As a juvenile justice professional, I have found that the factors leading to juvenile delinquency are very different from the theories I learned in college. The simple definition of a juvenile delinquent is a male or female youth under the age of 21 who has committed an illegal offense. This includes status offenses as well as crimes that adults commit.

In my years of studying the history of this problem, I have found that societies can be measured by how it treats its youth. Those adults who engage and support the systemic failures of juvenile justice will experience similar treatment when they become senior citizens. Throughout the history of the United States, children have been misunderstood and mistreated as a result of ignorance, tradition, and poor social policy. For example, as early as the 1960s, children were viewed as property and were protected under animal rights laws.

In order to understand the factors that lead to juvenile delinquency, we need to understand that legislation creates definitions by the laws it creates and therefore those who violate such laws become criminals as defined by policy. The point here is that a juvenile delinquent is a categorized young person who has issues that are not socially acceptable. It should be noted that a child does not become a criminal without the assistance of an adult in some form or fashion.

This leads me to factors I believe lead to juvenile delinquency. First and foremost, the philosophy and mindset of the juvenile justice system as a whole. The country has adopted a punitive view of youth who commit crimes, basically responding to them as little adults. The juvenile law is a reflection of the adult system where a youth can be incarcerated for a fight at school. The law contributes to juvenile delinquency because it targets most of the issues that youth face as crimes in need of punishment. The emotional, physical, and mental health issues that youth have are not being addressed therapeutically.  

The changing dynamics of the family

Over fifty percent of households in the US are led by a single parent. The nurture, guidance, love, and discipline a child needs is lacking in many cases. Therefore youth are drawn to the streets or risky behaviors because they are seeking acceptance. This can range from sex to gang activity to shop lifting, etc. These youth want to feel important and they want to belong, which can make them susceptible to negative peer influences.

The lack of community support

As we see our society becoming more global and communities changing, many neighborhood people are distant and unfamiliar with each other. The community helped supervise and protect youth in the neighborhoods where I grew up; however, this is not the case in many communities of today. The youth are left alone, unsupervised, and roaming the neighborhood, which generally leads to illegal activities.      

The influence of television and music

Most of the entertainment youth are participating in involve non-youth-related subjects and topics. The Internet, television programs, and video games are filled with violence and sex. A lot of the music glorifies criminal activity, which has a great impact upon impressionable young people. The youth try to live out these fantasies in their own lives and really don’t understand the consequences of such actions. The youth are exposed to many inappropriate adult behaviors, which automatically result in illegal activity when they imitate these actions. Although they don’t realize it, they are being set up to enter the juvenile justice system.

The lack of spiritual influence is also a major factor contributing to juvenile delinquency. If youth don’t have a healthy spiritual life, they will have a void in their life that magnifies the issues they face on a day to day basis. Youth who don’t have a relationship with God will not have a respect or trust for authority. Therefore, they will not respect authority figures, rules, or laws, which places them in conflict with society. The youth can develop a disobedient and rebellious attitude that leads them down the destructive path of incarceration due to their criminal behavior.