A.

Juvenile Delinquency
Content
1. Juvenile Delinquency
2. Causes of Child Delinquency
3. Juvenile Justice System of Pakistan

Contents
1. Juvenile Delinquency_______________________________________________________3
Behavioral Definition______________________________________________________________3
Legal Definition__________________________________________________________________3
Status Offenders_____________________________________________________________3
Juvenile Delinquents and Status Offenders____________________________________________4
2(A). Causes of Juvenile Delinquency____________________________________________5
Factors Behind Juvenile Delinquency_________________________________________________5
Social factors__________________________________________________________________________5
1. Disorganization in Family_____________________________________________________________5
2. Broken Families____________________________________________________________________5
3. Parent-Child Relationship____________________________________________________________5
4. Defects of School System_____________________________________________________________6
5. Social Disorganization_______________________________________________________________6
Psychological Factors____________________________________________________________________6
1. The Characteristic of Personality_______________________________________________________6
2. Emotional Instability________________________________________________________________6
Economic Factors_______________________________________________________________________6

2(B). Causes: Theoretical Approach______________________________________________7

2.1. Individual____________________________________________________________________7
2.1.1. RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY__________________________________________________________7
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Choice Theories___________________________________7
Personal Problems____________________________________________________________________7
Parental Controls_____________________________________________________________________8
Financial Needs______________________________________________________________________8
Getting a Job________________________________________________________________________8
2.1.2. Routine Activities Theory____________________________________________________________8
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Routine Activities Theory___________________________8
Lack of Capable Guardians______________________________________________________________8
Suitable Targets______________________________________________________________________8
Motivated Offenders__________________________________________________________________8
Controlling Delinquency________________________________________________________________8
General Deterrence_________________________________________________________________9
Specific Deterrence_________________________________________________________________9
Incapacitation_____________________________________________________________________9
Situational Crime Prevention__________________________________________________________9
 2.1.3. Biosocial Theories_________________________________________________________________10
Biochemical Factors__________________________________________________________________11
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Biochemical Theories_____________________________11
Environmental Contaminants________________________________________________________11
Diet and Delinquency______________________________________________________________11
Hormonal Levels__________________________________________________________________11
Neurological Dysfunction______________________________________________________________11
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Neurological Dysfunction Theories__________________11
Learning Disabilities________________________________________________________________11
Arousal Theory____________________________________________________________________11
Genetic Influences___________________________________________________________________12
Evolutionary Theory__________________________________________________________________12
2.1.4. Psychological Theories_____________________________________________________________12
Psychodynamic Theory_______________________________________________________________12
Behavioral Theory___________________________________________________________________12
Cognitive Theory____________________________________________________________________13
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Psychological Theories____________________________13
Intrapsychic Processes______________________________________________________________13
Learning Processes________________________________________________________________13
Information Processing_____________________________________________________________13
Personality and Delinquency_________________________________________________________13
Intelligence and Delinquency________________________________________________________13

2(B). Causes of Juvenile Delinquency___________________________________________14

2.2 Social_______________________________________________________________________14
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Social Factors Theories____________________________14
Interpersonal Interactions___________________________________________________________14
Community Conditions_____________________________________________________________14
Exposure to Violence_______________________________________________________________14
Social Change_____________________________________________________________________14
Low Socioeconomic Status__________________________________________________________14
Racial Disparity___________________________________________________________________14
Negative Labelling_________________________________________________________________14
The Elements of Socialization Linked to Delinquency__________________________________________15
Family_____________________________________________________________________________15
School_____________________________________________________________________________15
Peer Relations______________________________________________________________________15
1. Juvenile Delinquency
Behavioral Definition
 The behavior of a minor child that is marked by criminal activities, persistent antisocial
behavior, or disobedience which the child‘s parents are unable to control.
 Conduct by a juvenile characterized by antisocial behaviour that is beyond parental control.
 Adolescents who break the laws and engage in illegal acts are called as Juvenile delinquents.
 Adolescents become a juvenile delinquent after being judged guilty of a crime by a court of
law These delinquent behaviors may include littering, returning home late, sibling fight,
bothering passerby, abusive language, gambling, absence from home run away from home,
theft robbery, dacoity addiction, car lifting, pick pocketing, cell phone snatching, stealing,
drug selling and murder etc.

