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Patterns And Causes Of Juvenile Delinquency As Expressed By Secondary School Students
[A CASE STUDY OF IBARAPA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OYO STATE]
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Juvenile is a child who unlike an adult person, having not attained prescribed age, cannot be held liable for his criminal act. The age criteria for being a juvenile vary from country to country, state to state. In ancient India, a parent was supposed not to punish a child who is under five years of age for any offence. As per the law then prevailing a children of such tender age should be nursed and educated with love and affection only (Barbaree & Marshall, 2008). After the age of five, punishment may be given in some suitable form such as physical chastisement or rebuke by the parents, towards the later half of the childhood, punishment should be gradually withdrawn and replaced by advice. From the age of sixteen upwards sons and daughters should be treated as friends by the parents (Barbaree & Marshall, 2008).
Delinquency is an act or conduct of a juvenile which is socially undesirable. Juvenile delinquency generally means the failure of children to meet certain obligations expected of them by the society (Wasserman & Seracini, 2001). Juvenile delinquency is expression of an unsatisfied urge in the juvenile delinquent. Whether a particular act or conduct of the child would be deviant or not will depend on various factors and vary in different States, Cities and also time to time. The juvenile delinquent has even been defined as “a child trying to act like a grown upâ€. A particular act of the child may be viewed as ordinary childish prank but in another particular context it may cause concern and anxiety. The distinction between a delinquent and normal child, at times is very blurred and deciding point between a playful act and the juvenile delinquency is his relation to concerned person (Wasserman & Seracini, 2001).
Sociologists view the concept of juvenile delinquency more broadly, believing that it covers a multitude of different violations of legal and social norms, from minor offences to serious crimes, committed by juveniles. To criminologists, juvenile delinquency encompasses all public wrongs committed by young people between the ages of 12 and 20. Included under the umbrella of juvenile delinquency are status offences, so called because they are closely connected with the age status of an offender; a particular action or behaviour is considered a violation of the law only if it is committed by a juvenile (Gidden, 1997). In an attempt to explain the theoretical underpinnings of delinquency, sociologists associate the specifics of youth behaviour with the home, family, neighbourhood, peers and many other variables that together or separately influence the formation of young people’s social environment (Gidden, 1997).
Siegel & Welsh (2011) sees a juvenile delinquent as one who repeatedly commits crime. Regoli (2006) explained that everyone involved in the juvenile justice system believes that juveniles may not fully grasp the short and long-term significance of criminal acts. As a result, they agreed that adolescents who are delinquent should generally be treated apart from the adult justice system. Regoli (2006) posit that there are a number of different personal, family and social dynamics that appear to increase the chances that an adolescent will become involved in delinquency. Sociologists and Psychologists have suggested some factors which are responsible for the involvement of underage in deviant behaviours. Some of these factors will be critically examined, to have a clear picture of the reasons why the young people participate in criminal activities.
Types of Juvenile Delinquency
Delinquency exhibits a variety of styles of conduct or forms of behaviour. Each of the patterns has its own social context, the causes are alleged to bring it about, and the forms of prevention or treatment most often suggested as appropriate for the pattern in question. Woolard (2009) has referred to following four types of delinquencies:
1. Individual Delinquency:- This refers to delinquency in which only one individual is involved in committing a delinquent act and its cause is located within the individual delinquent. Most of the explanations of this delinquent behavior come from psychiatrists. Their argument is that delinquency is caused by the psychological problems stemming primarily from defective/faulty/pathological family interaction patterns (Woolard, 2009).
2. Group-Supported Delinquency: In this type, the delinquencies are committed in companionship with others and the cause is located not in the personality of the individual or in the delinquent’s family but in the culture of the individual’s home and neighbourhood (Woolard, 2009).
3. Organized Delinquency:- This type of delinquency refers to delinquencies that are committed by developing formally organized groups. These delinquencies were analyzed in the United States in the 1950s and the concept of delinquent sub-culture was developed. This concept refers to the set of values and norms that guide the behavior of group members encourage the commission of delinquencies, award status on the basis of such acts and specify typical relationships to person who fall outside the groupings governed by group norms (Woolard, 2009).
