Juvenile Justice: Understanding the Causes and Solutions

This article delves into the topic of juvenile justice, exploring the causes of juvenile crime and offering effective solutions to address the issue. It discusses the impact of economic, social, and family factors on juvenile delinquency, as well as the role of biological and sociological theories in understanding the behavior of young offenders. The article also highlights the importance of rehabilitation programs and the role of the police in assisting juveniles.

Running Head: Juvenile Justice
JUVENILE JUSTICE
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Juvenile Justice
Table of Contents
What is crime?............................................................................................................................2
Reasons for Crime by Youth......................................................................................................3
Financial Conditions...............................................................................................................3
Neediness and Inequality........................................................................................................3
Joblessness..............................................................................................................................3
Political Conditions................................................................................................................4
Social Factors.............................................................................................................................4
Family Structures....................................................................................................................5
Biological theory........................................................................................................................7
Sociological theory.....................................................................................................................7
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................10
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What is crime?
Crime can be defined as a person breaking the law by doing illegal and immoral act.
Government sets the law in every country and when a person does an act against the law then
it said to that he has committed the crime. Punishment is prescribed for violation of the law.
These laws are kind of examples of behavioural code that is to be followed by everyone.
Social stigma is attached with the crime. All then breaches are not criminal as some are civil
breach and some are breach of contract. There are various conditions and situations due to
which a person commits a crime like economic, political, social and psychological (What is a
Crime?, 2019). Criminal Law in Australia has developed from English Common Law.
Australia has a central government consisting of six states. The minimum age for trial in
juvenile court is seven years and 16 years for trial in adult court in most of the states in
Australia.
There are the minors aged between 10 years and 18 years. Sometimes these minors
also commit crimes intentionally or unintentionally. The offences committed by these people
will be considered as delinquent acts and not crime (Juvenile Delinquents, 2019). The
juvenile crimes are serious issue in every nation. Children after 18 years are tends to
complete their educations and are on the way to make their career but some of the children
engaged into criminal activities. This is very serious concern as the future of any country is
on the shoulder of youngsters. There has been significant rise in the crimes and offences by
youth (Why Teens Turn into Criminals: Finding the Root Causes, 2015).
The report by the Australia Bureau of Statistics demonstrated that adolescents
represented 13% of those in police authority. In 2003, people between the ages of 15 and 19
represented the most elevated wrongdoing rate and booking. The adolescent guilty parties
were multiple times more than different wrongdoers were. Adolescent wrongdoers were
generally accused of undesirable section, robbery, and ambush and engine vehicle burglary.
Instances of adolescent murder, sexual brutality, theft and extortion were negligible (Youth
Offenders, 2019).
It involves worry that adolescent take part in wrongdoing either separately or in
groups. Joblessness is one reason given for this conduct. In any case, it is important to inspect
racial business segregation as far as race. Measurements have appeared there is a huge
dissimilarity between joblessness rates of minority adolescents with that of youth overall. An
investigation done by the Australian government on adolescent culpable uncovered that
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ethnic minority youth were bound to be guilty parties. Joblessness among the adolescent was
the principle explanation behind commitment in wrongdoing. The joblessness rate for the
minority young people was multiple times higher than the general joblessness rates of
different adolescents. For example, the joblessness rate for Vietnamese Australian guys
duplicates that of the general Australian youth rate (Richards, 2011).
Reasons for Crime by Youth
Various drivers do the illegal acts. It is the result of various antagonistic monetary,
societal and family situations. To curb and tackle the wrongdoing, it is imperative to have
deep knowledge of its underlying base (Why Teens Turn into Criminals: Finding the Root
Causes, 2015). The reason behind wrongdoing contrast differently in each nation in light of
different monetary and social attributes. The reasons for wrongdoing are essentially identified
with the structure of the family, social environment and the financial condition.
Financial Conditions
The primary monetary elements which add to wrongdoing inceptions are
political/governmental condition, unemployment and poverty.
Neediness and Inequality
When there is financial crises in a person’s home then he is tend to earn money
through illegal sources as well. A person’s father is poor and due to which he is not able to go
to school and learn about the difference between right and wrong.
Joblessness
The main reason for the increasing of crime is that most of the person are jobless and they
cannot survive without money. A person who is jobless will not be having any legal source of
income so he will tend towards illegal acts to make the survival of his family.
Political Conditions
Due to political conditions in country, individuals started having feeling of frailty
from society. They know that they will not have desirable future due to their unjustifiable
ways of gaining money.
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Social Factors
Social structure reflects to residents and networks the need of the esteem and the way
to set the needs. Social condition should be examined concerning distinctive natural
situations.
