When parents make their children attend church, they are trying to inculcate moral values and a righteous way of living, which is not achieved through living on streets. Attending religious organizations or activities, in a way creates a buffer between legal and illegal, good and bad etc. These children learn to understand their limits, for example; a regular attendee of the Sunday prayer service would instinctively know that he or she should stay away from people who associate with drug dealers or violent criminals since these activities are condemned by law as well as by religion. Research done by Nye (1958) “concluded that church attendance is associated with lower rates of delinquency. More than church being an important determinant of delinquency, religious traditions of self-control and self-denial play a bigger role. Study done by Burkett and White on delinquency and religion showed that there is a strong relationship between religious participation and the use of alcohol and marijuana. (Jensen and Rojek, 313) In turn, the values instilled by the religious institutions and parents strongly impact the relationships that a child builds with the school, teachers, and peers.
Considering the above statement, school plays a significant role in shaping a child’s future. Usually, a person who has been provided with opportunities to nourish and grow would more often than not, grow up to be a strong and a successful human being. There are some exceptions to this statement, but mostly, children who lack the attention and the affection in their teenage years get diffracted from their goals and ambitions. They lose their focus and the desire to be successful.
Delinquency and Youth Crime gives us insights on the defects of schools, which lead to educational failure and deterioration, thus leading to delinquency. Some of these defects are: 1) Belief in the limited potential of disadvantaged pupils. 2) Irrelevant instruction. 3) Inappropriate teaching methods. 4) Testing, grouping, and tracking. 5) Inadequate compensatory and remedial education. 6) Inferior teachers and facilities in low-income schools. 7) School-community distance. 8) Racial and economic segregation. To begin with, low-income children do not get as much attention compared to the children that come from well-to-do families. These children do not get the necessary attention and admiration from their peers and teachers, thus softening their self-confidence. If they do not succeed in their classes, they are often disregarded and left behind instead of being given help to pull them up to the standard of the class. Anderson mentions, “school achievement can serve as a crucial background variable in the long causal chain affecting delinquency.” (Anderson, 274)
School brings forward two more important factors that play a crucial role in fighting delinquency. These include teachers and peers. Students, who do not do well in their classes, do not seem to establish strong ties with their teachers. In a similar fashion, students who do well in school have stronger ties and the teachers know them very well and often speak highly of them. As a result, students that under-perform in their school are deprived of attention and approbation. This lack of attention and recognition drives these children to turn to activities that might make them seem important thus pushing them to commit delinquent acts. In the long run, weaker students end up disliking their teachers and their school. They start to believe that school is not the right place for them since they do not fit into its culture. This results in higher dropout rates and higher delinquent crimes.
Likewise, children who are disliked by their teachers and their peers, seek people who are like them, for example an intelligent student would seek the company of a student who is equally intelligent, if not more. On the other hand, children who do not get attention from their teachers and well-off students, form groups commonly known as “gangs”, that seem to provide them with the respect and the attention that they are so craving for. Since these children hang around in groups, it becomes easier for them to commit delinquent acts, for the chances of them getting caught are fewer.
When these children do not find the support that they need from their near and dear ones, they usually seek other ways to gain attention. They create subcultures that encompass values, behaviors, norms, beliefs, and language that distinguishes itself from the culture at-large. Gangs can be referred to as “subcultures or contracultures consisting of values, norms, and beliefs passed on from one generation of youth to another and which facilitates trouble with the law.” (Jensen and Rojek, 289) These gangs have their own set of clothing, rules of conduct, gestures, songs, as well as language. The main reasons to be a part of these groups are 1) Sense of belonging: it makes a person feel confident, in control, and gives them a sense of family. 2) Identity 3) Knowledge, such as those based on survival, as well as social issues.
There are four basic types of gangs. These are 1) Social gangs: social group with minimal delinquent activities, and involvement in drugs such as alcohol and marijuana. 2) Party gangs: the focus is on drug trafficking but limited in other types of delinquent activities. 3) Serious delinquent gangs: limited in the use of drugs but heavy involvement in serious delinquent crimes. 4) Organized gangs: this involves heavy involvement in delinquent activity, drug use and its sales. It has a well organized and a visible authority structure that comes close to being a formal criminal organization.
