Analysis of Juvenille Delinquincy
Analysis of Juvenille Delinquincy
Delinquent behavior, whether in children, adolescents, or adults, is childish and anti-social behavior and usually not in the long-term best interests of its perpetrators.
Most adolescent delinquents are extremely dependent upon their peer groups, primarily because they have no functioning families, effective parenting, nurturing, or positive adult role models to rely on. These young people come from all ethnic backgrounds and live in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods as well as in ghettos. We hear most about black and Hispanic gangs running drugs, stealing, and mugging; but there are also white gangs, such as neo-nazis and skin-heads, that for adults may take on the functions of survivalist or para-military groups, political parties or lobbying organizations, while still maintaining their essential character and intent.
Membership in a gang provides a sense of power or belonging. It takes the place of kinship. The gang is the post-modern "family," complete with codes of protection and loyalty for its members. That they are substitutes for families is what gives the groups their psychological power and makes it so difficult for them to break up or dissolve.
The shared desire for money, power, and violence joins people together both at the top and at the bottom of our social structure. At the top are the "good old boy" network and the military-industrial complex that General Eisenhower cautioned us against a generation ago, of which the powerful gun lobby and the defense contractors are striking examples
At the other end of the social spectrum, there are the gangs in our inner cities, whose territories have come to resemble war zones. Fire, police, and ambulance services often will not venture into such ares on weekends or at the height of violent sprees, from fear for their lives. A kind of barbarism now prevails in many cities that nobody wants to talk about.
Police alone cannot solve these problems because crime is not their real cause and because police under increasing stress or frustration may contribute to crime with racism and excessive violence.
The real cause of inner city turmoil is the violent, abusive family, or, more accurately, the disintegration of the family as a positive social unit. This root cause is reflected in other...