Legal Definition
 Juvenile delinquency is the participation by a minor child, usually between the ages of 12
and 18 (or as defined by state legal system), in illegal behavior or activities.

Juvenile delinquency is also used to refer to children who exhibit a persistent behavior of
mischievousness or disobedience, so as to be considered out of parental control, becoming subject
to legal action by the court system.

 Actions that violate the law, committed by a person who is under the legal age of majority.

Juvenile delinquency occurs when a minor violates a criminal statue. When a juvenile commits a
crime, the procedures that take place differ from those of an adult offender.

Legally a juvenile delinquent is one who commits an act defined by law as illegal and who is
adjudicated “delinquent” by an appropriate court. The legal definition is usually restricted to persons
under 18 but states vary in their age distinction.

Status Offenders
Other than delinquency, a child also becomes subject to state authority for committing status
offenses—actions that would not be considered illegal if perpetrated by an adult; such conduct is
illegal only because the child is under age. These statutes impose a variety of sanctions, including a
monetary fine, suspension from school, and denial of a driver’s license.

Status Offense: Conduct that is illegal only because the child is under age.

Wayward Minors: Early legal designation of youths who violate the law because of their minority
status; now referred to as status offenders.

A status offender is someone charged with an offense that would not be a crime if committed by an
adult. Common examples are running away from home, being truant from school, and being beyond
parental control. Status offenders are virtually never incarcerated for their first offense. Under most
criminal codes, juvenile status offenders break laws that cover how children or adolescents should
behave.

Examples of these offenses misbehaviors that are illegal for youth but not for adults include breaking
tobacco consumption, not attending school, breaking curfew laws, running away from home, or
being beyond the control of parents. Status offense legislation does not cover those who commit
criminal offenses such as theft or robbery.

Difference
Juvenile Delinquents Status Offenders
Juvenile offenders are juveniles who commit Status offender is a term for a juvenile who has
offenses that are violations of the law at any committed an act that is an offense only
age below 18 years. because of the age of the juvenile. If they were
an adult there would have been no offense.

Research studies on causes of status offenses have identified personal, family, and school problems
as contributing factors.

Noncriminal violations of the law by adults such as speeding or illegal parking are also sometimes
called status or regulatory offenses.

Treatment Differences among Juvenile Delinquents, Status Offenders, and Adults

Juvenile Delinquent Status Offender Adult
Behavior forbidden to
Act Delinquent Criminal
minors
Enforcement Police Police Police
Nonsecure shelter
Detention Secure detention Jail
care
Adjudication Juvenile court Juvenile court Criminal court
Correctional Community treatment
Training school Prison
Alternative facility

Juvenile Delinquents and Status Offenders

 The status offender and the juvenile delinquent create many separate and distinct problems
for the juvenile justice system.
 If status offenders are placed with the juvenile delinquents, there is a risk of exposing the
child to a harder criminal element. This can create adult offenders.
 The child becomes labeled with the intake into the juvenile justice system.
 The status offender that has less interaction with the juvenile justice system will often “age
out” of offending and not receive a lifelong label of delinquent.
 Juvenile delinquents pose a problem for the juvenile justice system because of the varying
age of the offender and how to punish them.
 There is a vast difference between the 10-year-old offender and the 16-year-old delinquent.
Placement must be assessed on the age and degree of criminality of the child. Older
delinquents are often waived to the adult courts.
2(A). Causes of Juvenile Delinquency
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency: Social factors, economic factors, psychological factors, political factors.
General contributors of juvenile delinquency:
i. child’s own personality characteristics or behavior pattern
ii. aggression, restlessness and concentration problem
iii. substance abuse
iv. association with antisocial peers/negative identity
v. inferiority/superiority complex, intolerance
vi. family and community or neighborhood (maltreatment, parenting errors)
vii. rigid, strict or dysfunctional parents
viii. high rate of crime in community
ix. family member’s involvement in crime
x. exposure to violence
xi. poverty
xii. lack of supervision by the elders

