How Crime Uniquely Impacts Youth Development vs. Adults

Introduction

Children suffer from the effects of crime in different ways from adults. This is primarily due to the fact that children are still developing, both cognitively and physically, whereas adults are already developed. Crime thus impacts the development of the child or youth, altering the likely outcome of that child's adolescence and setting the stage for a troubled adulthood if no adequate intervention is employed to re-route the course set by crime's effect. This paper discusses the impact of crime on youth and shows how theories and concepts of juvenile delinquency can be used to address the issue more fully.

Social Theories and Juvenile Delinquency

There are several theories that can be used to explain the behaviors of developing youth. Strain Theory, Social Control Theory, and Social Learning Theory all point to how issues outside the individual impact the developmental course of the psyche. When combined with the physical changes and needs that a growing person requires, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, the impact of crime on youth can be analyzed in a way that produces positive results. As Werner and Silbereisen (2003) note, the cause of most delinquency in youths stems from problems that arise in the youth's home life — it can be the result of a broken home, divorce, abuse, or other types of negative surroundings that push the child into seeking relief, identity, kinship, or retaliation via delinquent behavior.

In their study on how "harmonious" families are more likely to produce positive outcomes in terms of child development, Werner and Silbereisen (2003) show that there is a correlation between trust, autonomy, prosocial experiences, and family cohesion, while a lack of these elements is consistent with juvenile delinquents and the homes from which they come. In other words, stable homes tend to produce stable youths who develop into stable adults. Unstable homes tend to be impacted by criminal activity — such as substance abuse and domestic abuse — and lead more readily to unstable youths who develop into unstable, criminal adults absent adequate intervention.

The Development Factor

The impact of crime on youths is a direct blow to their sense of self as a positive force in the home and in society. As Agnew (2008) points out, environments impact juvenile behavior — this is the essence of Strain Theory. Strain Theory holds that criminality stems from negative states in which the individual is immersed for a long duration of time. Rather than suggesting that criminal behavior is "learned," as Social Learning Theory posits, Strain Theory argues that criminal activity and juvenile delinquency result from the individual's core suffering under the strain of living in a negative state. This helps to explain why troubled homes tend to correlate most commonly with juvenile delinquency. The negative conditions of home life place undue strain and pressure on the child so that he or she acts out in a negative manner. The child essentially communicates through his or her actions that nothing around them is positive, that the society in which they find themselves is intolerable, and that the only logical recourse is to lash out — to retaliate against society. The impact of crime on youths in this sense is evident: the child who should be receiving nurturing, care, shelter, proper diet, and education is instead immersed in a world where Maslow's hierarchy of needs is inverted. The child retaliates by acting as the aggressor — the victim becomes the perpetrator — in an attempt to assert power against what is perceived to be an unjust reality.

From the standpoint of Social Control Theory, the actions of the juvenile delinquent can be explained as the result of the child's desire to control society and benefit themselves through criminal acts. This perspective focuses more on the selfish motivation behind delinquency rather than the external forces putting pressure on the child (Schreck & Hirschi, 2009). The child's actions are viewed as having roots in a fundamental, innate disposition toward negative behavior. According to Social Learning Theory, this behavior is learned from peers and/or parents.

Children who suffer from crime are also more likely to be impacted in terms of how their family structure is situated. Children who are victims of crime or who commit criminal activity are typically uprooted from their familial environments and either placed in the care of a foster family or taken into custody by the state in the form of juvenile corrections facilities. Children's orientation is thus highly impacted at a young age by crime. Adults, on the other hand, occupy a very different position in terms of family associations. Adults are not as dependent upon family structures for having their needs met. Maslow's hierarchy of needs may still apply to them, but not in the same developmental sense as it does with children.

In any case, the child is negatively impacted by crime precisely because the child is in the midst of developing into an adult, and the environment in which the child is situated can have a negative effect on the child's psychology and/or physical needs — pushing the child into a negative state wherein crime becomes the likely outcome. For an adult, the environment is more likely to already be, to some extent, within the adult's control. That is, if an adult does not like the environment in which he or she lives, that adult is more likely than a child to have the power to change that environment, or at least to remove themselves from it and seek out a more positive situation. The child is not in a position where this is always possible, and thus the only recourse available is to mimic the negative behavior that exists in the environment or to lash out against it. The motives may differ depending on one's theoretical perspective, but the outcomes are similar.

Conclusion

Children suffer from crime differently from adults primarily because they are still in a developmental stage, and their development can be negatively impacted by crime in a number of ways. Depending on the theory one chooses to examine these instances — whether Strain Theory, Social Control Theory, or Social Learning Theory (and there are many others that offer explanations as well) — the impact of crime on a child's development can be explained in a variety of terms. However, the outcome is typically the same: the child's development is disrupted, and crime serves as an obstacle that stunts positive progress in the child's growth.

For an adult, the effect of crime is more apparent in the arc of the adult's life: adults can become trapped in a system in which criminal activity is perpetuated and a life of recidivism is the result. Adults generally have a greater capacity to respond to their environments and take steps to alter them than children do — which is why juvenile delinquency can be viewed through a variety of theoretical lenses — yet adults can still be victims of an unjust prison system, as Benns (2015) shows, where corporate profits are given far more consideration than the positive progress of the prisoner.

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