One can argue that why is it that upper class people have low crime rates compared to the low-income class when the upper class children can be weak in their studies too. The obvious answer to that would be that low-income groups are economically distressed which makes them turn to illegal activities to generate cash flow. In order to acquire materialistic things, they turn to underground economy; engage in drug deals and robberies. In addition to the low-income areas and all the problems underlying them, race is another factor that plays an important role in shaping the person. Most of the delinquents are either blacks or have Hispanic origin. It is not that these groups of people were born criminals but it is through the constant dejection that they have faced from the society due to their race that they turn to unlawful activities. There are many reasons that have kept these people away from getting good jobs; lack of education due to inefficient schools for low class people, lack of connections among different groups of people, lack of social skills, and prominently, a different skin color.
All the above factors have demoralized the underclass person, which in turn has made them lose hope for their future. Recently, due to de-industrialization and the emergence of a global economy, there has been a steady loss of unskilled and semi skilled jobs, manufacturing jobs, which would provide opportunities for people from the urban class. Due to the lack of available jobs, and constant failures, many inner city people and their communities have become distressed. In order to fulfill their desires of becoming affluent and having the vast comforts of life, they seek an easier way to become successful by obtaining material stuff that depicts one’s social status. “When the regular economy cannot provide the means for satisfying them, some of the most desperate people turn to the underground economy.” (Anderson, 112) And the fact that they cannot get decent jobs links back to their social upbringing and their educational background.
This can be tied to the Social disorganization/Social control theory. This theory implies that when societies undergo significant social change, the common bond that tie people together can weaken, facilitating various forms of deviance. The fact that our society is transforming very fast, moving from inefficient mechanisms to efficient mechanisms has lead to the weakening or inhibiting of the certain traditional forms of control, which has in turn, facilitated high rates of delinquency. Edwin Sutherland, a Chicago sociologist, mentioned in his work that the “disorganization (of society) fosters cultural traditions that support such (delinquent) activity.’ (Jensen and Rojek, 209) In fact, this is true when we consider the “ghetto” communities. Anderson mentions that street families encourage underground economy, for example uncles and aunts would talk their family members into engaging in this sort of business. Furthermore, most of the community members, including family members are aware of the illegal activities that take place in their community but often conform to it since they understand that it is a form of livelihood, for some people. One of the other reasons for conformation is the fact that there are no “old heads” to guide the youths through their developing phases.
“Old heads” are basically people who act as mentors or advisors, guiding the young generation to follow the righteous path and keep them away from the illegal activities. In most cases fathers, or in some cases grandfathers, play the role of the “old head”. This can be seen in decent families where the father takes charge of the family and makes sure that his family members do not get into any trouble with the law or elsewhere. Anderson gives example of Rasheed Taylor, a father of three kids, who guides and disciplines his kids in everything they do. Unfortunately, not everyone in the low-income areas has a father because most of the women get pregnant out of wedlocks. Even if they do have a father, the father is mostly not interested in taking up the responsibility to guide them due to the fact that they themselves survive on the underground economy. In the same fashion, other family members themselves do not follow a clean life so they do not appear to be very good in mentoring their nieces and nephews or sons and daughters. On the contrary, interaction with them can seem to have a negative influence on the children and in some cases it actually distorts their goals and ambitions.
Some scholars argue that crime and delinquency emerge due to the social structure. “In certain social contexts, delinquency and crime are approved, required, or expected behaviors.” (Jensen and Rojek, 215) Walter Miller, a sociologist, argues that the values and the norms of the gang members are a result of the lower class community itself that have established norms, values, and beliefs that are regional, racial as well as economical. Moreover, in these kinds of places, “the street has evolved something known as the “code of the street” that confirms to the social status. (Jensen and Rojek, 215) It is important to notice that most underclass people, who come from the “ghetto” settings, have a cultural conflict with the mainstream ideas. This leads them to have an actual conflict with the law for example; a person who earns his or her living through engaging in drug trade comes in conflict with the law since this is a form of an illegal activity. Similarly, a girl who is a prostitute is just earning her livelihood but in a normative sense, she is breaking the law. The people of the low-income class community emphasize the idea of illegal activities as being “okay”. As Jensen and Rojek mention, “a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to the violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law.” (Jensen and Rojek, 216) In this case, this kind of environment fosters delinquent crimes since nobody complains against it.