Factors Behind Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency is a mixture of two words, which are used in the same flow of meaning as
juveniles, which is said to the person who is under the age of 18 and the other word is delinquency.

Social factors
Social factors mean the socialization which comprises all those things which are directly influenced
on an individual when he leftovers in a group and pick up these delinquent actions during the
socialization development, it may be the family, neighborhood, etc. These factors permanently exist
in the neighboring of the individual where they play their role to follow the group member to their
collective behavior as a total culture. Here one does not need to learn the behavior that the other
people are having. These actions are straight inculcated into the character of an individual, when he
is a follower of any group, culture. But, if we search it analytically, it comprises the following:

1. Disorganization in Family
The family is considered as the most notice able organization, where the youth is born and learns all
those actions which are in exercise within the family. Whatsoever the actions the father was having
that is openly moved to the elder son through the process of socialization and culture. If the father
was involved in the positive activities and he keeps a close relationship with his children, then the
child will not compel any negative act, but, if the father was criminal and involved in the negative
activities, then the chances of juvenile delinquency are increased. Delinquency is not transferred
from parents to children; it can be transported mostly from elder brothers to the younger brothers.

2. Broken Families
Broken houses include those houses which are run by single parents (mother or father), working
parents, divorced parents, or dead parents, where the children remain out of direct watch or control
of their parents and thus, they get the chance to do immoral activities.

3. Parent-Child Relationship
If there is an unattached parent-child relationship, the youngster's probabilities of delinquency
increases, the disconnected relationship may be to a smaller degree of direct interaction between
the parents and children, the ignoring of children or to the smallest extent friendliness from parents
to their children.
4. Defects of School System
If the atmosphere of the school is expressed very harsh and the physical punishment to the child
arises, then the child will get fearful of going to school. Hence, he stops going to school. In these
conditions, the parents force him to go to school. Then the child comes into the mental dilemma, if
his stop over at home the parents will beat him. Thus, the youth leaves both his home and the
school.

5. Social Disorganization
If the groups do not participate in the society, then the children can become delinquent. In social
disorder, the children are less focused how to act and what to do and what to escape because in
disorder, the anomie overcomes in the society where the child finds the society as the worst place
and starts doing whatsoever comes into his mind.

Psychological Factors
These reasons are regularly linked to the individual himself, where his mind provides him the orders
that how to act and what to do if a certain condition develops. It embraces those causes which are
purely connected to the individual mind as the following can be said as the psychological factors of
juvenile delinquency. Few persons are identified as mentally ill, therefore, they commit illegal acts as
the juvenile delinquent, because they tend rather to commit inaccurate activities than the right one,
because such types of persons are often depressed one, and they eventually tend to do the
inaccurate activity.

1. The Characteristic of Personality

There are few appearances, which are included in one’s personality as rude and un-submissiveness.
These features make the person delinquent, because impoliteness makes the person proud and that
proud behavior causes the person to compel the juvenile delinquent.

2. Emotional Instability
There are few persons that are by nature very much aggressive, who cannot bear even the slightest
punishment. Therefore, if a minor punishment is assumed for them, it reasons to make them
delinquent.

