Juvenile Delinquency in America

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Sociology - Children and Youth, grade: A, State University of New York at Stony Brook, language: English, abstract: Juvenile delinquency has been ranked as one of the most serious problems facing the United States today. It has become a national problem, as opposed to being restricted to the large cities. The nature of juvenile delinquency has changed over time such that the delinquent activities being engaged in by the juveniles have changed over the years. The relevant juvenile justice agents have attempted to prevent and control this vice. However, it seems like more still needs to be done are the methods that have been employed have not yielded the desired results. (Muraskin & Roberts, 2005) There is no universally accepted definition and approach of addressing juvenile delinquency. For instance, to the criminologists, juvenile delinquency entails all public wrongs committed by the young between the ages of 12 and 20. Sociologists take a broader approach since they postulate that delinquency includes many violations of legal and social norms, including minor offences, serious crimes, committed by juveniles. The sociologists the specifics of youth deviant behavior with the home, peers, family, neighborhood, as well as other variables which, influence the formation of young people's social environment. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to delve into the issue of juvenile delinquency by looking at its causes, prevention, control and the way forward. (Muraskin & Roberts, 2005)