Juvenile Delinquency

            When considering all the factors that come into play when trying to predict the chances of a kid becoming a delinquent, there are some that may have more controllable outcomes than others. One of the more controllable influences is having a deviant friend group. Unless the child comes from a tiny school where they have zero control over who they surround themselves with each day, they get to choose who they associate with and befriend. But choosing whether their peer group has a positive or negative influence is very important. Another factor that could be controlled is what group norms the child allows themselves to conform to. If there are ‘norms’ that a child doesn’t necessarily agree with, then they shouldn’t act on those norms.

            Though some factors are avoidable, others require attention and help from other people to help the child through it. A couple of these are experiencing physical abuse from a parent or trusted adult, not having enough attention, and having a rejected status in the eyes of their classmates. When looking at the parental influences on juvenile delinquency, a lot of them are hard to see or help because a lot of it happens in a home setting. Unless a child is being physically abused or is living in intolerable conditions, there is not much an outside friend or adult can do to help the kid. Poor monitoring and inconsistent/inappropriate discipline are completely based on the parents/guardians. How the parents treat their children is completely uncontrollable to anyone else, which I think is very unfortunate because it has a big influence on who they become as teenagers and adults.