Economic Factors
Though economic causes are less accountable for juvenile delinquency, yet it plays some role in
juvenile delinquency. If a child feels that he has no food to eat, and his ego is about to be tainted in
the society, and his neighborhood is charming, so strong as compare to his family set up, here the
teenage can feel the idea to get wealthy, so most of the time he chooses the wrong way because of
an individual, it is impossible to be wealthy in a short time. In this condition, the person joins the
gang group and becomes delinquent.
2(B). Causes: Theoretical Approach
2.1. Individual
To some theorists, the locus of delinquency is rooted in the individual: how the individual makes
decisions, the quality of his or her biological makeup, and his or her personality and psychological
profile.

Individual-level explanations of delinquency can be divided into two distinct categories. One
position, referred to as choice theory, suggests that young offenders choose to engage in antisocial
activity because they believe their actions will be beneficial and profitable.

Choice theory holds that youths will engage in delinquent and criminal behavior after
weighing the consequences and benefits of their actions; delinquent behavior is a rational
choice made by a motivated offender who perceives that the chances of gain outweigh any
possible punishment or loss.

Some delinquent acts, especially violent ones, seem irrational, selfish, and/or hedonistic. Some
delinquency experts believe that these seemingly irrational and destructive antisocial behaviors may
be inspired by aberrant physical or psychological traits rather than rational thought and decision
making. This view of delinquency is referred to here generally as trait theory because it links
delinquency to biological and psychological traits that control human development.

Trait theory holds that youths engage in delinquent or criminal behavior due to aberrant
physical or psychological traits that govern behavioral choices; delinquent actions are
impulsive or instinctual rather than rational choices.

2.1.1. RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

Because it was assumed that people had free will to choose their behavior, those who violated the
law were motivated by personal needs such as greed, revenge, survival, and hedonism.

Free will view that youths are in charge of their own destinies and are free to make personal
behavior choices unencumbered by environmental factors.

Utilitarians: Those who believe that people weigh the benefits and consequences of their
future actions before deciding on a course of behavior.

Classical criminology holds that decisions to violate the law are weighed against possible
punishments, and to deter crime the pain of punishment must outweigh the benefit of illegal
gain; led to graduated punishments based on seriousness of the crime (let the punishment
fit the crime).

Choice theorists believe that law-violating behavior occurs when a reasoning offender decides to
take the chance of violating the law after considering his or her personal situation (need for money,
learning experiences, opportunities for conventional success), values (conscience, moral values,
need for peer approval), and situation (overcoming some immediate problem).

What are some of the most important social developments that produce or influence delinquent
decision making?
Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Choice Theories
Personal Problems Kids may be forced to choose delinquent behavior to help them solve problems
that defy conventional solutions.
Parental Controls Adolescents whose parents are poor supervisors and allow them the freedom to
socialize with peers are more likely to engage in deviant behaviors.

Financial Needs The choice of delinquency may be shaped by economic needs.

Getting a Job While economic necessity may propel some kids into delinquent modes of behavior,
others may seek a more conventional solution to their problems, such as getting an after-school or
weekend job. While gainful employment sounds like a healthy choice, research efforts show that
adolescent work experience may actually increase delinquency rather than limit its occurrence.
Rather than saving for college as their parents hope, kids who get jobs may be looking for an easy
opportunity to acquire cash to buy drugs and alcohol; after-school jobs may attract teens who are
more impulsive than ambitious.

2.1.2. Routine Activities Theory

According to routine activities theory, originally developed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson,
the volume and distribution of predatory crime are influenced by the interaction of three variables
that reflect the routine activities found in everyday life: the lack of capable guardians (such as home
owners and their neighbors, friends, and relatives); the availability of suitable targets (such as homes
containing easily salable goods); and the presence of motivated offenders (such as unemployed
teenagers). If each of these components is present, there is greater likelihood that a predatory crime
will take place.

Routine activities theory view that crime is a “normal” function of the routine activities of
modern living; offenses can be expected if there is a motivated offender and a suitable
target that is not protected by capable guardians.

