Juvenile Crime Essay, Research Paper

subject = Busniess Law

title = Juvenile Crime

papers = One of the biggest

problems which the United States is faced with is juvenile crime. The

reason experts feel juvenile?s commit crimes is because of risk factors

when they were younger but experts still have not found the main reason

why juvenile?s commit crimes. Some risk factors associated with juvenile

crime are poverty, repeated exposure to violence, drugs, easy access to

firearms, unstable family life and family violence, delinquent peer groups,

and media violence. Especially the demise of family life, the effect

of the media on the juveniles today, and the increase of firearms available

today have played a big role in the increase of juveniles crimes.

The

most common risk factor is the demise of the family life and the increase

in family violence. Between 1976 and 1992 the number of juveniles living

in poverty grew 42% and this caused an increase in crimes by juveniles.

Many of these juvenile criminals have been abused or neglected and they

also grew up in a single-parent household. Research has found that 53%

of these children are more likely to be arrested, and 38% more likely

to commit a violent crime as an adult, then their counterparts who did

not suffer such abuse. The symptoms of child abuse are ?high levels of

aggression and antisocial behavior? and these children are twice as likely

to become juvenile offenders. Also improper parental care has been linked

to delinquency such as mothers who drink alcohol or take drugs during

pregnancy cause their babies to grow up with learning disorders, a problem

which leads them to be juvenile criminals.

Another risk factor is the

effect of the media on the juveniles of today. Before the time a child

has reached seventh grade, the average child has witnessed 8,000 murders

and 100,000 acts of violence on the television. There is no doubt that

heavy exposure to televised violence is one of the causes of aggressive

behavior, crime and violence in society. Television violence affects

youngsters of all ages, of both genders, at all economic levels, and all

levels of intelligence. Long-term childhood exposure to television is

a casual factor behind one half of the homicides committed by juveniles

in the United States.

The increased availability of guns has played

a big part in escalating the number of crimes committed by juveniles.

In Los Angeles juvenile delinquency cases involving weapon violation

grew by 86% from 1988 to 1992, which was more then any other type of juvenile

offense. According to a University of Michigan study found that 270,000

guns accompany secondary school students to class daily. This is startling

because it shows how many more juveniles are carrying guns and the juvenile

use of guns in homicides has increased from 65 to 80 percent from 1987

to 1991.

The possession of firearms plays a big cause in the delinquency

of children and is playing a bigger role in the crimes which juveniles

commit. Another cause of the increase of juvenile crimes has been the

effect of children seeing multiple murders and other acts of violence

on the television. Finally the demise of the family life and the increase

in family violence has been the biggest factor in the increase of juvenile

crime.