Cuentas (2018) deducts that, poverty is a contributing factor towards the increased rate of juvenile delinquency in the United States. Most young people living in poverty are put under pressure to put up with lack of job opportunities, resources, education opportunities, medical services, and financial support among others (Cuentas, 2018). Minimal resources for most youths in minority communities are an obstacle towards realization of success (Cuentas, 2018). Consequently, they opt to engage in crime in order to succeed. Notably, the standards of success within the society are simply meant to favor the privileged. In often cases, the people of color form the highest percentage of individuals earning low income. Besides getting employment with many problems, the minimum wage paid can hardly sustain them. In the case of young people, they hardly secure jobs (Cuentas, 2018). Some employers prefer to hire experienced individuals and the youths end up without a job. With reduced opportunities to secure employment, the youths result in crime. They engage in drug violations, robbery, and burglary among other bad things. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, in 2016 alone, over 856,130 youths under age of 18 were arrested in the United States for various crimes (Cuentas, 2018). Most of them were arraigned in court and were jailed.
Notably, economies that are fast growing and communities in regions such as Silicon Valley and Bay Area continue to experience an increase in rents and prices of acquiring a house. Individuals trapped in poverty will continue living poor due increased rent and differences in pay due to racial inequality (Cuentas, 2018). In some communities, poor individuals are being forced out and those with money are replacing them instead. This process, which is referred to as gentrification involves forcing the poor minority persons out of their homes into homeless state (Cuentas, 2018). The minority find it hard to retain their homes, owing to the less pay they get. Such circumstances compel youths to engage in crimes to obtain money, status, and earn sense of privilege. A homeless juvenile is likely to engage in crime than one with privileges. In that sense, they stand a higher chance of getting prisons for crimes of theft and burglary (Cuentas, 2018).
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For most young people, poverty has led them to receive poor education, which has contributed into juvenile delinquency. In its context, education plays a significant role among the youths, in enlightening them to differentiate between right and wrong. In addition, it informs the youths on the results of engaging in unlawful acts (Cuentas, 2018). Individuals from low socioeconomic communities are denied such education opportunities. In contrast, for the young people coming from wealthy families, they have access to proper resources, access to higher curriculum, and they even have opportunities to advance their education. Inadequate resources and inappropriate curriculum affects youths from humble backgrounds and they find it difficult to excel in academics (Cuentas, 2018). Getting out of poverty is difficult, considering that education is the only option left for such youths. Owing to lack of education, the students are easily influenced to engage in crime. Instead of pursuing education, the youths choose a different path of crime (Cuentas, 2018). Many factors emanating from poverty continues to affect the society. Inadequate resources, lack of proper education, and dysfunctional families lead to juvenile delinquency. In overall, juvenile delinquency and poverty are correlated in the sense that, youths who live in poverty stand a chance of becoming delinquents who join crime (Cuentas, 2018). The youths end up being incarcerated for engaging in crime.
In his article that was published in the Washington Post, Ehrenfreund (2016) observes that, the recent decades have seen rich black children standing a higher chance of getting incarceration than poor white children. The study shows a trend whereby incarceration among youths is heavily influenced by race, more than the socio-economic status. One of the researchers in the study that was featured in the article observed that, ‘‘race trumps class, at least when it comes to incarceration’’ (Ehrenfreund, 2016). The researchers from Duke University decided to analyze data collected by National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a study that followed young individuals into middle age and adulthood. The participants were mostly asked about their debts, type of residence, assets, and the possibility of having been to prison. The researchers put the participants into groups depicting their household wealth and race from 1985 (Ehrenfreund, 2016). They then looked through the data to identify the number of individuals in each group that faced imprisonment. Surprisingly, the study revealed that, white individuals whose wealth was negative, with more debts than assets stood a lesser chance of being imprisoned than the more affluent blacks (Ehrenfreund, 2016). Apart from the wealthiest blacks that were lucky to avoid imprisonment, the relatively rich blacks would end up being imprisoned. The participants of the Hispanic origin with less wealth in 1985, stood a higher chance of getting incarceration than their white counterparts with same wealth, but they were less likely than African Americans (Ehrenfreund, 2016).