Predatory crime: Violent crimes against people, and crimes in which an offender attempts to
steal an object directly from its holder.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Routine Activities Theory

Lack of Capable Guardians The presence of capable guardians who can protect homes and
possessions can reduce the motivation to commit delinquent acts.

Suitable Targets Routine activities theory suggests that the availability of suitable targets such as
easily transportable commodities will increase delinquency rates.

Motivated Offenders As the number and motivation of offenders increase, so too do delinquency
rates.

Motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the lack of guardianship have an interactive effect.
Delinquency rates will increase if these motivated offenders are placed in close proximity to
unguarded, suitable targets.

Controlling Delinquency
If delinquency is a rational choice as some believe, then delinquency prevention is a matter of three
general strategies:

(1) It stands to reason that it can be prevented by convincing potential delinquents that they will be
severely punished for committing delinquent acts; then
(2) they must be punished so severely that they never again commit crimes; or
(3) it must be so difficult to commit crimes that the potential gain is not worth the risk.
This vision has generated four strategies of control: general deterrence, specific deterrence,
incapacitation, and situational crime prevention.

General Deterrence: Crime control policies that depend on the fear of criminal penalties, such as long
prison sentences for violent crimes; the aim is to convince law violators that the pain outweighs the
benefit of criminal activity.
One of the guiding principles of deterrence theory is that the more severe, certain, and swift the
punishment, the greater its deterrent effect will be.

❙ These strategies are aimed at making potential delinquents fear the consequences of their acts.
The threat of punishment is meant to convince rational delinquents that crime does not pay.
❙ Operationalizations of these strategies are mandatory sentences, waiver to adult court, and
aggressive policing.
❙ Problems with these strategies are that delinquents are immature and may not fear punishment,
and the certainty of arrest and punishment is low.

Specific Deterrence: Sending convicted offenders to secure incarceration facilities so that

punishment is severe enough to convince offenders not to repeat their criminal activity.
Although general deterrence focuses on potential offenders, specific deterrence targets offenders
who have already been convicted.

❙ This strategy refers to punishing known delinquents so severely that they will never be tempted to
repeat their offenses. If delinquency is rational, then painful punishment should reduce its future
allure.
❙ Operationalization of this strategy is placement in a punitive juvenile detention facility or secure
institution.
❙ A problem with this strategy is that punishment may increase reoffending rates rather than deter
future delinquency.

Incapacitation: It stands to reason that that ability of delinquents to commit illegal acts will be
eliminated or at least curtailed by putting them behind bars.
While it seems logical that incarcerating the most dangerous repeat juvenile offenders will reduce
their ability to commit delinquent acts, a strict incapacitation policy does not always produce the
desired effect.

❙ These strategies attempt to reduce crime rates by denying motivated offenders the opportunity to
commit crime. If, despite the threat of law and punishment, some people still find crime attractive,
then the only way to control their behaviour is to incarcerate them for extended periods.
❙ Operationalization of these strategies is long, tough, mandatory sentences, putting more kids
behind bars.
❙ A problem with these strategies is that people are kept in prison beyond the years they may
commit crime. Minor, nondangerous offenders are locked up, and this is a very costly strategy.

Situational Crime Prevention: Crime prevention method that relies on reducing the opportunity to
commit criminal acts by (a) making them more difficult to perform, (b) reducing their reward, and (c)
increasing their risks.
Rather than deterring or punishing individuals in order to reduce delinquency rates, situational crime
prevention strategies aim to reduce the opportunities people have to commit particular crimes.
❙ This strategy is aimed at convincing would-be delinquents to avoid specific targets. It relies on the
doctrine that crime can be avoided if motivated offenders are denied access to suitable targets.
❙ Operationalizations of this strategy are home security systems or guards, which broadcast the
message that guardianship is great here, stay away; the potential reward is not worth the risk of
apprehension.
❙ Problems with the strategy are the extinction of the effect and displacement of crime.

