CMRJ 206/1002 Fall 2014
Juvenile Delinquency : Assignment # 1
Prevalence of Delinquency Among Adolsecents
" OUR YOUTH LOVE LUXURY.THEY HAVE BAD MANNERS.CONTEMPT FORT AUTHORITY AND DISRESPECT FOR THEIR ELDERS. CHILDREN NOWADAYS ARE "TYRANTS". ( Socrates,470-399 B.C. ) " I'M convinced that increasing rates of delinquency are due to parents who are either too careless or too busy wh=ith their own lives and pleasures to give sufficent time, compaionship, and interest to their childeren".( J.Edgar Hoover,NY Times 1947 )
Adolescents are commonly viewed as both a source of hope--"the leaders of tomorrow" and a threat. The majority of US adolescents ehgage in some form of delinquent behavior,but most avoid arrest.formal charges or incarceration. Delin uent behavior tends to increase gradually through adolescence until 16 or 17 when apeaked is reached. Among those who enter the Juvenile Justice System,most never return to it ( OJJDP,1999). An the onsets and peaks vary for different delinquent acts and between boys and girls/ Delinquent acts tend to decrease as the youth's enter late adolescence and early adulthood. Unfortunately there isnt much research on why adolescents "Grow Out" of a deliquency stage,many feel that it is because many begin working a job full time , get married and begin to raise a family. (Terrie Moffitt ,1993) suggests that about 5 % of the youth's( mostly male ) continue to engage in illegal activities past adolescence. Multiple influences contribute to delinquent behavior in adolescence,including genetic and biological factors,mental and personality attributes and socioeconomic and cultural environments. genetic factors exert strong influence on aggression and antisoical behaviors and delinquency ( Steinberg & Morris 2001 ). for