Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
(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)
The contemporary studies much revolves around the symbolic interactionist theory of crime and delinquency. The symbolic interactionist theory propounded by Cooley and Mead stresses much on the significance of identity or the individual's self-concept as a significant predictor of behavior. A similar study was conducted by David Brownfield of the University of Toronto and Kevin Thompson of the North Dakota State University on the relationship between self-concept or identity and juvenile delinquency. The findings of the study represent significant support...
Irrespective of the fact that an important relation exist between the peer delinquency and self reported delinquency but astonishingly peer delinquency had a lower potential effect in comparison to the symbolic interactionist measure of peer appraisals. Presently the behavioral geneticists and developmental criminologists have become more concerned with the role of reactive Genetics/Environmental correlation. The findings made it clear that reactive environment has much impact on the probability of delinquent conduct and self-concept. The reactive environment indicates the way that parents, peers, siblings, teachers and others in the youth environment are reactive to temperament and evocative behavior. (Brownfield; Thompson, 24)
References
Defining Juvenile Delinquency. Retrieved at http://www.jbpub.com/downloads/0763736287/Chapter_02.pdf. Accessed 3 November, 2005
Causal Theories of Juvenile Delinquency: Social Perspectives. Retrieved at http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/stud7proj2.html. Accessed 3 November, 2005
Howard Bechler's Labeling Theory. Retrieved at http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/becker.htm. Accessed 3 November, 2005
Dawson, E. Murell; Chatman, Elfreda A. Reference group theory with implications for information studies: A theoretical essay. Information Research. April 2001. Vol. 6; No. 3; pp: 18-21
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1918). pp: 153-168. Retrieved at http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Cooley/Cooley_1918/Cooley_1918_15.html. Accessed 3 November, 2005
Juvenile Delinquency Impact of Poverty, Health Problems, Family Problems on Increase in Juvenile Delinquency? Juvenile delinquency and its causes have been studied extensively. Many factors that put adolescents at risk of becoming delinquent have been identified. The majority of youth who enter the child welfare system, and many of the youth who are caught up in the juvenile justice system have experienced abuse and neglect, dysfunctional home environments, destructive and inconsistent parenting
Juvenile delinquency: Why they happen and the possible remedies. Juvenile delinquency has been a dominant debate in various spheres and for a long time and this debate do not seem to disappear any time soon. There have been various attempts to explain the concept and sense behind juvenile delinquency but little has been of corrective measure to this problem within the society. Despite there being various theories behind the juvenile delinquency,
Surely, this is somewhat disturbing when considering that he or she has no right to intimacy and that he or she is probable to suffer on a social level because individuals that he interacts with are likely to find out about his or her background. Although they are a controversial juvenile delinquency prevention technique, boot camps are effective because they provide individuals with the chance to learn important information concerning
Studies indicate that "... A higher than average incidence of delinquency occurs among youngsters of the poorest social standing and with the lowest performance at school..." (Jarvelin et al., 1994, p. 230) Similarly, studies also note that neighborhood influences on development was determinant on factors such as "...collective socialization, peer-group influence, and institutional capacity." (Sampson, Morenoff & Gannon-Rowley, 2002. p 443) Generally studies like the above present a negative picture of
This is particularly important when making decisions about court processes and sentencing practices in the juvenile court. The ability of youth to recognize that sanctions will drastically increase in the adult system is ample reason to justify the use of punishment in the juvenile system. Under a model that focuses on punishment, sentencing will need to be harsh enough to deter the youth from continued behavior but not so harsh
Juvenile Delincency in Urban Areas Juvenile delinquency is a contemporary term for an old problem. One of the oldest relevant studies of the phenomenon was 'social disorganization' theory, which was developed by the Chicago school of sociology in the 1920's. This theory posits that there exist areas in a city in which traditional institutions have little or no control. This was studied in Chicago using a system of 'Concentric Zones' which