Juvenile Delinquency in the United States
Abstract Juvenile Delinquency has been a huge problem here in The United States. It has risen in past years and is projected to increase until 2015. With this current threat on the rise the U.S. have tried to analye the many causes and factors that may cause juvenile delinquency. As we take a look into the factors behind this problem we will also look into what changes has been made to the juvenile justice system to combat this. Factors behind Juvenile Delinquency
It is said that mental illness and substance abuse are main contributing factors for juveniles to become delinquents. Roughly thirty to ninety percent of detained and incarcerated juveniles have been found to have some sort of mental illness. It has also been shown that a large majority of juvenile delinquents are young men or boys. Boys are five times more likely than girls to become juvenile delinquents. There are a few explanations that suggest why boys are put into this group. Young men are naturally more aggressive than young women or girls, societal pressures boys to be masculine and aggressive, and the roles and manner in which young men are treated by their family and friends produce a more criminal nature. Cradle to Prison Pipeline
The Cradle to Prison Pipeline term refers to the population of boys and girls who live or undergo hard conditions that will ultimately cause them to end up in a prison. The term in other words is a direct reflection of the term itself. It suggests that conditions such as a lack of parental supervision, poverty, and insufficiency of proper education makes these young men and women succumb to the probable outcome. The pipeline represents minority children disproportionately who live in poor communities. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, “Nationally, 1 in 3 Black and 1 in 6 Latino boys born in 2001 are
It is said that mental illness and substance abuse are main contributing factors for juveniles to become delinquents. Roughly thirty to ninety percent of detained and incarcerated juveniles have been found to have some sort of mental illness. It has also been shown that a large majority of juvenile delinquents are young men or boys. Boys are five times more likely than girls to become juvenile delinquents. There are a few explanations that suggest why boys are put into this group. Young men are naturally more aggressive than young women or girls, societal pressures boys to be masculine and aggressive, and the roles and manner in which young men are treated by their family and friends produce a more criminal nature. Cradle to Prison Pipeline
The Cradle to Prison Pipeline term refers to the population of boys and girls who live or undergo hard conditions that will ultimately cause them to end up in a prison. The term in other words is a direct reflection of the term itself. It suggests that conditions such as a lack of parental supervision, poverty, and insufficiency of proper education makes these young men and women succumb to the probable outcome. The pipeline represents minority children disproportionately who live in poor communities. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, “Nationally, 1 in 3 Black and 1 in 6 Latino boys born in 2001 are
References: Children’s Defense Fund (2011). Cradle to Prison Pipeline Campaign. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from: http://www.childrensdefense.org/programs-campaigns/cradle-to-prison-pipeline/ Scott, C. L., & Soulier, M. F., (2010). Juveniles in Court, Harv Rev Psychiatry (pp. 317-325).