Juvenile Crimes



Juvenile Crimes

Introduction

Juvenile crimes are those illegal actions that are committed by minors (juveniles). These crimes are deal by different procedures such as juvenile courts and detention centers that are other than dealing with the illegal behaviors of adults. The juvenile delinquents are those people who are under the age of 18 years. The trials of crimes committed by youth offenders depend on the nature and the seriousness of the crime and there are very few crimes that are tried in the criminal courts. It has become quite evident with the passage of time that juvenile crime rate has been increasing in many countries (Benekos & Merlo, 2008). There are many difference kinds of offences committed by children for and are referred to as delinquent acts. Such illegal behaviors of crimes include fighting, auto-motive theft, robbery and drug trafficking. In this paper three kinds of juvenile crimes that are Juvenile Theft, Juvenile Motor Vehicle Theft and Juvenile Drug Trafficking will be studied according to their gender, age, race and the scenarios in which they commit these crimes (ecology of crime).

Discussion

There are numerous factors that lead to juvenile delinquency for example sometime youths want to test the limits set by the society or parents. On the contrary it is believed that if strict laws for instance curfews are imposed, the juvenile delinquency rate would fall.

Juvenile Theft

Juvenile theft is one of the most common forms of delinquent behavior that children are involved in at least once in their life. For most of the juveniles, theft is considered to be merely an isolated incident. For some population of juveniles, crimes like theft are used to fit in with a peer group. On the other hand, for some it plays an integral role in developing criminal life style, and as a result youth offenders might continue to commit illegal activities being an adult.

Juvenile theft is used as a symbol by many juveniles to display their insecurity and unhappiness. Most of the children continue with this act despite being aware of the fact these thefts are illegal clearly in order to express their discontentment and confusion, as they are not mature enough to handle such problems in less healthier and impulsive ways. Two most popular terms used to describe juvenile theft are “Larceny” and “Stealing”.

Children, who steal and practice juvenile theft, reflect signs of antisocial behavior most probably by the age of 12. Most of the juvenile theft is carried by males falling in the age range of 15 to 18 years old. Females are less likely to be involved in such crimes, as many studies and researchers have concluded that men make most of the total percentage of juvenile crimes. This is also evident as most of youth population that drops out of school consists of males, so it is quite certain to say that male youth offenders are more involved in delinquent theft (Richards, 2001). For example a 16 year old boy, who drops out from his high school, is ...