Personal Application

Crimes committed among youth are major issues and receive a large amount of attention from the news media as well as politicians. In the past few years, there has been an increase of juvenile offenses. The theories on the causes of youth crime are particularly important within criminology. Juvenile delinquency refers to antisocial behavior by children or adolescents. A juvenile delinquent is one who repeatedly commits crime. These juvenile delinquents some time have mental disorders/behavioral issues such as posttraumatic disorder or bipolar disorder, and are sometimes diagnosed with conduct disorder partially as a result of their delinquent behaviors (Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, 2011). Delinquent behavior is most common in the 14 to 15- year- old age group, usually involving minor theft. By the age of 16 or 17, the acts may become more violent and dangerous, including assaults with the use of a weapon.

For the sake of discussion, lets say that you are the parent of 16-year-old boy. You have just come home and much to your surprise, the door is open. Once inside you discover that your son's friend is in your kitchen looking through the drawers. You ask him what he is doing, and he replies, "I am leaving Jacob a note." While you are talking to this child you notice that he has a lock pick, and some of your jewelry. As you move closer, you notice a faint smell of marijuana so you immediately ask the boy to leave your home. Now you are stuck in a dilemma of what to do next. Do you call the police? Do you call the boy's parents? And most importantly do you tell your son?

Without a doubt, there has been a crime committed within this scenario. First of all, the boy obviously picked the lock to get in since no one was home. Second, he has my expensive jewelry on the counter next to him, which means he has been in my home long enough to gather my jewelry from my room from inside my jewelry box. Third, he is still rummaging through my kitchen drawers in my home when I come home and catch him. And last but not least, he smells of marijuana, and he is only 16 years old. All signs indicate that I have walked into the middle of a burglary in progress. In my opinion, this crime is serious enough that the police need to be notified, and they can notify the boy's parents once the report has been filed. He is obviously on a path of destruction and definitely needs help. Next I will have a talk with my son because I have many questions about their friendship. I am wondering how close he is with this friend I just caught in the middle of a criminal act. I will ask my son if he knows that his friend is dangerous and that he could possibly be using dangerous drugs, as well as committing burglaries. I will learn a lot by watching my son's reactions to our conversation, and I will warn my son of the dangers of being friends with someone that could possibly influence him to commit delinquent acts. If I learned that my son was aware and or involved with his friend's delinquent acts, then I would punish my son in an effort to deter him from these types of activities.

After I spoke with my son, I learned a lot about his friend. His friend comes from a lower class family, and his father is in prison for drugs, serving a ten-year sentence. His mother was on drugs, which forced Jacob to take care of himself. It was at this time that I began to understand what this child was up against. It appeared that he had not been in any trouble prior to this incident. Although this young child was in dire need of help, he has become a criminal and has made my family one of his victims. Ignoring this behavior without Jacob facing the consequences of his actions, could give him permission to continue with this behavioral pattern, resulting in him committing far more dangerous offenses. If we just take kids who commit juvenile offenses and simply slap them on their wrists and send them home, have they really learned anything? Have we really helped them?

There have been many debates on how to handle juveniles. It is a popular belief that it is more cost effective to provide intervention programs, rather than just lock them up for life. However, It is impossible to deal with or prevent juvenile delinquency without a thorough understanding of what causes it. There have been many theories ranging from biological to environmental factors. The biological factors have all been discussed as reasons why juveniles commit crimes. Current theories seem to suggest that one factor is not the reason for the crimes, but a culmination of factors that play together throughout their childhood. The culmination of factors is biological, cultural, psychological, and economics.

Children learn how to behave from their family and all other environmental surroundings. During childhood, parents are the pillars of influence for their children. This is the