively or positively relying on the current family values that the family practices. Family influence has been found to have negative trends with studies demonstrating that family influence is more powerful than peer group influence. The youth with modern family establishments, like single parents along with reconstituted families commit more juvenile crimes as compared to young children do from traditional households. Since a child from customary family benefit from close family association with both patents who become mentors, as well as role models. This is founded on the fact that parents can to commit more energy plus time to their kids that will influence positively their behaviours (Hoeve et al., 2012).
On the other side, the modern households fail to offer the same, where the children in these households are more possible to commit crime at the young age when they will seek to make up that they do not have. The contemporary society is facing a rapid increase in non-customary family establishments with several individuals choosing single parenthood, particularly females to evade family commitments, which develop with one being a spouse. Thus, just as excellent parenting can have a positive impact on raising honourably upright children, the contrary leads to the poor nurtured youngster, who is more prone to dropping out of school and engage in crime (Akers, 2009).
The criminal justice system has been blamed for the growing numbers of young offenders that continue to increase. The criminal justice system is expected to reduce the number of young people committing crimes, but this has not been the case in Australia as the number of young offenders continues to receive large number of criminals. Young people perceive the criminal system as against their aspirations and they tend to engage in crimes. In addition, the system has been observed to undermine the rights of the Aboriginals and other minorities in Australia. The justice system has been found to jail more young Aboriginals on flimsy grounds. The system has linked the Aboriginals with criminal activities and will jail them whenever they are presented in court. These crimes have been reported in many societies in Australia among the Aboriginals because of the socioeconomic status. Because of the youth are the most influenced, juvenile crime have amplified in places in which the behaviour is left to thrive and young persons learn crime more easily.
Juvenile offending may be easily addressed when intercepted at its point of origin. Young people are involved in crimes are influenced by socioeconomic status and family influence. Perceptions cultivated amongst diverse groups of individuals are more detrimental to minorities, especially the Aboriginals in Australia when they are negative. Family influence is a modern theory that has been accepted by main theorists because it is believed that it is the main cause of young offending because of the nature of families in the societies that influence the manner the children are raised (Maimon & Browning, 2010). The environment, especially low socioeconomic status is likely to commit crime because of poverty that makes them to commit crimes to make ends meet. Therefore, the government should address juvenile offending by targeting programs to address the root cause of the problem rather than symptoms.
Akers, R. L. (2009). Social learning and social structure: A general theory of crime and deviance. New Brunswick [N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
Botchkovar, E., Marshall, I. H., Rocque, M., & Posick, C. (2015). The Importance of Parenting in the Development of Self-Control in Boys and Girls: Results from a Multinational Study of Youth. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(2), 133-141.
Bouchard, M., Wang, W., & Beauregard, E. (2012). Social Capital, Opportunity, and SchoolBased Victimization. Violence and Victims, 27(5), 656-673.
Higgins, G. E., Jennings, W. G., Marcum, C. D., Ricketts, M. L., & Mahoney, M. (2011). Developmental trajectories of nonsocial reinforcement and offending in adolescence and young adulthood: An exploratory study of an understudied part of social learning theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39(1), 60-66.
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Kim, E., Akers, R. L., & Yun, M. (2013). A Cross-Cultural Test of Social Structure and Social Learning: Alcohol Use among South Korean Adolescents. Deviant Behavior, 34(11), 895-915.
Krohn, M., & Ward, J. T. (2015). Integrating Criminological Theories. In the Handbook of Criminological Theory (pp. 318-335). John Wiley & Sons.
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Maimon, D., & Browning, C. R. (2010). Unstructured socializing, collective efficacy, and violent behavior among urban youth. Criminology, 48(2), 443-474.
McNeeley, S. (2014). Lifestyle-Routine Activities and Crime Events. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 31(1), 30-52.
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