Abstract
Reason of juvenile delinquency is not one single reason, but a bunch of reasons. There can be reasons like childhood trauma, exposure to violence, lack of education, dysfunctional family, peer pressure, online gaming culture and others. It can also include the type of environment in which the child grows up. It can also accrue from poverty as well. This needs to be corrected at a young age.
In this paper, it has been discussed in detail the underlying reasons for delinquent activities and how does past experiences mould the future behaviour on an individual. There can be lasting impact of various socioeconomic situations that results in delinquent activities in children.
Keywords: Juveline Delinquency, digital-media, peer-pressure, poverty.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Children have impressionable minds and are a reflection of their surroundings and the actions of adults they are in contact with. This means that they learn, entrench, and absorb their values, behaviors, and social norms through their surroundings, and this, in practice, greatly contributes to their development. Therefore, when children are exposed to violence, neglect, or poor role models, this easily twists their thinking and contributes to the creation of bad or delinquent behavior. Vulnerability to this means that active intervention and proper guidance at a tender age are pertinent in preventing juvenile delinquency.
According to Webster dictionary the term juvenile delinquency means, “conduct by a juvenile characterized by antisocial behavior that is beyond parental control and therefore subject to legal action”[1]; “ a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment.”[2]
Whereas Oxford Dictionary defines it as, “the problem of young people who are not yet adults committing crime.”[3]
So, juvenile delinquency is the problem whereby minors are involved in crimes. This is an underlying issue in the society whereby young people are involved in crimes like stealing, damaging properties and others. Nonetheless, they are sometimes involved in heinous crimes like rape, murder, kidnapping, causing grievous hurt and lot more.
This is a grave issue and has been increasing day by day. Therefore, we need to curb these instances. However, in order to curb such instances, we need to understand the underlying reasons behind the commission of such a crime.
- Banham Bridges, in his work Factors Contributing to Juvenile Delinquency, has discussed the issue of Juvenile delinquency and the underlying issues. He says that there are multiple reasons contributing to juvenile delinquency. He classified them into six groups as:
- Physical factors;
- Mental factors;
- Home conditions;
- School conditions;
- Neighbourhood conditions; and
- Occupational conditions. [4]
Apart from these factors there are other reasons for the commission of such crimes. Gang involvement or Peer pressure, social media culture, online gaming culture, improper rehabilitation in the juvenile system and others.
The psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud has tried to give the explain the issue of juvenile delinquency. In this theory he has tried to explain how unresolved conflict during childhood and unconscious drives could be one’s source of behavior. In his model, he said Id in urging immediate gratification is driven by instinctive desires; however, the Superego constraints by being moral. If the Ego, this internal mediator between these forces is weakened or improperly developedmost of the time due to childhood traumas, neglect, or incompetent parentingjuveniles are then driven to act on their impulses to be aggressive or antisocial.
Hence, in this research paper, the factors contributing to juvenile delinquency and at the same time solutions to the same.
[1] Merriam Webster, Juvenile Delinquency, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juvenile%20delinquency#:~:text=Legal%20Definition-,juvenile%20delinquency,is%20subject%20to%20legal%20action, last visited September 16, 2024.
[2]Ibid.
[3]Oxford dictionary, Juvenile Delinquency, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/juvenile-delinquency#:~:text=%2F%CB%8Cd%CA%92u%CB%90v%C9%99nl%20d%C9%AA%CB%88l%C9%AA%C5%8Bkw%C9%99nsi%2F,Topics%20Crime%20and%20punishmentc2, last visited September 16, 2024.
[4]K. M. Banham Bridges. “Factors Contributing to Juvenile Delinquency.” Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 17, no. 4, 1927, pp. 531–80. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1134348, last visited September 16, 2024.