Demographic Analysis
From the literature review, it is noted that the increase in juvenile delinquency has resulted to the rising cases of crimes and formation of gangs in various parts of the country. This is a threat to national security and economic development implying that intervention strategies have to be designed to deal with the menace.
Demographic analysis entails the methods that are often employed in measuring the several aspects and dynamics of the population. These methods are specifically utilized in the analysis of human populations, but current researchers may use them in the study of other phenomena affecting humanity.
In the review of the population dynamics discussed in the literature review section, this section of the paper will utilize administrative records in the development of independent estimate of the gangs existing in the country. An estimate of any demographic analysis is considered a consistent measure for reviewing the precision of the census data obtained at any given period.
In this section of the paper, demographic analysis will be used to statistically to analyze the sizes of illegal groups or gangs in the country, their composition, as well as spatial distribution (Preston, Heuveline, & Guillot, 2000). Moreover, it is evident that the features of the illegal groups change over time.
The major ways employed in understanding the sizes and composition of the population includes population change, standardization, bookkeeping, and population composition.
In the given data in the literature review section, it is observed that the distribution of gangs and criminal groups is even implying that all communities are involved in executing illegal activities that harm the economy of the country (DiIulio, 1995). The first groups were Irish, but all major communities residing in the country are currently involved in crime, as Van Ngo (2009) observes.
Regarding the sizes of the gangs, literature review reveals that they are larger, complex, prevalent, and permanent within the community. Additionally, gangs in the country have devised ways through which they survive the security measures put in place. This implies that they are never static, but instead they change with time to suit the current society.
Data obtained from the FBI suggest that the number of criminal gangs is expected to go up and they would be active implying that they will be carrying out criminal activities using all available techniques. The report suggests further that over forty criminal gangs exist in many cities.
While the country had over 40, 0000 criminal gangs in various urban centers in 1990, the number have skyrocketed to over 249,324 in the subsequent years. In 2009, the number reached a record high of 500,000.
This data shows that the number of criminal gangs keeps on increasing each year and their compositions diversify every minute making it difficult for security forces to contain them. Increase in birth rates contributes to the rising number of criminal gangs in the country, as crimes rates were high when the number of individuals aged 13 to 17 was high.
Alternative Solutions to the Problem
Based on the nature of the crimes that the gangs carry out, two major solutions are suggested, one of them being the focused deterrence strategy and the other one is neighborhood watch. Focused deterrence is also referred to as pulling levers policing and is mainly a problem-oriented policing strategy that is based on the deterrence theory.
This type of crime prevention strategy aims at preventing vulnerable groups who are used to punishments and sanctions from committing crime. According to the strategy, the community members are encouraged to confront all criminal gangs or their members and inform them that their behavior will not be accepted in the community.
Since the criminal gangs recruit even the youth in the community, they have to be informed clearly that the criminal justice system, including the police and the courts, will catch up with them and the consequences will not be favorable to them. The strategy is also reinforced by police crackdown on gangs that fail to heed to the communal call to quit crime and violent behavior (Dahlberg, 2008).
If some gang members quit crime and confess to the security agencies, they are rewarded and would be incorporated into the community. If jobs are available, the former members of criminal gangs are given to prevent them from going back to the illegal groups.
Deterrence theory suggests that an individual would most probably quit crime if he or she knows the costs associated with it. In preventing crime, the crime suggests that three factors play an important role, including severity, swiftness, and punishment.
The second solution to preventing crime in the community is the neighbor watch, which is referred to as the block watch as well. The strategy relies on the communal members who are expected to protect each other by offering critical information to the law enforcing agencies in time.
Criminal gangs would often target the residential places since they are likely to commit crimes, such as kidnapping, rape, burglary, and murder. The two techniques of crime prevention have a major impact to the public safety policy in the sense that it allows security agencies to identify the nature of criminal gangs, their composition, prevalence, and sizes.
Viable Model
Several models of crime in the current society, such as developmental, which focuses on early intervention, situational, whose major target is stop opportunities for crime, and criminal justice model that insists on the strengthening of the criminal justice system, including empowering the police, offering more training to the judicial members, and improving the prison services.