4. Situational Delinquency The above three types of delinquencies have one thing in common. In all of them, delinquency is viewed as having deep roots. In individual delinquency, the root of delinquency lies primarily within individual. In group-supported delinquency and organized delinquencies the roots lie in the structure of the society with emphasis either on the ecological areas where delinquency prevails or the systematic way in which social structure places some individuals in a poor position to compete for success. The situational delinquency provides a different perspective. Here the assumption is that delinquency is not deeply rooted, and motives for delinquency and means for controlling it are often relatively simple. A young man indulges in a delinquent act without having a deep commitment to delinquency because of less developed impulse control or because of lesser reinforcement of family restraints and because he has relatively little to lose even if caught (Woolard, 2009).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTThe challenges of adolescents are enormous simply because of diverse growth and development that characterized this stage, this lead many adolescents into delinquent behaviours. This study thus investigated the patterns and causes of delinquent behaviours as expressed by secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area, Oyo State. The study also examined the influence of variables such as gender, age and residential area on respondents’ expressions. Descriptive survey de ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]SECTION C: Causes of Juvenile DelinquencyDirection: Kindly put a tick ( ) in the column that you consider as most applicable to you. There is no right or wrong responses. Please respond to all items as honestly as possible using the rating scales: SA - Strongly Agree; A - Agree; D – Disagree and SD - Strongly Disagree. ... Continue reading---
LIST OF TABLES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]LIST OF TABLES Title 1. Demographic characteristics of respondents 2. Mean and rank order of patterns of juvenile delinquency among students 3. Mean and rank order of causes of juvenile delinquency 4. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression on patterns of juvenile delinquency based on gender 5. Mean, SD and t-test results comparing respondents’ expression o ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSContent Title page Certification Dedication Acknowledgements Table of Contents List of Tables Abstract CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTIONBackground to the Study Statement of the Problem Research Questions Research Hypotheses Purpose of the Study Significance of the Study Operational Definition of Terms Scope of the Study CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATUREConcept of Adolescence Concept of Juvenile Delinquency Theories of Juvenile Delinquency Age and Juvenile Delinquen ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER ONE - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]Studies have been conducted on juvenile delinquency, for instance, Hoeve, Dubas, Eichelsheim, Laan, and Jan (2009) carried out a meta-analysis study on the relationship between parenting and delinquency. The study found strong link among parental monitoring, psychological control and negative aspects of support such as rejection and hostility, accounting for up to eleven percent of the variance in delinquency. Ekpo and Ajake (2013) studied family socio-economic status and delinquency among senio ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]Psychometric Properties of the Instrument The psychometric analysis of the instrument was based on the validity and reliability measure. The properties are presented thus;Validity: Adewumi (1998) noted that a measuring instrument is described as valid when it measures truly and accurately the quality it is meant to measure. Validity is one of the most crucial psychometric properties of measurement and it is concerned with whether a test or scale really measures what it purports to measure. ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 7 ]Research Question 2: What are the causes of juvenile delinquency among secondary school students in Ibarapa Local Government Area?Table 3 depicts the mean and rank order of respondents’ responses on causes of juvenile delinquency. The table shows that the respondents agreed to all the identified items as causes of juvenile delinquencies as the response scores are above average mean score of 2.5. However, items 1, 4, 12, 5 and 3 were ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th with mean scores of 3. ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]RecommendationsThe following recommendations were made based on the findings of the study:1. Parents and the society should provide for the needs of adolescents (most especially the basic needs) so that they can be prevented from engaging in delinquent behaviours that may negatively influence their future.2. The school authorities should monitor students’ activities and encourage them on the needs to associate with peers that help them improve in their academic pursuits and mo ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]Smetana, J. G., Campione,-Barr, N. & Metzger, A. (2006). Adolescent development in interpersonal and societal contexts. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 255-284.Snyder, H, N. & Sickmund, M. (2006). Juvenile offenders and victims. 2006 national report. Washington DC, US department of Justice, Office of Justice programmes office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Steinberg, L. & Monahan, K. C. (2007). Age differences in resistance to peer influence. Development Psychology 43(6): 1531- ... Continue reading---
