Juveniles are at an extremely delicate stage in life where they require constant guidance to avert them from delinquent, violent behaviors. They are factors which are external non-biological influences that contribute to delinquency among teens ( Sykes & Matza, 2017). These determinant factors of the development of juvenile delinquency have largely to deal with the environment they find themselves in and what they interact with. Some external factors that promote poor decision-making increasing the likelihood of juvenile crime, include child poverty, violent neighbourhood, and poor school environs. This document explains the external factors that play a part in the decision and outcome of juvenile delinquency.
External Factors Affecting Juveniles
The socioeconomic factors may be a factor that causes juvenile delinquency. Poverty has predominately been associated with increased crime rates, even in teens. Children born in poverty or poor neighborhoods have a higher risk of resorting to criminal activities ( Hirschi, 2017). The fact they may lack essentials may lead them to a crime path for sustenance. Also, you might find that these children are neglected as their parents may be alcoholics and drug addicts which leave the children to fend for themselves.
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The other external factor that can lead to a juvenile felony is the violent neighbourhood surroundings, which may include slums or a congested community ( Pyle, Flower, Williams & Fall, 2019 ). Usually, when the teens are left unsupervised, they can resort to things like drugs, sex, and using guns. Living is such a compromising environment tends to explore the life of the youths on the negative side. In these kinds of neighbourhoods, the youngsters witness lawlessness, which in the end they wind up exhibiting violent behavior. Also, in such an environment, it becomes a norm that if individuals do not join the gang, then they are considered as an outcast. The level of peer pressure mounts up, leading to making poor choices, which eventually stimulates unlawful activities. As much as in this scenario, parents are to be blamed for their teens' misconduct, and the juveniles also are not exempted entirely or rendered blameless for the choices they make as some may do it consciously and knowingly.
Lastly, the poor school environment is also an external issue to consider in juvenile lawbreaking. Yearly, adolescents spent almost 70% of their lives in school, where they can socialize and interact with other age-mates ( McCord & Conway, 2018 ) . With poor educational standards, the school setting may be a spot for immoral behaviors such as sex, fighting, bullying and drugs. School also makes it easier to recruit teens into a group of bad influences with delinquent behaviors ( Sykes & Matza, 2017) . Lack of supervision from teachers and parents may also create great havoc as teens capitalize on this weakness to engage in immoral acts. Therefore, adults have an active role to play in monitoring the juveniles school performance as they closely follow on their behavior. Notably, the school factor being an inevitable aspect, the government, parents alongside the community should make the school setting a conducive environment for learning.
In summary, negative social aspects that may lead to juveniles' delinquency can break one’s youth. For guidance, such individuals should depend on their guardians or parents to make informed choices. The pressure to fit in mostly makes adolescence commit crimes to fit in a social circle. Crime should be deterred by all means possible when children start to exhibit signs of deviant behaviors, parents/guardians and the community at large should find the root cause of such acts and stop it even before it starts. When such behavior persists, the chances are that these individuals are bound to develop into adult criminals.
References
Hirschi, T. (2017). Causes and prevention of juvenile delinquency. In The Craft of Criminology (pp. 105-120). Routledge.
McCord, J., & Conway, K. P. (2018). Patterns of juvenile delinquency and co-offending. In Crime and social organization (pp. 33-48). Routledge.
Pyle, N., Flower, A., Williams, J., & Fall, A. M. (2019). Social Risk Factors of Institutionalized Juvenile Offenders: A Systematic Review. Adolescent Research Review , 1-14.
Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (2017). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. In Delinquency and Drift Revisited, Volume 21 (pp. 33-41). Routledge.