The centre Social underlying drivers of wrongdoing are:
1. Disparity,
2. No sharing of force,
3. Absence of help to neighbourhoods and families,
4. Genuine and saw detachment to administrations,
5. Absence of administration in networks,
6. Putting of low esteem on youngsters
7. Health of individual (Assess the effectiveness of the criminal justice system when
dealing with young offenders, 2017).
Social condition should be understood according to distinctive social conditions. Due to this
reason, the young person tends to do illegal act.
Cause of school environment that are identified with the school condition are:
 Disorderly Behaviour of youngster:
 Duty is lacked
 Network surrounding
Significant reasons for wrongdoing identified with network condition are:
 less attachment in the general public
 Disregard and non-organisation uncommonly for Youth
 Accessibility of medications without any trouble
 High populace turnover
 Corruption inside law implementing organizations
 Non-effective Law Enforcing Agencies (Juvenile Delinquency: What Makes Teens
Commit Crimes?, 2017)
Family Structures
Adolescent whose family is having at least one quality recorded beneath, are bound to be
associated with wrongdoing.
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 Parents are associated with wrongdoing
 parental supervision is not appropriate
 folks disregard them and there is whimsical control and are dealt with cruelly
 low family income
 struggle of family
 correspondence among kids and guardians is missing
 regard and obligation among relatives is missing
 disregard of kids
 brutality in family (Effects of Family Structure on Crime, 2013)
Prevention of crime should focus on improving all fields. In a way to develop and enforce
strategies of crime prevention, there is need of identification of the factors which are really
accountable for crime so that policy framework can be targeted.
The age of holding children criminally liable was 7 years in common law. Children who
are between the age of 7 and 14 were presumed that they are no capable enough to commit
the crime. This can be challenged in the court by proving that the child was mature enough to
have an idea about right and wrong (Evaluate the effectiveness of the criminal law in dealing
with young offenders., 2017). There is no accurate evidence available to check the age of
juveniles. Earlier, both juveniles and adults were treated and punished together and eve they
were getting death penalties. In Australia, young offenders were kept separate from adult
offenders even they were keeping in the same jail. The judges tried to discharge the first time
offenders so that the young people’s chances are less to go to the jail. There were conditional
pardons and discharges so the young offenders can live with their care and protection.
The primary initiative taken in the Australia for establishing separate system for juveniles
was when the young offenders were accused of transported convicts. Nearly, 15 percent were
under 18 years of age out of all transportation accused. When 19th century began, there were
many schemes and policies for separating child and young offenders from adult offenders. In
1819, male child offenders were sent to Carter Barracks and female child offenders were sent
to Parramatta Female Factory. Establishment of orphan schools were there to tackle with the
issue with lonely children. There were many institutions which were established for juveniles.
Some of the prominent welfare system of children was the Female Orphan School, the Male
Orphan School, Roman Catholic Orphan School, the Female School of Industry, the
Benevolent School, Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children. These institutions were helping
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the children to work and earn for themselves. The vast change in handling the issue of
juveniles was the establishment of reformatories.
The new adolescent courts that created toward the finish of the nineteenth century
depended on the idea of parens patriae. The idea had initially alluded to the security of
property privileges of adolescents and other people who were lawfully inept; nonetheless, it
came to allude to the duty of the adolescent courts and the state to act to the greatest
advantage of the kid. As one mid twentieth-century British observer put it, the teaching of
parens patriae permitted the court 'to make tracks in an opposite direction from the thought
that the tyke is to be managed as a criminal; to spare it from the brand of guiltiness, the brand
that sticks to it forever.
The primary explanation behind foundation of kids' court was that the legislature needed
that youthful guilty parties ought to be attempted independently from grown-ups and that
they will not be affected by the shame and defilement. In each Australian, there were diverse
enactment were set up-
1. New South Wales- Neglected Children and juvenile Offenders Act 1905
2. Queensland- Children’s Court Act 1907
3. Tasmania- Children’s Charter 1918
4. South Australia- State Children Act 1895
5. Victoria- Children’s Court Act 1906
6. Western Australia- State Children Act 1907
The judges should be exclusively qualified and skilled to deal with the issue with young
people and probation officer is set to play vital role in assisting young offenders.
The enactment building up courts for youngsters in Australia offered ward to courts over
criminal issues (adolescent culpable) and matters regarding welfare (disregarded kids and
youngsters). The youngsters' courts additionally had restrictive locale, which implied that
other, lower courts could not hear cases including kids. The enactment likewise anticipates
that the kids’ court needed to sit independently from different courts and that exceptional
officers must be named. By and by, most justices were essentially assigned as youngsters'
judges, and just in the significant urban areas did anything like unique courts exist.