Target-Hardening Technique: Crime prevention technique that makes it more difficult for a would-
be delinquent to carry out the illegal act, for example, by installing a security device in a home.

2.1.3. Biosocial Theories

Creatures of all species are influenced by their genetic inheritance and their innate need to survive
and dominate others.

Equipotentiality: View that all people are equal at birth and are thereafter influenced by their
environment.

Trait theorists argue that no two people (with rare exceptions, such as identical twins) are alike, and
therefore each will react to environmental stimuli in a distinct way. They assume that a combination
of personal traits and the environment produces individual behaviour patterns.

Biosocial theory: The view that both thought and behaviour have biological and social bases.

Biosocial Theories
Crime, especially violence, is a function of diet, vitamin intake,
Premise
hormonal imbalance, and/or food allergies.
Biochemical
Explains irrational violence. Shows how the environment interacts
Strengths
with personal traits to influence behaviour.
Criminals and delinquents often suffer brain impairment, as
measured by the EEG. Learning disabilities
Premise such as attention deficit/hyperactive disorder and minimum brain
dysfunction are related to antisocial
Neurological behaviour.
Helps explain relationship between child abuse and crime, and why
there is a relationship between
Strengths
victimization and violence (i.e., people who suffer head trauma may
become violent).
Delinquent traits and predispositions are inherited. Criminality of
Premise parents can predict the delinquency of
Genetic children.
Explains why only a small percentage of youths in a high-crime area
Strengths
become chronic offenders.
Behaviour patterns and reproductive traits, developed over the
Premise
millennia, control behaviour.
Evolutionary
Explains male aggressiveness. Helps us understand why violence is
Strengths
so common.
Biochemical Factors
Biochemical research has linked diet to behaviour. Excessive intake of certain substances, such as
sugar, and the lack of proper vitamins and proteins have been tied to aggression and antisocial
behaviours.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Biochemical Theories

Environmental Contaminants One area of concern is that overexposure to particular environmental
contaminants, including metals and minerals such as iron and manganese, may produce effects that
put kids at risk for antisocial behavior.

Diet and Delinquency There is also evidence that diet may influence behavior through its impact on
body chemistry.

Hormonal Levels Hormonal levels are another area of biochemical research. Antisocial behavior
allegedly peaks in the teenage years because hormonal activity is at its highest level during this
period.

Neurological Dysfunction
Another focus of biosocial theory is the neurological—or brain and nervous system—structure of
offenders.

Neurological: Pertaining to the brain and nervous system structure.

Minimal Brain Dysfunction (MBD): Damage to the brain itself that causes antisocial behavior
injurious to the individual’s lifestyle and social adjustment.

Impairment in brain functioning may be present at birth, produced by factors such as low
birthweight, brain injury during pregnancy, birth complications, and inherited abnormalities. Brain
injuries can also occur later in life as a result of brutal beatings or sexual abuse by a parent.

Children who suffer from measurable neurological deficits at birth also may experience a number of
antisocial traits throughout their life course.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Neurological Dysfunction Theories

Learning Disabilities One specific type of MBD that has generated considerable interest is learning
disability (LD).

Learning Disability (LD): Neurological dysfunction that prevents an individual from learning to his or
her potential.

Arousal Theory It has long been suspected that obtaining “thrills” is a motivator of crime.

Arousal Theorists: Delinquency experts who believe that aggression is a function of the level of an
individual’s need for stimulation or arousal from the environment. Those who require more
stimulation may act in an aggressive manner to meet their needs.

Arousal theorists believe that, for a variety of genetic and environmental reasons, some people’s
brains function differently in response to environmental stimuli. Some delinquency experts believe
that aggression is a function of the level of an individual’s need for stimulation or arousal from the
environment. Those who require more stimulation may act in an aggressive manner to meet their
needs. They become “sensation seekers” who seek out stimulating activities that may include
aggressive, violent behavior patterns.
Genetic Influences
Individuals who share genes are alike in personality regardless of how they are reared, whereas
rearing environment induces little or no personality resemblance.

