Causes Of Juvenile Delinquency

Essay Analysis

Deborah Llamas

Juvenile Delinquency CJ 150-02

Professor Raymond Keefauver

November 7, 2012

Studies have shown that approximately 905,000 juveniles are abused, and neglected within the United States Studies have shown that there are approximately 905,000 juveniles abused and neglected in the United States during 2006; in spite of the fact that signs of abuse and maltreatment may not always be clearly visible immediately, the long term effects may have undesirable ramifications on these juveniles, family, and the future generations that can potentially impact them for a lifetime (Maltreatment of infants: United States, October 2005-September 2006, 2008).

According to the (National Institute of Justice, 2011), juveniles who are subjected to child abuse, maltreatment, and neglect, including sexual abuse, and assault, are three to five times more likely to suffer from an array of traumatic issues together with; posttraumatic stress disorder, potentially at risk for being abused again, becoming dependent on drugs/alcohol, and committing delinquent activities. On the other hand, girls who have witnessed abuse, neglect or violence are two times more likely than boys to develop posttraumatic stress disorder later in their lives.

Impact of Abuse on delinquency and arrest

It is obvious, that implications associated with abuse and neglect correlate to the potential possibility of juveniles being arrested by the following percentages; 59% as a juvenile, 28% as an adult, and 30% for violent crimes (Child abuse and maltreatment 2011) . Implications surrounding child abuse and neglect include a vast variety of implications including; physical, psychological, behavioral, and common lingering effects in reality, although, it is nearly impossible attempting to separate them completely. Consequently, the physical consequences, related to issues such as: a child's growing brain, may have psychological complications associated with their mental process of observation, reasoning, judgment, and memory being related with both the voluntary, and emotional progress. As a result of child abuse, neglect and maltreatment, psychological concerns at times become an obvious classification for high-risk delinquent behavior. For case in point: psychological concerns associated with abuse and neglect includes anxiety, depression and more often than not include a juveniles desire to smoke, abuse alcohol or harmful drugs, and overeating. In pursuing this further, juvenile declared as High-risk deviant behavior, could potentially lead to probable long-term physical health problems such as sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, and obesity (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008).

Related issues to Psychological issues

Other dramatic issues resulting from child abuse, and neglect stemming from the psychological concern include; seclusion from outside contacts, family and friends; other factors generally include fear of retaliation, inability to develop and or trust. Following this further, there is the consequence of poor mental and poor health as a result of child abuse and neglect, resulting in some juveniles experiencing psychiatric disorders by the time they turn the age twenty-one. Often times s correlating psychiatric disorders include; suicide attempts, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Clearly, other psychological and emotional issues corresponding to a result of abuse, and juvenile delinquency include the following known facts; reactive attachment disorder, dissociative disorders, panic disorder, Attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder, and depression/anger (Child welfare information gateway, 2008).

Challenges and Unique issues

In accordance to previous issues and concerns related to child abuse and neglect, and the

direct association to juvenile delinquency, the 21st Century may be out in the open to a wide array of challenges and unique issues based on several critical factors. As an example, 22.3 million children among the ages 12 and 17 in this country, at some point in their life about 1.8 million have been the victim of sexual assault, approximately 3.9 million have been victims of physical assault, and almost 9 million have witnessed violence. It is obvious that in accordance to these statistics, there are several unique issues occurring that are critical to the prevention of child abuse and neglect including the following strategies: It is necessary to mandate changes in the Legislature holding perpetrators responsible for the behavior, sanctions such as balanced and restorative justice, should be imposed on both status offenders as well as juvenile delinquents as an attempt to rehabilitate them rather than simply detaining them in juvenile corrections facilities (Roberts, 2004), Public campaigns with the intention of increasing public knowledge of the severe issues found between early childhood violence and adult criminal behavior in an attempt to eliminate child abuse and neglect by means of prevention and intervention efforts, development activities, including juvenile outreach programs such as the Safe Start Program, reiterating multiple discipline approaches for preventing and prevailing juvenile crime and violence amongst children, placing more emphasis on case management approaches, related to assessing, screening, evaluating,