Juvenile Delinquency Is a Socially

Juvenile Delinquency is a socially constructed concept, viewed as a creation of the intermingling of varied social, political, economic and religious transitions. Such changes initiated with the inception of Renaissance during 1300-1600 however, most prominent during Enlightenment in mid-1600-late 1700 and during the Industrial Revolution in 1760-1900. The origin and development of the concept is seen in at least three important historical developments. Firstly, it is the discovery of childhood and adolescence as an isolated and differentiated stages of life; secondly the emergence of parens patriae in English equity law that entailed legal authority to the state for protective regulation of children when parents could not be able to accomplish child-rearing responsibilities, and finally, the growth of positive criminology that infused scientific methods to the study and control of crime and delinquency. This consequently made the concept of juvenile delinquency to symbolize a different status for young people both socially and legally. (Defining Juvenile Delinquency)

The sociologists indicate the juvenile delinquency to be a status determined both by age and behavior. Presently, it is clear that the childhood and adolescence exist as separate and distinct stages of life unique from other stages. However, the discovery of childhood and adolescence as distinct stages of life was very slow and was not complete until the Enlightenment, when Rousseau's idea of developmental stages confined a growing awareness of age distinctions across the course of life. Such recognition of developmental stages and differentiation based on age had significant impact for the framework of family life, for child rearing, for education. The growing stress on family and school as social institutions occurred as a result of the ideas of innocence, vulnerability, and dependence of childhood, and also the moral and sexual tensions of adolescence. This gave rise to the consideration that young people necessitate nurture, protection, discipline, supervision, training and education so as to grow and mature into healthy and productive adults.

The development of the doctrine of parens patriae infused the developmental concepts of childhood and adolescence in which it become the liability of the parents safeguard, nurture, and discipline, supervise, train and to educate children. The positive criminology thought of juvenile delinquency which is focused on the use of scientific methods in order to study crime and delinquency. Such a strategy assumes the real importance that crime and delinquency are due to certain identifiable factors. It is an emphasis on the differences which we witness in terms of the biological and psychological features which are found in criminals and non-criminals and that the criminals suffered from individual characteristics like that of insanity, inferiority in mental terms, physiological defects, and a tendency to give into passion which tend to have the biological base. Juvenile courts were established by the state Acts in order to regulate over treating and control of the Dependent, Neglected and Delinquent Children. Initially the Juvenile Courts established had no jurisdiction to distinguish between vagrant, pauper, and criminal children. (Defining Juvenile Delinquency)

Later the definition of delinquent was inclusive of a youth who is incorrigible; or who relates with thieves, immoral individuals. The present legal definitions of juvenile delinquency continue to differentiate juvenile offenders from that of the adult criminals and to entail for a separate system and process of justice. They include four groups like "dependent and neglected children; status offenders; delinquent youth who violate criminal code; and serious delinquent offenders those perpetrated felony offences." (Defining Juvenile Delinquency) It is pertinent to note that there exists a striking difference between the crime and delinquency. The perpetration of crime is viewed as violation of criminal code, created by society in terms of written law, while the delinquency and deviance implies the violation of cultural laws or norms. (Causal Theories of Juvenile Delinquency: Social Perspectives)

Charles Cooley in his publication Human Nature and the Social Order analyzed the personal perception of juvenile delinquents by means of the studies of children and their imaginary friends. Cooley develops his theory around the imaginary concept of looking glass self, which is considered to be a type of imaginary sociability. People introspectively imagine through the eyes of others in their social circles and make judgments of themselves on the basis of such observations. (Howard Bechler's Labeling Theory)

Briefly, Cooley put forth that the perception of an individual is what he or she thinks regarding what other people think in relation to them and it influences in some respect the mode that individual perceives or feels regarding him or herself. His ideology thus reveals that another person or group of people influence the individual's perception and resultantly his or her behaviors, attitudes and norms. (Dawson; Chatman, 30) Moreover, Charles Horton Cooley in his publication 'An Organic View of Degeneration' propounded that a child is said to degenerate implying that he does not come up to the standard made by his ancestors. It is natural that in the process of social organizations many norms and standards in every phase of life and to shun whatever fall below such standards. (An Organic View of Degeneration: Chapter 15 in Social Process)