Biosocial theorists also study the genetic makeup of delinquents. According to this view, (a)
antisocial behavior is inherited, (b) the genetic makeup of parents is passed on to children, and (c)
genetic abnormality is linked to a variety of antisocial behaviors.

Evolutionary Theory
According to this evolutionary theory, the competition for scarce resources has influenced and
shaped the human species.141 Over the course of human existence, people have been shaped to
engage in actions that promote their well-being and ensure the survival and reproduction of their
genetic line.

Evolutionary Theory: Explaining the existence of aggression and violent behavior as positive
adaptive behaviors in human evolution; these traits allowed their bearers to reproduce
disproportionately, which has had an effect on the human gene pool.

2.1.4. Psychological Theories

Psychologists point out that many delinquent youths have poor home lives, destructive relationships
with neighbors, friends, and teachers, and conflicts with authority figures in general. These
relationships seem to indicate a disturbed personality structure. Furthermore, numerous studies of
incarcerated youths indicate that the youths’ personalities are marked by negative, antisocial
behavior characteristics. And because delinquent behavior occurs among youths in every racial,
ethnic, and socioeconomic group, psychologists view it as a function of emotional and mental
disturbance, rather than purely a result of social factors, such as racism, poverty, and class conflict.

Psychodynamic Theory
According to psychodynamic theory, whose basis is the pioneering work of the Austrian physician
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), law violations are a product of an abnormal personality structure
formed early in life and which thereafter controls human behavior choices.

Psychodynamic Theory: Branch of psychology that holds that the human personality is controlled by
unconscious mental processes developed early in childhood.

Mood Disorder: A condition in which the prevailing emotional mood is distorted or inappropriate to
the circumstances.

Alexithymia: A deficit in emotional cognition that prevents people from being aware of their
feelings or being able to understand or talk about their thoughts and emotions; sufferers from
alexithymia seem robotic and emotionally dead.

Behavioral Theory
Behavioral psychologists argue that a person’s personality is learned throughout life during
interaction with others. Behaviorism concerns itself solely with measurable events and not the
unobservable psychic phenomena described by psychoanalysts.
Behaviorism: Branch of psychology concerned with the study of observable behavior rather than
unconscious processes; focuses on particular stimuli and responses to them.

Social Learning Theory: The view that behavior is modeled through observation, either directly
through intimate contact with others or indirectly through media; interactions that are rewarded are
copied, whereas those that are punished are avoided.

Cognitive Theory
Psychologists with a cognitive perspective focus on mental processes—the way people perceive and
mentally represent the world around them, and how they solve problems.

Cognitive Theory: The branch of psychology that studies the perception of reality and the mental
processes required to understand the world we live in.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Psychological Theories

Theory Cause
Psychodynamic Intrapsychic Processes
(Psychoanalytic) • Unconscious conflicts
• Childhood traumas
• Family abuse
• Neurosis
• Psychosis
Behavioral Learning Processes
• Past experiences
• Stimulus
• Rewards and punishments
Cognitive Information Processing
• Thinking
• Problem solving
• Script
• Moral development

Personality and Delinquency

Personality can be defined as the reasonably stable patterns of behavior, including thoughts and
emotions, that distinguish one person from another.

Personality and Antisocial Behaviors

Extravert: A person who behaves impulsively and doesn’t have the ability to examine motives and
behavior.

Neuroticism: A personality trait marked by unfounded anxiety, tension, and emotional instability.

Psychopathic Personality: (also known as sociopathic personality) A person lacking in warmth and
affection, exhibiting inappropriate behavior responses, and unable to learn from experience.

Intelligence and Delinquency

It has been charged that children with low IQs are responsible for a disproportionate share of
delinquency.
IQ tests were believed to measure the inborn genetic makeup of individuals, and many
criminologists accepted the predisposition of substandard individuals toward delinquency. This view
is referred to as nature theory of intelligence.