Dolan & Carr (2015) observe that, the tendencies of criminalizing poverty often begin early in the lives of poor families. The two authors concur that, poor Latino and black school going children are often subjected to harsh disciplinary methods that end up placing them into a track of the criminal justice system. Across the United States, there is growing trends of armed officers apprehending juveniles at schools for minor misbehavior and infractions. One complainant from Louisiana complained to the US Justice Department on the unlimited authority displayed by armed officers of arresting, frisking, and detaining schoolchildren (Dolan & Carr, 2015). In often cases, even after they are done with school, the youths are associated with criminal activities, and chances are that, at some point, they are incarcerated (Dolan & Carr, 2015).
In its context, socio-economic status has always been applicable in explaining the delinquent behaviors among the juvenile group. In the study by Shong, Abu Bakar & Islam (2018), literature indicates that, poverty and low socio-economic status among children are strong risk factors associated with delinquency, crime, and substance abuse. It is difficult to deny that limited financial resources contribute towards illegal means of survival. Continuous economic hardships lead to material, emotional and spiritual deprivation, and they end up exacerbating antisocial tendencies among children (Shong, Abu Bakar & Islam, 2018). According to the three authors, there are dire repercussions in the statement that, the rich get richer, as the poor end up in prison. Undeniably, whenever a child is born in a poor family, chances of having a bleak future are very high. As they start to struggle for existence, they end up becoming victims of fate and circumstances. In the end, the children end up committing crimes and incarceration becomes evident (Shong, Abu Bakar & Islam, 2018).
According to Shong, Abu Bakar & Islam (2018), Strain Theory lays emphasis that, children suffering from lower socio-economic status tend to be influenced towards delinquency. The theory explains clearly, the correlation between delinquency and poverty. Merton, the man who came up with the theory observes that, the US society emphasizes on need for success, but it does not spell out socially approved way of attaining it (Shong, Abu Bakar & Islam, 2018). The American value is mainly focused on realizing success at any cost, without minding whether appropriate means have been employed. In that sense, the less privileged do not seem to differentiate between living ‘American Dream’ and achieving ‘American Dream’. Merton’s Strain Theory is not solely limited to the American society; rather, it strives to explain criminal behaviors and poverty across the globe (Shong, Abu Bakar & Islam, 2018). Factually, lower-class individuals are in most cases drawn towards delinquent behaviors by the various life circumstances they cannot escape. Indeed, lower class youths find it difficult to attain success than their advantaged counterparts. Whenever they wish to live according to societal expectations, crime becomes the only available solution (Shong, Abu Bakar & Islam, 2018).
In conclusion, there exists strong correlation between delinquency behaviors among youths, and eventual incarceration and poverty. In the United States, most young people from poor backgrounds end up engaging in criminal activities in order to fend for themselves and keep up with the societal expectations, they engage in criminal activities. Surprisingly, in American society where the blacks are associated with poverty, chances are that, the wealthy black is likely to be incarcerated, than the poor white. As the literature review reveals, poverty is the major cause of crime in the society, and abuse of substance among the youths. Delinquent behaviors among the youths serve as the major obstacle for success, as getting good education becomes impossible, and considering education is the path towards success, young people opts to engage in criminal activities, and eventually they are incarcerated.
References
Cuentas, A. (2018). Poverty: Key Factors Contributing to High Juvenile Delinquency Rates. Retrieved from <https://medium.com/soci100wsp18/poverty-key-factors-contributing- to-high-juvenile-delinquency-rates-31f9aebc44e8>
Dolan, K. & Carr, J. L. (2015). The Poor Get Prison. The alarming spread of the criminalization of poverty. Retrieved from <https://ips-dc.org/wp- content/uploads/2015/03/IPS-The-Poor-Get-Prison-Final.pdf>
Ehrenfreund, M. (2016). Poor white kids are less likely to go to prison than rich black kids. Retrieved from <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/23/poor- white-kids-are-less-likely-to-go-to-prison-than-rich-black- kids/?utm_term=.0848420dc490>
Shong, T. S., Abu Bakar, S. H., & Islam, M. R. (2018). Poverty and delinquency: A qualitative study on selected juvenile offenders in Malaysia. International Social Work 1–15 Retrieved from <https://umexpert.um.edu.my/file/publication/00001067_159935_71502.pdf>