However, the causes of crimes or formation of criminal gangs ought to be understood before moving to select an intervention model. In this case, the best intervention model would be the social model since crimes result from frustrations of life, such as lack of basic needs, inadequate jobs, and discrimination based on gender and race. Strengthening relations among individuals in the neighborhood have a role to play in uniting people.
This would definitely reduce crime rates, as individuals will tend to believe that they are one people. If people know each other, the crime rates are likely to reduce hence the major aim of any strategist would be to enhance social capital (Hensley, & Singer, 2004).
Personal Bias and Social/ Ethical Dilemma
The model is mainly affected by the views of the implementing officer meaning that variations in ideas might be the major impediment to the execution of the model. For instance, the cultural beliefs, expectations, values, and perceptions might be different. The model demands that all social factors are taken into consideration when trying to help individuals realize their potentials in society.
The executing officer might be tempted to stereotype, which would be considered unethical professional, as objectivity is needed when trying to implement change. Labeling or branding is not only a social dilemma, but also a professional ethical issue that might affect the realization of the desired goals.
Measuring the Success
The only major problem with the model is that it is often difficult to measure because social aspects are many and it would be hypocritical for anyone to claim that he or she solved all social problems facing the community or the group. However, some indicators are used in determining whether the model achieved its objectives.
For instance, one of the aims of the models is initiate community building activities, as it would keep individuals busy hence abstaining from criminal activities. The number of community-based groups in the community would indicate the successfulness of the program.
Another tactic used in the mode is providing welfare services and forming as many community groups as possible (Covey, Menard, & Franzese, 2013). Therefore, existence of legal groups, such as youth and women groups, would be a milestone in measuring the effectiveness of the model.
Implementation of the Model
Before implementing the model, it is important to understand its main principles, one of them being minimizing the chances for the occurrence of delinquent behavior. Other core values include empowerment, regulating behavior, development sense of worth, role modeling, and participation in communal activities. Based on the major principles, the model has four steps as far as execution is concerned.
First, the model will serve as integrative and systematic framework towards crime prevention in the community. The model should be consistent with the established ministry standards and guidelines and the funding will be resourced from the community non-governmental organizations and the local government.
Each group or community has unique features that must be understood before moving to implement the model. Since several challenges exist in the community, the model ill deal with each case systematically. The implementing team will combine the fundamental principles of crime deterrence and the activities that are unique to the community in order to understand type of crime.
Communication of the Proposed Model
In matters related to security, several stakeholders have to be involved right from the designing stage to the implementation stage. This means communication to several authorities should be maintained to ensure that they participate fully through funding and providing critical information.
For the government, the mode of communication will mainly be through official letters, even though seminars and meetings will be held from time to time to iron out some of the issues that might arise as the project progresses. The security agencies have a critical role to play, as they will be relied upon in the provision of the official data touching on crime and the levels of juvenile delinquency.
The local authorities will be notified through mails and meetings since they will be providing the forum for the discussion of the major issues facing the community (Schutt, 2006). Other stakeholders will be briefed frequently whenever anything new crops up.
Relationship of the Model with Other Strategies
The model is related to other strategies of crime prevention both at the local and national level. For instance, the ministry uses developmental model whereby high-school students are given specialized training on how to cope with life in an attempt to prevent crime. The social model has to be coalesced with developmental model to prevent any conflicts, as this would definitely lead to poor results.
References
Covey, H. C., Menard, S., & Franzese, R. J. (2013). Effects of adolescent physical abuse, exposure to neighborhood violence, and witnessing parental violence on adult socioeconomic status. Child maltreatment, 18(2), 85-97.
Dahlberg, L. L. (2008). Youth violence in the United States: major trends, risk factors, and prevention approaches. American journal of preventive medicine, 14(4), 259-272.
DiIulio, J. J. (1995). Help wanted: Economists, crime and public policy. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 10(1), 3-24.
Hensley, C. & Singer, S. (2004). Applying Social Learning Theory to Childhood and Adolescent Fire setting: Can it Lead to Serial Murder? International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 48(4), 461–476.
Preston, S., Heuveline, P., & Guillot, M. (2000). Demography: Measuring and Modeling Population Processes. New York: Blackwell Publishing.
Schutt, R. (2006). Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research. London: SAGE Publications.