Nurture Theory holds that intelligence is partly biological but mostly sociological; negative
environmental factors encourage delinquent behavior and depress intelligence scores for many
youths.

2(B). Causes of Juvenile Delinquency

2.2 Social
The most prominent social theories of delinquency that are based on the effects of social problems
and social relations are divided into two main groups:

1. Social structure theories hold that delinquency is a function of a person’s place in the economic
structure.
2. Social process theories view delinquency as the result of a person’s interaction with critical
elements of socialization.

3. Social reaction theory, which is also commonly called labeling theory, explains how sustained
delinquent behavior stems from destructive social interactions and encounters.

Causes of Juvenile Delinquency According to Social Factors Theories

Social factors that cause or affect delinquent behaviors.

Interpersonal Interactions Social relationships with families, peers, schools, jobs, criminal justice
agencies, and the like, may play an important role in shaping behavioral choices. Inappropriate and
disrupted social relations have been linked to crime and delinquency

Community Conditions Crime and delinquency rates are highest in deteriorated inner-city areas.
These communities, wracked by poverty, decay, fear, and despair, also maintain high rates of
criminal victimization.

Exposure to Violence Kids living in poor neighborhoods are exposed to a constant stream of
antisocial behaviors. Even when neighborhood disadvantage and poverty are taken into account, the
more often children are exposed to violence within their residential community the more likely they
are to become violent themselves.

Social Change Political unrest and mistrust, economic stress, and family disintegration are social
changes that have been found to precede sharp increases in delinquency rates.

Low Socioeconomic Status Millions of people have scant, if any, resources and suffer socially and
economically as a result. People who live in poverty may have the greatest incentive to commit
delinquency.

Racial Disparity The consequences of racial disparity take a toll on youth.

Negative Labelling Throughout their lives, people are given a variety of symbolic labels, some
positive, others negative. These labels help define not just one trait but the whole person. Labels can
improve self-image and social standing. In contrast, negative labels—including troublemaker,
mentally ill, and stupid—help stigmatize the recipients of these labels and reduce their self-image.
Those who have accepted these labels are more prone to engage in delinquent behaviours than
those whose self-image has not been so tarnished.

The Elements of Socialization Linked to Delinquency

Family The primary influence on children is the family. When parenting is inadequate, a child’s
maturational processes will be interrupted and damaged. Although much debate still occurs over
which elements of the parent-child relationship are most critical, there is little question that family
relationships have a significant influence on behavior. There is now evidence that children who grow
up in homes where parents use severe discipline, yet lack warmth and are less involved in their
children’s lives, are prone to antisocial behavior. In contrast, parents who are supportive and
effectively control their children in a noncoercive fashion—parental efficacy—are more likely to raise
children who refrain from delinquency. Delinquency will be reduced if parents provide the type of
structure that integrates children into families while giving them the ability to assert their
individuality and regulate their own behavior.

School The literature linking delinquency to poor school performance and inadequate educational
facilities is extensive. Youths who feel that teachers do not care, who consider themselves failures,
and who do poorly in school are more likely to become involved in a delinquent way of life than
adolescents who are educationally successful. Research findings based on studies done over the past
two decades indicate that many school dropouts, especially those who have been expelled, face a
significant chance of entering a delinquent career. In contrast, doing well in school and developing
attachments to teachers have been linked to delinquency resistance.

Peer Relations The typical adolescent struggles to impress his closest friends and to preserve their
social circle.136 If their quest for social acceptance involves peers who engage in antisocial behavior,
youths may learn the attitudes that support delinquency and soon find themselves cut off from
conventional associates and institutions. Chronic offenders surround themselves with peers who
share their antisocial activities, and these relationships seem to be stable over time. Kids who
maintain close relations with antisocial peers will sustain their own delinquent behaviour into their
adulthood.