Juvenile Delinquency Over the Last

Juvenile Delinquency

Over the last several years, juvenile delinquency has been increasingly brought to the forefront. Part of the reason for this, is because of the long-term impacts that it has on society and the lives of the individuals. Where, 17% of the arrests made in the United States are juvenile offenders who are involved in a host of activities. The most notable include: vandalism, breaking and entering, larceny, the sale of controlled substances, assault along with murder. This is problematic, because those individuals who are incarcerated at such an early age are more than likely to be repeat offenders when they become older. Over the course of time, this will have an adverse impact on the levels of skilled labor within the community and it will lead to higher taxes to deal with these challenges. (Baker, 2011) To fully understand why this topic was chosen, we will examine the rational for its selection and the importance of studying this kind of behavior in psychology. Once this takes place, it will provide the greatest insights as to how this is affecting communities around the nation.

The Rational for the Selection of this Topic

The reason why juvenile delinquency was selected is because there have been direct correlations between: the activities of young adults with the kinds of pursuits that they will become involved in. This means that those who are working and participating in various programs that are constructive will become productive members of the community. While, those people who have nothing to do, will more than likely find some kind of illegal activities to spend their time. This is problematic, because it means that local communities will often see an increase in crimes that are committed by: young adults and the number of drug related problems. Evidence of this can be found with a study that was conducted by Staff (2010). He determined that those teenagers who are associated with paid work programs and other positive activities will have a sense of purpose. This will help to push them in directions that will make them constructive members of the community. While those individuals who have nothing to do, will often become associated with criminal interests and they will abuse drugs. (Staff, 2010, pp. 1101- 1131) This information is important, because it is showing that there is a direct correlation between the activities that young adults are involved in and juvenile crime.

Moreover, research that was conducted by Leiber (2008) found that the number of intervention programs in the community played a major part in determining juvenile crime rates. (Johnson, 2008, pp. 560 -- 567) This is significant, because it is corroborating the root causes of why someone will become involved in illegal activities at a young age. As a result, this source is providing us with a good rational for studying this issue and the long-term effects that it will have on communities.

The Importance of this Topic in Studying Criminal Behavior