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Biological theory
Some of the children commit the crime because of their genes. Their ancestors were
indulging in this kind of activities and they were surrounded by this kind of environment. The
person includes atavism that means that the person is having the traits and characters of his or
her ancestors. If the juvenile’s parents were part of the crime then he will automatically have
the genes of his parents and he will someday think or try to do a crime (Theories of Crime:
Classical, Biological, Sociological, Interactionist, 2019). Cesare Lombroso was the main
propounded of this theory. The genetic traits that are present in the young offenders tend
them to do illegal act which leads them to the crime. These offenders do not have anyone
who can look after them so for their survival they have to do these kinds of acts. They do not
have enough money so they can educate themselves and without education, they will not be
getting any job. Therefore, to earn the money they think that this is the easy way to earn the
money. The believer of this says that the main causes for juveniles committing crimes are
their biological and ancestral roots (Theories of Crime and Deviance).
Sociological theory
The followers of this theory believe that juveniles indulge in criminal activities due to the
environment and surrounding they live in. Juveniles generally tend to hang out with the
people and sometimes they are exposed to the criminal activities and in the age of juveniles,
they are more likely to tend towards the criminal acts (Briggs). They believe that crime is
justifiable and desirable. This theory believes that juveniles engage in these activities due to
peer or the family group because juveniles tends to do the activities in which the peers of the
juveniles so. There are four sociology theories-
1. Social Strain Typology says individual’s motivation is on cultural goals and his belief
on the way to get the goals.
2. Structural Functionalism says that deviant behaviour helps to cohere distinct
population in a specific society. It supports to differentiate between behaviours which
are acceptable and unacceptable. This behaviour can change shift the balance in the
society.
3. Conflict theory advices that illegal behaviour is a result of political and social
inequalities in a social group. To balance these inequalities some people starts to do
illegal activities because they want to change the social structure that lead to the
imbalance in the society.
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4. Labelling Theory described the cause of illegal behaviour of juveniles is due to the
label given to them by the society. They do the acts, behave and say the things that are
related to the label given to them. People indulge in this kind of activities because
other people have forced that identity in them and now they want to act according to
the activity (Crime Causation: Sociological Theories, 2019).
In Australia, there have been various rehabilitation and institutional agencies. There are
effective rehabilitation programs are available for the juvenile offenders. Juvenile offenders
should be sent to shelter homes or rehabilitation centres because they will be away from the
bad environment of adult and habitual offenders. The police will help them to be nice and
better person by asking them to do community services. There were more than 200 programs
which are for serious and habitual offenders (THE POLICE ROLE IN JUVENILE
DELINQUENCY, 1976). The policing and correctional institutions have been expanding day
by day. The police authorities should follow the positive program which can distract the
young offender from the court or prohibit him from going against the law. They ask him to
develop the right of other individual and social norms. Most of the crimes done by juveniles
are not so serious and police can help them to be on the right track. While the case is
proceeding in the court and they are under trial then the juveniles should be kept away from
the serious offenders. The main role is to be played by the police in assisting the juveniles to
be a part of reformative initiative (Atkinson).
Indigenous juveniles are trailed 28 times more than non-indigenous juveniles are trailed.
Indigenous people consists only 2 percent of total population but fifty percent of the
offenders are juveniles. The recommendation by Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths
in Custody includes the way in which police cultural awareness training, employment and
education should be operated in prisons (Lynch, Buckman, & Krenske, 2013). The 2011
report, titled Doing Time: Time for Doing, diagrams various issues that add to the abnormal
state of Indigenous imprisonment and makes more than 40 proposals for change.
Notwithstanding, most of these suggestions include the Federal Government working in a
joint effort with state and domain governments in connection to wellbeing, instruction,
business and policing administrations, in this way requiring state government approach
changes in territories which the national government does not control (Anthony, 2013). The
present government did route for advance the compromise of Indigenous individuals in
Australia. There was foundation of National Healing Foundation that is a standout amongst
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the most ideal approach to perceive Indigenous individuals in Australian Constitution. A
noteworthy issue for Indigenous youth in Australia is that their day-by-day cooperation curve
predominantly with police, state schools and other open specialists (Rudin, 2018). While
there are numerous explanations behind the high rate of association of Indigenous youngsters
in the criminal equity framework in Australia, two key reasons: the dispositions of police and
the burden of safeguard conditions (Malone, 2018).
Bibliography
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Criminal Justice, 248.
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