Besides the factors given above, the community neighborhood and structure plays an important role as well. According to James Q Wilson in Thinking about Crime (1975), “the failure to develop communal bonds is viewed as facilitating crime and delinquency which in turn contributes to further suspicion, isolation, and withdrawal.” (Jensen and Rojek, 330) The authors of Delinquent and Crime Youth compare the US communities to those in Switzerland. Switzerland has low crime rates due to the fact that they have cantons and political communes in their society. This implies that they have a decentralized form of government in twenty-five federated states, or cantons, with each of these divided into smaller public communes. United States, on the other hand, lack the communal sense, especially in the urban areas with minorities. Oscar Newman, (1972) in his research, found that crime rate was lowest in areas in which the project was divided into small, manageable zones where residents could maintain surveillance over commonly shared space.
Up until now, we have discussed what role family, school, teachers, peers, religion, and race play in determining the causes of delinquency. After understanding these, it becomes important to discuss the role of media. Some scholars argue that media does seem to impact one’s thinking and attitude towards violent crimes. Other scholars argue that media does not have a strong correlation with the crime rate. A research done by the Surgeons’ Scientific Advisory Committee and Social behavior in 1971 showed that violence on television induces mimicking in children shortly after exposure. It also showed that under certain circumstances, television violence could lead to an increase in aggressive acts. One can assume that media might not have a direct relationship with the crime rate but it certainly has a negative effect on people that watch crime on the television.
After considering all of these factors, it becomes important as to what should be done in order to improve the situation. At the outset, it is important to study the root cause of delinquency. It can be the upbringing of the child and his or her relationships with the school, teachers, peers, and various other institutions. Most importantly, we should make sure that these children are met with all the requirements for a healthy and a well-balanced life. This concept of healthy life should include schools where they are given attention and are provided with an environment that would foster an atmosphere for learning and development. One of the most crucial steps that we should take is to make sure that children with a learning- disability should not be ignored. Instead, they should be given extra attention and guidance. The officials should pinpoint the root cause and try to find solutions to it. This would also ensure that these kids would not turn to peers who may get them to break the law. Children should be given a chance to learn what they are most interested in learning. This would develop their skills faster, and would most likely ensure a positive future.
Secondly, we should make sure that these children have a safe family environment; a family, free from drugs, abuse, and alcohol. This becomes important because when children are growing up, they need to have a role model whom they can look up to and learn from. If these children do not have a safe family environment to grow up in, they should be moved to foster care where they would have a better environment to nurture and grow. Furthermore, the foster parents would be able to instill values and norms that would help them become better human beings and citizens. This would also help them grow up with mainstream values, which in turn would aid them to select the right path than the easier path.
Thirdly, we should make sure that our community does not hold grudge towards anyone based on color, sex, and ethnic background. We should understand that in order for a community to develop as a whole, everyone should be equally important rather than just one type of people. Minorities and people of color should be presented with opportunities, which would encourage them to earn a living through legal means rather than seeking way through the underground economy. If they lack the required skills for a job, we should make sure that we have ample training opportunities available for them. This would certainly help them towards contributing to the economy in a positive way.
Fourthly, we should develop community-based programs that would foster a sense of togetherness and co-operation. The successful people should not ignore the problem as not being theirs; instead they should assist in creating programs, which would help the less-fortunate people of the society. From our side, we, as the government, should regulate the streets. We should make sure that we have a strong patrol system that discourages the drug dealing activities as well as other activities that are based on the underground economy. We should have constant checks on the crime-prone areas. Instead of finding ways to punish the law violators, we should seek a way to correct their mistakes. We should also regulate channels such as media and television that promote delinquency.
In a nutshell, crime is not a part of a person’s life. Circumstances and constant failures make them adapt to this form of living. When they are faced with failures, they do not get the necessary support and encouragement to strive for success. In fact, they are sidelined and in the process, they lose faith in the mainstream society. This, in turn, makes them turn to delinquent acts. We should pay close attention to the root causes and the processes that make them delinquents instead of their delinquent activities because a good way to deter them from engaging in these activities is to alter their ways and their lifestyles at the offset when they have more room for change. Children are not born criminals, but it is their interaction with society that slowly leads them towards that criminal path. Thus, we should take responsibility to solve this crisis. Let us not turn a blind eye towards this or our society might head for a catastrophe.