Recommendation: Research on risk factors for delinquency should focus on the effects of interactions between different risk factors. In particular, research on the effects of differences in neighbourhoods and their interactions with individual and family conditions should be expanded. According to a report by the Prison Policy Initiative, more than 48,000 children in America are being held in juvenile detention centers or prisons. [16] The global number is unknown, but UNICEF estimates that more than 1 million children are detained in various countries. [68] Minors in juvenile detention centers are sometimes subject to many of the same penalties as adults, such as solitary confinement, despite a younger age or the presence of disabilities. [69] Due to the influx of minors into prisons due to the pipeline from school to prison, education is increasingly becoming an issue. Children in juvenile detention have a compromised or non-existent school education, which leads to a higher number of early school leavers and the failure of secondary education. [70] The study of data on the prevalence and characteristics of juvenile sex offenders is a fundamental element in gaining an accurate understanding of this heterogeneous group. With mandatory reporting laws, it has become mandatory for providers to report all disclosed incidents of sexual abuse. Longo and Prescott claim that teens commit about 30 to 60 percent of all child sexual abuse.
[83] Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime reports show that in 2008, minors under the age of 18 accounted for 16.7% of violent rapes and 20.61% of other sexual offences. [85] The Center for Sex Offender Management states that about one-fifth of all rapes and half of all child sexual abuse can be caused by teenagers. [86] Although the concept of delinquency is familiar to Americans today, it is a historically new term that was not widely accepted until the early 1800s. Before that time, most people considered boys to be miniature adults. As a result, minors arrested for violating local laws have been subject to the same criminal proceedings as other adults. This was possible because contemporary notions of childhood and adolescence did not exist. By the early 1800s, however, more modern notions of childhood and adolescence had developed at different periods of the individual`s life. In addition, they were seen as times when the individual needed to be fed, guided and controlled in order to become a healthy and productive adult. These evolving notions of childhood and adolescence have also allowed the development of the concept of delinquency and the development of a separate case before the juvenile courts to deal with delinquent behaviour (Bernard 1992). In both adolescents and adults, drug and alcohol use is common among offenders. In 1998, about half of the youth detained under the Arrested Drug Abuse Monitoring Program tested positive for at least one drug. In the same cities2, about two-thirds of adult inmates have been tested, studies have shown that a number of life circumstances are risk factors for a child to become a juvenile offender.
Although this is numerous and diverse, the most common risk factors for juvenile delinquency are: gender is another risk factor in terms of influencing delinquent behavior. Predictors of different types of delinquency vary between women and men for different reasons, but a common reason for this is socialization. [49] [50] When analyzing different types of crime by gender, different predictors of delinquency emerge, but overall, it is clear that men commit more crimes than women. [51] In all offences, women are less likely than men to be involved in delinquent acts. [49] Women not only commit fewer crimes, but also fewer serious crimes. [50] A third source of information on crime is data from cohort studies. Cohort studies are designed to examine specific groups of adolescents over a period of time. Since the 1970s, several important cohort studies have been published that provide a valuable picture of crime among the juvenile population. Some of the most important cohort studies were published by Marvin Wolfgang and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, who looked at cohorts of teenagers born in Philadelphia in 1945 and 1958.
They found that adolescents who had five or more contacts, whom they described as “chronic recidivism,” made up no more than 7 percent of the cohort, but accounted for more than half of all crimes attributed to the cohort. What is even more striking is that this 7% accounted for more than 60% of homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults attributed to the cohort. Despite these results, there was no evidence that adolescent delinquent behaviour necessarily became more serious over time, although with repeated crimes committed by minors, an increase in severity often occurred (Tracy, Wolfgang, & Figlio, 1990; Wolfgang et al., 1972). Before beginning an examination of the impact of family structure, it is important to raise the issue of mechanisms (Rutter et al., 1998). It may not be the family structure itself that increases the risk of delinquency, but another factor that explains why this structure is present. Alternatively, a particular family structure may increase the risk of delinquency, but only as another stressor in a series; It may be the number rather than the specific type of stressors that is harmful. Being born and raised in a lone-parent family has also been associated with an increased risk of delinquency and antisocial behaviour. Research that takes into account the socio-economic conditions of single-parent households and other risks, including disciplinary styles and problems with the supervision and supervision of children, shows that these other factors are responsible for the different outcomes in these families.
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