THEORIES OF JUVENILE JUSTICE

Roxanna Morales

Columbia College

SOC 331 ONLINE

Theories of Juvenile Justice

Outline

Introduction2

Overview of Purpose of Paper2

Juvenile Delinquency Theory2

History of the Theory & Causes Of Delinquency.3

Prevention Program4

History of Program5

Effectiveness of the Prevention Programs5

Conclusion6

Introduction

The term juvenile delinquency encompasses much more than a legal definition about violations of law by youthful offenders. Its meaning becomes clear only when one analyzes how society has attempted to define and combat delinquency (Braga, 2005). Americans first employed the term in the eighteenth century, and since then, although mostly used in a universal way, it has focused on the male delinquent.

Overview of Purpose of Paper

The purpose of the paper is to discuss theories regarding the causes of juvenile delinquency and how Oregon learning center keep juvenile out of trouble.

Juvenile Delinquency Theory

There is no doubt that various experts can give us many theories as to the causes of juvenile delinquency, however, the researcher feels that one of the causes of juvenile delinquency is the breakdown of families, including lack of parental control over children (Hemmens, 2004). It is ironic in Jamaica today, one must have a driver's license to operate a vehicle and a permit to own a gun but one does not have to have training or a license in order to become a parent. Without specialized educational programmes in child development and parenting, many of our future parents will not have a chance at becoming successful parents and worse, yet, many parents today are already contributing to the ever increasing problem of juvenile delinquency simply by not knowing how to be parents. Being a parent is a lifelong commitment and new parents must learn parenting skills immediately; mistakes in parenting will have drastic effects on the child (Kresnak, 2003).

The study of juvenile delinquency is full of conflicting positions. There are those who believe that this area of study should be limited to the theories of why juveniles become involved with crime (Cook and Jens, 2004). Others contend that the study of delinquency also ought to include the environmental influences on juvenile crime, such as the family, school, peer and gang participation, and drug involvements. Still others conclude that the study of delinquency should include the social colearning theorie to prevent juvenile delinquency.

History of the Theory & Causes Of Delinquency.

Studies have been made to determine the causes of juvenile delinquency. Many of these studies have focused on family relationships (Townsend, 2006). In one study, comparing delinquent and non-delinquent youths showed that over ninety percent of the delinquents had unhappy home lives and felt discontented with their life circumstances. Only thirteen percent of the non-delinquent youths felt this way. This study also brought attention to the fact that to these youths, delinquency appeared to be a sort of solution to them. It brought attention to youths neglected by their parents, or approval of delinquent friends, or it solved problems of an unhappy home life in other ways (Williams, 2005).

The theory of juvenile delinquency has its historical roots. The one I choose for this paper is the social learning ...