Issue of Teenage Delinquency - Essay Example

Teenage Delinquency Introduction Teenage delinquency also refers to juvenile delinquency. Its definition is broad but in this context, it is the committing of illegal acts or offences by minors. Usually these acts are preceded by anti-social behaviour portrayed the offenders. Examples of common juvenile delinquencies in our society today are drug abuse, robbery among other offences. This paper will attempt to describe how teenage delinquency comes about and how we can develop and apply a solution theory to curb the issue that has marred development on our society. Sociologists attempt to explain delinquency in three theories. Siegel & Welsh (2010) cite first is the psychological theory that attributes anti-social behaviour in delinquents to personality flaws. When such children are faced with such a conflict, they will try to resolve it in a violent way. To look at the ways of addressing such problems this work will look at various theories projected to solve the unknown. Psychologists believe their subconscious to be weak such that they cannot sufficiently control their primitive urges resulting in aberrant behaviour. This is a complicated theory as it delves deeper into human psyche. The second theory that attempts to explain teenage delinquency is the biological theory. Ceasar Lombrosso (2009) in ‘50 Key Thinkers says that teens who are predisposed to committing crimes have certain facial features such as flattened nose and supernumerary teeth. This comes down to inheriting biochemical and genetic factors from their parents. Siegel and Welsh (2012) credit poor child behaviour to unfavourable upbringing environment. Nevertheless, a person’s genes are the ones that influence how they react to their environment after all. The final theory is the social theory, which is a broad term because sociologists have further divided into other descriptive theories. As this is not a paper on causes of deviant behaviour, I will not go into the details of the classifications of the social theory. However, according to Champion (2004), social factors that cause delinquent behavior include levels of violence in a community, crime rate, levels of school dropouts and community relations among other things. Parenting skills is also a social issue that influences anti-social behavior. The bursting number of juvenile offenders in the youth justice courts also reflects high level of delinquency. Social issues appear to play the major role in contributing to this horrifyingly rising number. Dysfunctional families produced a high number of frequent youth offenders according to a study done in England. The rate of juvenile delinquency is also observed to be directly proportional to the rate of school dropouts. TV, films and the social media are another delinquent behavior trigger that has contributed to this great number. When looking at dysfunctional families, behaviorists commonly agree that children from such families tend to have behavioral issues. For example, children from a divorced parent’s family usually have anger issues, which can lead to violent behavior. Children that are from single parent families where the parent is constantly working to provide for them lack guidance and therefore result in anti-social tendencies. Lacking a father figure to provide guidance forces the male youth to turn to their counterparts for guidance who may very well mislead them. In an effort to curb youth delinquency, the British government enforced a law that made elementary schools compulsory in 1870 (Ellwood 1912). This is because teachers can shape the mind of an individual from that early age. Policy-makers have also structured the school system in such a way that a child is always engaged in beneficial activities such as sports, music and art. This gives a child less time to concentrate on delinquent behavior. It is therefore clear how school is important in dealing with delinquency. It gives explanation why the high number of youth offender are school dropouts. Influences from the social media, the general media and films has also greatly contributed to an increase in young offenders. Violent films are especially responsible as a child’s mind is molded to accept violent behavior as a means of resolving conflict. Social media sites have a wide range of characters some of whom prey on young minds because they are impressionable. This is how they are influenced to commit some heinous crimes without even the parents’ knowledge. Problem solving In view of all these concerns, it is evident that we need to develop a lasting solution. In this section, a discussion of various problem-solving techniques will be addressed. History according to Hardin (2002), shows that there approaches to the theories of problem solving. In her work she proposes that the theories are within the concepts of behaviorism, cognitive psychology and information processing. I shall discuss these concepts and the principles behind them individually then proceed to explain which one will best fit to solve the above issue. Finally, I will use the selected technique