Juvenile Crime Essay, Research Paper

Juvenile Crime

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.