Introduction
One of the most disturbing social problems world wide is the increase in crime among youths and the research shows that more than half of the arrest made directly involve people aged25 years and below with a recorded percentage increase of 6% for arrest of juveniles since 1982. These crimes include among others aggravated assault, rape, homicide and robbery and their occurrence is largely dependent on the gender because research indicates that there is almost double the number of males arrested due these crimes compared with the females.
Many people have tried to come up with different possibilities causing delinquency like poverty, family problems and influence from peer pressure but very few are able to explain how any of these possibilities is associated with specific delinquent behavior and this paper addresses this problem by supporting some theories that have emerged while at the same time disagreeing with others. During the study of causes of crime criminologist mainly focus on the cause of the problem but since this is a social thing the process becomes complicated because of all ethical concerns that go along with the practical study of people.
This paper will analyze and discuss socialization process as one of theoretical explanation of juvenile delinquency that I most agree with and compare it with individual characteristics as a cause that I disagree with in causing juvenile delinquency. (Ohiin, 2000pp 24-37).
Socialization process as a major cause of juvenile delinquency
Crime is a product of norms, values as well as behaviors that are learnt from the society within a long period of time and mostly it happens unconsciously without being noted although the consequences are conspicuous and embodies the essence of crime. These learnt behaviors are associated with criminal activity and theorists use various theories in illustrating this perspective which include differential association, differential reinforcement and neutralization theory. (Michael, 1990 pp45-53)
Differential association and socialization
This theory states that if a person learns more attitudes which encourages disrespect of the law than those which are favorable to it he/she is likely to get involved in criminal offences because in the process of interaction learning takes place and just like a good social behavior is learnt so is the criminal behavior. The greatest impact is normally when the interaction is made early in ones life with intimacy accompanied with prolonged high frequency compared with when the interaction is casual and short term. The theory adds that the process of acquiring behavior can be through modeling of other people or through positive reinforcement like receiving a reward as well as through avoiding a punishment and this does not matter whether the behavior being acquired is social or antisocial.
Neutralization theory and socialization process
This theory is different from the above in that whereas differential association suggests that people become delinquent and criminals because of learning a different system of values which encourages them to commit a crime, neutralization suggest that individuals who are criminals and delinquent hold attitudes and values which are conventional but because they have leant some techniques they are able to neutralize these values temporarily and thus are able to carry out a criminal activity though the process of first denying self responsibility, denial of the victim, injury denial or even appeal to loyalties which are higher and as a result of these techniques the criminals tries to excuse themselves for their behaviors and inappropriate values.
All people are naturally linked to the conventional society and they have equal chance to carryout a crime and what keeps some members of the society in engaging into criminal activities is lack of control of their behavior by their commitment and attachment to processes, conventional institutions as well as other individuals. Absence of this control lets a person to feel free to disobey the law and perform a deviant behavior which is controlled by either internal or external environment.
In the socialization process, control of a person’s behavior from the environment can be formal like in the legal system or even informal like in families, peers and teachers where for example parents exercise a direct control or when a child exercise an indirect control if he/she has a desire to avoid hurting or disappointing anyone whom he relate with well.
Delinquent behavior also results from the socialization processes when there are no bonds in the society to encourage conformity. Such bonds include attachment which is that emotional bond existing between the juveniles and other members of the society. A child with a weak emotional tie with his parents is less likely to adopt the value system of his parent and he can do anything to jeopardize the relationship and even in school achievement, lack of high level of attachment to respective teachers is a determining factor which explains why a juvenile with a low I.Q is more likely to be a delinquent. For example if a child is not a high performer in school it becomes hard for him to adopt institutional rules and therefore there is very little attachment between him and the teachers.
Commitment of the members of the society in influencing child’s behavior also plays a great role in shaping the potential for the child to engage in delinquent behavior and such commitment include motivation given to the child to encourage him/her to do good and tap their energy to help them pursue conventional goals which comprise of law abiding activities thus leaving very little time for the child to engage in delinquency.
Individual problem theory
I tend to disagree with this theory that states that a juvenile engage in a delinquent behavior because he possesses an anomaly in his physical constitution making him different from a child who does not engage in criminal offences because when a child is born he is tabula rasa which means he is empty minded and only acquire information through interaction with the immediate and far environment.
This theory focuses much on the individual and pays very little attention to the roles played by social variables but this should be the other way round. The studies which were carried out based on this theory were done on a very limited number of people and involved study of their physical traits and then identifying them with people having innate potential to engage into criminal behavior and therefore there could have been a high level of inaccuracy because of the limited number and also bearing in mind that studying physical characteristic of people is a social process and some ethical issues may not allow the researcher to make successful studies beyond certain limits.
The theory assumed that people are born criminals and it is very hard to change their character and this offered very little hope in addressing the problem of criminology among youths in the society since the theory stated that the only way to deal with this problem is to do away with such individuals in the society. This is impossible because it is unethical and again this is the youth aged between 15-17 who require the society very much for guidance and counseling. (Ronald, 1999 pp35-38)
Conclusion
Juvenile delinquency is a societal problem that requires to be addressed throughout the life of a human being from one generation to another because the word is dynamic and the effect of the social influence on the juniors is so much. If a child is exposed to a society with criminal behavior he/she is likely to copy these characters because they believe so much in their seniors and they do not know how to make the right decision which affects the shaping of their behavior occurring at young age of all individuals.
References
Ronald L. (1999): Deviant behavior: Roxbury publishing company. pp. 35-38.
Ohiin L. (2000): Delinquency and opportunity: Free press New York. pp. 24-37.
Michael R. (1990): General theory of crime: Stanford university press. pp. 45-53.