There is no use denying the fact that throughout all the history of humanity youth was the main force that guaranteed its further development and promoted the appearance of new features which helped society to evolve and adapt to a new environment. Additionally, very often youth is the first to respond to some challenges which society can face. That is why its development is the main factor in the prosperity of any society. However, nowadays, more and more young people become involved in crime. This threatening tendency results in an increase in the level of juvenile delinquency in the whole country. Some sociologists describe the situation as catastrophic (“Chapter 7. Juvenile Delinquency” 190). For this reason, it becomes obvious that some measures should be taken to prevent juvenile delinquency in the USA.
First of all, it should be said that the issue of juvenile delinquency has always been actual for society. However, its state was not so complicated as nowadays (Bush 23). Incoherent society, under this term combination of tendencies and processes, which lead to an increase of the level of crimes committed by a certain group of people, is meant. Children aged from 7 to 14 years are usually related to this very group (“Juvenile Delinquency”. para. 5). Due to this fact, it is possible to describe the existing problem as the increase in the number of crimes that children commit. It is a very important phenomenon that has a pernicious influence on society.
To find possible solutions to the issue it is necessary to analyze the main factors which lead to an increase in the number of crimes committed by youth. It should be said that nowadays, traditional reasons are combined with the new ones and this combination turns out to be very dangerous. Among traditional reasons, it is possible to outline poor conditions of living under which children exist. It has already been stated that environment has a great influence on the personality of a child and, that is why, being surrounded by people who often break the law, children have no other choice but to follow this example (Dowd 46). Additionally, poverty also makes a child break the law. Indeed, conditions in the family and relations between parents are also important. Nevertheless, the traditional influence of these factors is aggravated by new ones. There is hardly a person who has no access to a computer and the Internet in the modern world. Being very important tools, these issues, however, can have a pernicious influence on the personality of a child (Roberts para. 3). There are many claims connected with the strangling of the scenes of violence in video games. The development of digital technologies increases the level of realism in these games and very often they look very beautiful. Additionally, the development of virtual reality and games with an open world introduced the possibility to perform any actions. For this reason, young people, as the main players, obtained the possibility to commit any crime in the virtual world which, in its turn, resulted in the appearance of manifestations of aggression accumulated in games of this sort. Moreover, very often the actions, which took place in games, coincide with the plots of some movies. That is why, being very popular nowadays, cinema can be taken as one of the main reasons for the development of juvenile delinquency.
Thus, taking into account the main reasons for increase of the level of juvenile delinquency, it is possible to suggest several steps which could help to solve this problem. First of all, the necessity to introduce strict censorship becomes obvious. The modern entertainment industry does not care about the moral development of a person, being aimed at earning money. Additionally, using the liberty of speech and democracy as a smear, filmmakers do not care about the content of their movies, including violent and sexual scenes in the majority of works. Thus, the introduction of censorship can help to change existing tendencies. There should be a certain limit to the number of violent scenes in all movies. Nevertheless, some work should be done in order to improve the climate within the family as it influences a child greatly. Psychologists should work with these families in order to find the roots of a problem and suggest certain ways to solve it. Besides, more attention should be given to the issue of moral and ethical education (Mann and Reynolds para. 11). The fact is that nowadays young people do not have moral values and landmarks which can help them to evaluate some issues and their actions. That is why one of the most important tasks of schools and other educational establishments is the formation of the worldview of a child with humane values which will be able to help him/her act in different situations.
To conclude, it is possible to say that the actions outlined in the work are just several possible solutions to the problem, though, a great number of other variants exist. Resting on this fact, it is possible to say that investigation of the issue of juvenile delinquency should be continued.
Works Cited
Bush, William. Who Gets a Childhood? Race and Juvenile Justice in Twentieth-Century Texas. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Print.
Chapter 7. Juvenile Delinquency.2003. Web.
Dowd, Nancy. Justice for Kids: Keeping Kids out of the Juvenile Justice System. New York: New York University Press, 2011. Print.
“Juvenile Delinquency”. California Courts. n.d.. 2015. Web.
Mann, Emily and Arthur Reynolds. “Early Intervention and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention: Evidence from the Chicago Longitudinal Study”. Social Work Research. 30.3 (2006): n. pag. Web.
Roberts, Cynthia. Juvenile Delinquency: Cause and Effect. n.d.. Web. 2015.