Juvenile delinquency

Write an essay on Juvenile delinquency

Problems of Juvenile delinquency. W hat causes crime? 
I. What causes crime?
When 1 started to investigate juvenile crimc 1 started from the premise that most children arc bom thieves. The more 1 have discussed the problem with those involved: police, teachers, parents, social workers, children and many others — the more have 1 been satisfied that my premise is correct. But this wide contact has satisfied me about something else. Because they arc bom thieves, it docs not mean that most children arc born criminals. That is something they may bccomc. They do so bccausc of behavior and the attitudes of adults, often parents, and very frequently teachers. And that is the tragedy.
II. We expect criminal parents to tend to bring up criminal children. But, conversely, we expect honest and law abiding parents to bring up honest and law abiding children. But do they? The appalling figures of juvenile delinquency arc more than disturbing. Many parents have told me o f their despair in finding that their children steal from m um ’s purse or handbag or the family moneybox, tell lies on being detected and then do the same again. Nevertheless, firm action in the home can ensure that this behavior is eradicated and what I regard as the natural propensity o f the child to take what he or she wants need never become ingrained as deliberate criminal behavior. At the annual conference o f the National Association o f Schoolmasters and Union o f Women Teachers at Harrogate last April, one speaker, Doncastcr Headmaster John Athcrfold said: “Girls arc worse than boys. They arc subject to little or no control from their parents and grow up in homes where assaults arc the order o f the day.”
III. But what about crime among pupils in school? The original intention o f my survey was to deal with this problem in isolation — but I found such an approach to be impossible. “W hat goes on in schools is a reflection o f what goes on in society”, 1 was told by Mr. R. F. Glover, the Deputy Secretary o f the Hcad-mastcrs’ Conference. Only a few months ago, speaking at a dinner o f Scottish Association for the Study o f Delinquency at Peebles, Sir David McNee, London’s Commissioner of Policc, declared that a lowering o f moral standards, a decline in religious beliefs and a lack o f parental and family influence were the main reasons for the increasing crimc rate.
IV. The result o f my talks with children on juvenile crimc in general is:
PARENTS: There was an overwhelming criticism by the children of the lack of concern and discipline shown by their parents;
PUNISHMENT: A very large majority recognized the need for an effective punishment, called for the return o f corporal punishment and asked for firmer discipline in schools. One other important point is that they asked for more, and in particular, less expensive, recreational facilities.
V. Every approach made at Government level seems to be that o f the treatment o f young offenders after they have been allowed to become criminals and have committed offences. But custodial sentences have not proved a success. The number o f juveniles convicted to borstal rose from 818 in 1969 to 2.117 in 1978, and the number sent to detention centres increased from 2.228 in 1969 to 6.303 in 1978. But 75% o f the juveniles leaving borstals were convicted o f further offences within the next two years. Very far from a success story.
VI. So let us go back to the beginning and see if there is anything new which should be tackled at the stage where the young bom thief may be so influenced that he doesn’t become a criminal and the useless borstals and detention centres will be empty. It is an interesting point, confirming the views of the working school-childrcn, that in an earlier study in 1978 by Harriett Wilson and G. W. Herbert called “Parents and Children in the Inner City” they had already found that parents who use strict methods o f supervision had few, if any, delinquent children, while the children from lax parents frequently had a string o f convictions. W hat is more, and probably just as important, I am satisfied that a survey on similar lines to test the association between school discipline and juvenile delinquency in all areas would show beyond doubt that this is the second important factor in the equation. As delegates have described at teacher’s conferences over and over again some schools arc undisciplined so real teaching is impossible. W hich brings me finally to the net result o f all this: a 1979 total o f 16,000 boys and 2,000 girls aged between 10 and 14 years sentenced for similar serious crimes. In 1978, the number o f youngsters under the age o f 14 years involved in all the indictablc offences clcarcd up by the policc represented 14 per cent. One o f the most persistent types o f crimc which bring youngsters before the courts every day is shoplifting. One legal adviser who deals with West End shoplifting by youngsters told me that in this view magistrates often impose soft sentences and it means that the seriousness o f the offence is not sufficiently impressed on the children. The fact that a caution is usually given for a first offence, he believes, is not a good thing. For here the child thinks it has got away with it and this can only encourage him to commit a further offence. There is considerable evidence now to show that where the work o f police, school, and community is carried in there has been a marked effect on juvenile crime. But it remains a fact that it is in the home and in the school that criminals arc made and it is here that a change o f heart is needed. Evidence shows that truancy is widespread and this plays a large part o f the growth of juvenile crime. Both parents and schools staff who accept the absenteeism o f their children, or arc so lax that they do not even know youngsters arc not regularly attending school, arc encouraging the tragedy o f juvenile delinquency. (by Robert Traini, “Security Gazette”, March, 1981)