Understanding Juvenile Delinquents (From Juvenile Caseworker: Resource Guide, 1992, P 30-36 -- See NCJ-138674)

• NCJ Number: 138679
• Author(s): B Glick
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: American Correctional Association; National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This overview examines several clusters of theories that speculate about the causes of juvenile delinquency: control theories, cultural deviance theories, and various delinquency prevention theories.

Abstract

The nature of juveniles is explored in the context of their environment to facilitate understanding of juvenile delinquency causation theories. Many factors interfere with the positive development of juveniles in the 1990's that are beyond their control: racism, poverty, cultural deprivation, and learned aggression. Control theories assume that the inclination to perform antisocial behavior lies within the individual. According to cultural deviance theories, juvenile delinquency results from the juvenile's desire to conform to cultural values that conflict directly with those of the accepted moral and social order of conventional society. Social labeling theorists believe that the assignment of a label creates an expectation in both the persons themselves and others about future antisocial behavior and that the self- fulfilling prophecy of this label actually increases the occurrence of antisocial behavior. Proponents of radical theory consider crime to be a phenomenon created largely by those who possess wealth and power. Those who understand the causes of antisocial behavior realize that delinquency can be prevented. With increased understanding, the careworker is in an excellent position to promote juvenile development and habilitate the delinquent.