The developmental theory gives a systematic way or explanation of how human beings develop and change with time. According to the theory, the change is attributed to individual characteristics, and the social environment one is growing in. Therefore, one is more likely to turn out like the people surrounding him or her. Kids while growing up get to learn so much from the external environment and the experiences they go through. Gang involvement of the youth is a common phenomenon currently. Many teens are out there causing trouble in society and involving themselves in criminal activities (Farrington, 2017). A good number of gangsters have a history of either growing in an insecure area prone to gangsters or being in juvenile. This is because of the social environment.
Juveniles are susceptible to joining gangs because of social influence while behind bars. According to research done, one of the significant risk factors of gang involvement is negative influence from peers and experience. Once an individual is put behind bars, they go through a lot and get to learn a lot from their peers in there. First, people are arrested and cages in juveniles because of various reasons. Some might be minor while others have a significant magnitude. In juveniles, they share and get to learn from one another. Some will learn good things while others get negative influence; get to know better illegal tactics.
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Additionally, the social environment in juveniles is harsh. Naïve children will interact with bullies and get bullied every day. Some of them make life very difficult for others. Therefore, one has to adopt or develop a defense mechanism to protect themselves. This changes their character and some things no longer look like crimes to them. Therefore, as much as juveniles are intended to make criminals change, they significantly contribute to behavior change through negative influence.
References
Farrington, D. P. (2017). A general age-graded theory of crime: Lessons learned and the future
of life-course criminology. In Integrated developmental and life-course theories of offending (pp. 175-192). Routledge.
