What is the difference between delinquency prevention and delinquency control?
As per the social learning theory, people’s character and behavior are products of the information they are continually subjected to. An individual is therefore born neither good nor evil but has the equal ability to be either of the two. This means that behavior and character can be corrected with proper intervention. In delinquency there are two primary interventions; delinquency control and delinquency prevention. Though they all seek to discourage delinquency, there is a clear difference between the two with the delinquency control being a more punitive approach to dealing with delinquency. This entails any policy or program that believes in justice and thus uses a punitive measure to discourage future crime (Bartollas & Schmalleger, 2014). Delinquency prevention uses of non-justice and punitive approaches to discourage future crime and does not involve the juvenile justice system.
Elements in Contemporary American Culture Fostering Drug Use
The media plays a key role in shaping the character and behavior of the youth as it is the leading source of information for them and thus the information media broadcasts plays an integral part in shaping the society and particularly the children. The US media has so much freedom and leeway of content with violence and unlawful behavior being popularized through the media and programs they broadcast. Drug use and abuse are being heavily propagated in the media by musicians and actors. Secondly, the society’s lenience is another key factor in the prevalence of drug use and abuse (Anderson, Suzuki, Swing, Groves, Gentile, Prot & Jelic, 2017). Thirdly, the connectivity and the anonymity of the internet have made it hard to combat drug use. The ease of access that the internet provides makes drug sale and purchase easier.
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Social Disorganization as a Rationale for Drug Use
Despite the notion that there is equality, there isn’t really as is evident through social classification and grading systems. These systems and classes make the very fabric of society. It is believed that particular classes are synonymous with certain things. For example, an upper-class man is associated with proper manner, intelligence, and wealth whereas one from the other end is often associated with unsavory deeds. According to Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, the cultural and structural factors one is subjected are direct determinants of the crime rates. As per the social disorganization theory, the people in lower social classes and those in poverty are bound to turn to drug abuse and use as a means of escape and for dealing with depression (Warner & Sampson, 2015).
References
Anderson, C. A., Suzuki, K., Swing, E. L., Groves, C. L., Gentile, D. A., Prot, S., ... & Jelic, M.
(2017). Media violence and other aggression risk factors in seven nations. Personality and social psychology bulletin , 43 (7), 986-998.
Bartollas, C. L., & Schmalleger, F. J. (2014). Juvenile delinquency . Prentice Hall.
Warner, B. D., & Sampson, R. J. (2015). Social Disorganization, Collective Efficacy, and
Macro-Level Theories of Social Control. Challenging Criminological Theory: The Legacy of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser, edited by FT Cullen, P. Wilcox, RJ Sampson, and BD Dooley. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers , 215-234.