to provide solutions to the aforementioned issue. Hardin (2002) reckons behaviorists solve problems through a trial and error basis. In this technique, if a certain behavior is met with positivity, then it is almost certain to be repeated. On the other hand, if situations or people respond to it negatively, then it is less likely to reoccur. Cognitive psychologists’ view is that problem-solving requires a thorough mental process. They start by defining the issue and collecting relevant data about the problem. They then lay out a well thought out plan to solve the problem. They proceed to execute the plan. Eventually, they take a retrospective at the issue and whether their plan has met the objectives of carrying it out. Also according to Hardin (2002), information processing requires research into the nature of cognitive processes. These include memory capacity, organization of long term memory and the retrieval of stored information. Basically, it uses an automated set of functions to solve problems. In human capacity, it suggests that the success of solving a problem was linked to the set of cognitive skills an individual possessed. Therefore, in solving the problem of juvenile delinquency, the cognitive psychologists approach seems to be the most suitable. This is because the behaviorists’ approach is uncertain and will be cumbersome to execute. Information processing on the onset is also a good approach. However, we are bound to human error and the number of people required to solve such a wide issue cannot all have the same skill set in solving problems. In this context, the root cause of the problem is actually unknown for there are many causes. Therefore, we need to first identify components of the problem. We start with the given facts for instance teenage delinquency has gone up in urban areas. Another fact is that teens from dysfunctional families exhibit deviant behavior. Similarly, most adolescent offenders are school dropouts. This is all according to the data mentioned earlier. The next section looks at the goals of generating a problem solving technique to curb teenage delinquency. As discussed earlier the number of youth offenders has gone up. An objective we can draw from this is to reduce the number of youth in the juvenile system not by failing to hold responsible those found to be guilty, but by putting in place programs that will help youth engage in beneficial activities other than deviant behavior. On the issue of dysfunctional families, the aim would be to allow external interference to help solve family issues. School dropout rate is high thus reflecting on high rate of juvenile behavior. Our goal can be to ensure more supervision in school so as spot the likely causes of teenage dropout and curtail the cause from taking more root. One the given facts and the objectives of the end of state of the issue have been identified, we need to put in place strategies that help us achieve our desired goals. For example, in dealing with teenagers from dysfunctional families, the state can play a role here by ensuring that schools have counselors and trained therapists who can provide guidance to such children discreetly. When it comes to the issue of high school dropouts, school administrators ought to urge the teachers to be more vigilant in recognizing teens exhibiting any anti-social behavior and have proper channels for reporting or dealing with it. In dealing with the rising number of youth in the juvenile system, the state ought to devise rehabilitative activities that involve the youth undergoing psychoanalysis and counseling. They could also involve reformed adults who were once juvenile delinquents to interact with them because the delinquents have a higher chance of being more receptive to people they can relate to. Conclusion To conclude, there is a wide range of reasons why our youth develop deviant behavior. It may be psychological, biological although this theory does not hold much water or social factors. The statistics show that there is a need to address the issue before it escalates further. There are a number of solutions offered in this paper that we can apply on a trial-and-error basis because we stand to gain a lot as a society if it works. The state, parents, schools and the society have a major role to play in curbing this menace. Bibliography Champion, D.J. 2004, The juvenile justice system: Delinquency, processing, and the law. 4th Ed. Pearson Prentice Hall Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Ellwood, C. A., 1912 "Lombrosos Theory of Crime." Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and 2.5 716-723. JSTOR. Web. 27 Nov. 2014. Hardin L., 2002, Problem Solving Concepts and Theories: Journal of veterinary Medicine, 30, 3, October, 227-240, Mississipi. Romero, F., 2009, Longitudinal distribution of homicide in the city of San Antonio, TX: Trends, patterns Siegel L. J, & Welsh B. C., 2012,Juvenile delinquency: Theory, practice, and law, 12th Ed., Cengage Learning, Lowell, MA. Siegel L. J, & Welsh B. C., 2010,Juvenile delinquency: The core, 5th Ed. Cengage Learning, Lowell, MA. Read More