Prevalent Delinquency

Prevalent Delinquency

Delinquency is defined as the criminal characteristics that are portrayed by minors or juveniles. However, this is determined differently in diverse nations as there is also a variance in the age one is determined to be an adult, which can be from 16-18 years. Delinquency is seen as the behavior that is parallel to the law or any moral provisions of a given society. It is only applied when a minor commits a criminal offense of which, if committed by an adult, could attract criminal sentence. Prevalent delinquency henceforth involves the wide criminal behavior that most juveniles possess in their adolescent age.

The prevalent behavior can be involving a specific distinguished action that most adolescents possess and commit. These behaviors could include minor theft, assault and weapons use, or even more dangerous and violent acts. The delinquent behaviors are prevalent during this adolescent age due to certain factors that include peer pressure and the self-evaluation process where one feels the need to belong in a particular group. This is since most of these delinquents do not hold on to the behavior into their adult life as when maturity kicks in, one gradually adjust to a life that does not appreciate crime. Nevertheless, delinquency is also determined by one’s gender as, in most cases, it is most prevalent in boys than in girls, since the society also trains the male gender that they should be hardy in comparison with the females. Delinquency is also fostered by other factors that include emotional instability from poor school performance, frustrations from parents who are heavy drinkers; thus, don’t discipline or take care of the children, among other factors.

Nevertheless, various significant theories explain why delinquency is prevalent among adolescents; they include the psychological theory, criminal theory, and sociological theory. However, the sociological theory best explains juvenile delinquency since it brings out the dichotomy of various factors that cause the same. The factors include; their basic functionality, symbolic interactionism, and the conflict resolving mechanisms that juvenile experiences at their adolescence. In basic functionality, the delinquent is described as per the behavioral characteristics acquired from the institutions he or she is involved in, which could include the family he or she is coming from, the school attended, and the people the delinquent is involved with. These thus bring out the aspect of conformity where the said delinquent will try conforming to the behaviors and values acquired from the two settings. This will, in turn, affect the adolescent who will start behaving exactly like his family members, fighting if they fight, or insulting if that’s is the collective behavior in the school attended, respectively.

Symbolic interactionism also considered as one of the causes of delinquency as the minor will collect all the social meanings and definitions used in different setups to create a world of his own. These include the symbolic variations of interactions used in diverse setups, for instance, in the police force, the language used, and the interaction formats used therein. The delinquent will thus try imitating the same but now come up with their meaning of certain symbols or words. Delinquency is also fostered by how conflicts are resolved in the delinquent’s surroundings. These, in return, will either make the adolescent automatically violent as is portrayed by the people who are around, henceforth making them adopt the behavioral characteristic and without their knowledge extending the same to dangerous proclivities that now turn out to be criminal.