Juvenile Delinquency: Why Do Teens Commit Crimes?

Juvenile delinquency connotes a situation whereby children or young people are disobedient to constituted authority and sometimes run away from home. Clearly expressed in few words, a juvenile delinquent is a person not yet an adult who is guilty of an offense but cannot be prosecuted because he or she is a child. Juvenile delinquency can be said to be a situation where a young person commits a crime. Juvenile delinquent falls within the ages of 0 to 17 who commits a crime. A clear manifestation of this is drinking of alcohol, smoking of cigarette/marijuana, etc.

Some of the reasons why teenagers become juvenile delinquents and what causes them to commit crimes are as follows:

Lack of Communication: Absence of efficient communication in the home lead young people to seek for comfort outside their homes. When parents and children do not create that special bound via communication; disunity, distrust and misunderstanding starts creeping in thereby leading to low self-esteem. Once these teenagers feel they are losing their individuality, they begin to do things they are not meant to do so as to boost their self-esteem. They are peer pressured and adopt unhealthy lifestyles in the process.

Lack of Finances: Young teenagers, may tow the wrong path while trying to improve their financial situations. The major reason we have juvenile delinquents can be traced to lack of finances. When these young teenagers do not have sufficient money to meet their needs and cravings, they begin engaging in wrong activities. These activities range from stealing, selling drugs, etc. to improve their economic conditions.

Broken Family: Family plays a vital role in shaping a teenager’s behaviour and personality. Young teenagers adoptethics and morals from his or her parents and other members of the family that surround them. It has been observed that, teenagers who show signs of juvenile delinquency are often faced with hassles at home. Broken homes having single parents with busy schedules leading to single parents not having quality time with their young teenagers. Thereby, causing teenagers to seek attention from their peers.

Lack of Social and Moral Training: Often teenagers who do not have moral and social training become juvenile delinquents. It is every parents’ responsibility to inculcate morals and ethical values in their children. Young teenagers should be made to know the difference between wrong and right behaviour. Children who lack moral and social values often experience poor interaction with their peers thereby leading to low self-esteem. They also tend to be arrogant and selfish also. They also have no regards for the laws of the country. Often, parents are more focused on creating wealth and neglect their children in the process. They do not create and also spend quality time with their children. Children tend to spend more time with people who create time for them and also pay attention to them. If they find this outside the home it could spell doom, because they might fall into the wrong hands or a bad company.

In conclusion, parents should pay attention to their children; especially teenagers so as to tackle their issues early and prevent them from following wrong company. This will in turn reduce juvenile delinquents in our society to its barest minimal.