The modern societies in all countries are nowadays experiencing a set of challenges, tracing their origin from the ruining of social stability in principle, slackening of social bonds between different members of social communities, the growth of maturity age among youngsters etc. These and other internal and external factors foster unexpected changes in the behavior of different members of the social communities, for instance, emergence of unpredictable social groups guided by some extraordinary and insecure purposes (Schoenfeld).
As far the juvenile layer of social community is concerned, it proves to be a group mostly endangered by the ongoing social changes with a view to the immature outlook of the world, poor knowledge of basic legal norms and national legislation etc. This is what brings us to the problem of juvenile delinquency, so widely expressed in almost all countries. Although some features of juvenile delinquency are universal and common, there are some items varying from one country to another. As a rule, those differences are linked to cultural identities of the countries and also the key problems those faced by the regions. Hereinafter, I am going to make an overall outlook of regional features of deliquesces ("Juvenile Delinquency").
According to the UN report on the juvenile delinquency the region where juvenile crimes are committed mostly on all is Africa ("Juvenile Delinquency"). So let us consider why. First of all, the growth of juvenile criminality can be attributed to the permanent growth of youth’s population. Due to the lack of financial supply and impropriety of the infrastructure of the labour market, most African countries fall short to provide a sufficient number of jobs for the young people and also secure the decent salaries for those who already have their jobs ("00.02.05: Juvenile Delinquency: Cause And Effect"). That is what induces the factor of poverty and hunger, which emphatically contributes to the boost of juvenile criminality. It is to be noted, that young people resort to the most severe and illicit types of criminal activities such as drug trafficking, abuse of drugs, which leads to substance abuse and so on. In this sense, a defect in legal regulation of those activities also plays its tangible role as a contributory factor to the juvenile criminality.
As for the Asian region, the majority of crimes committed by young people take place in urban areas, which is related to the economic rise of Asian countries and gradual urbanization of the Asian population observed during the last ten years. Therefore, considering poverty and hunger as the reasons of juvenile criminality would be improper in this case. However, the Asian economy has not always been that progressive and sustained ("Juvenile Delinquents - Findlaw"). Particularly, in the 90s the economies of most Asian countries experiences deep economic crisis, which caused hundreds of young people being subjected to redundancy ("Juvenile Delinquency"). This is what actually brought the Asian countries to the rise of criminality in principle, notably, juvenile one. Similar to Africa, juvenile delinquency in Africa comes to be primarily concerned with narcotics-trafficking, Asian territorially including two major narcotics-producing areas, known as “Golden Crescent” or the “Golden Triangle”. A wide portion of youngsters are actively involved in the drug procurement and distribution, simultaneously getting drug-addicted (Mccrea).
Now the question arises: what are the predictors of juvenile delinquency in well-industrialized countries, such as Western-European ones? The level of life provided by the European countries is more than satisfying and the opportunity of unimpeded movement in pursuit of jobs within the frames of the European Union are the factors which strongly contradict the emergence of juvenile criminality. However, the progressive development of the European countries and rendering a wide set of opportunities for the adolescent, causes the slackening of bonds among youngster and their families, which automatically entails the lack of adequate supervision over the immature part of adolescent population. Young people consider themselves too self-sufficient and independent, that they radically refuse to fall under any form of supervision. However, there are a number of ways to prevent juvenile delinquency.
Hereinafter, I am going to highlight a set of ways followed by the regions named earlier used to prevent juvenile delinquency. All the countries facing the problem of juvenile delinquency come to understanding that the problem should be eradicated at the early-phase of its existence. That is why the most widely used arm against juvenile delinquency is setting up specific institutions aimed at the observance and prevention of any kind of juvenile criminality.
The other way often complements the first one. It is concerned with punitive measures to be undertaken to warn the adolescent portion of society of the further measures of criminal behavior and misconduct.
Yet another way to prevent the rise of juvenile delinquency is educational activity targeted at the youngsters. In particular, education in the realm of law. Also some disciplines designed to promote some moral qualities are plausible, such as literature, ethics and so forth.
There are more ways to prevent juvenile delinquency, among which is the designation of tougher and more rigid legal regulation of juvenile criminality, the formation of sustainable and reliable juvenile court jurisdiction, and specification of national legislation in the sphere of juvenile system.
In addition to this, the improvement of employment should be a claiming issue arising in the course of deciding the problem of juvenile delinquency. Having regard to the data set forth above herein, it gets rather clear that the major reason for crime commitment by youngsters is the shortage of material resources, the defect in employment, hunger and poverty. That is why addressing the problems of strategic needs of the population is the primary measure to be undertaken by the governments of the countries.
Drawing a conclusion, it is proper to mention that the issue of juvenile criminality is not a national problem of some specific country. The all-encompassing process of globalization makes it a problem of international scale. More than that, the problem of juvenile delinquencies closely attaches a set of other problems. Overall, the recent trend of skyrocketed level of crimes among youngsters shall be taken seriously by each member of society, by local communities and various governmental structures and agencies. We shall act according to the dictum, think globally, act locally, and at the same think locally while acting globally. This malady of our age is to be prevented and not to be fought. Educational establishments and parents shall oversee the early indicators of possible problems; timely psychological aid is to be given. In creating penal establishments it is not the criminals we shall isolate from the community but the children who were deprived of enough love and caring. Many believe that love breeds love and hatred breads hatred, and the task of the juvenile penal system is to assist a child’s future reintegration to the community and not putting the stigma of a criminal to his entire life.
Works Cited
"Juvenile Delinquency". BMJ 1.4543 (1948): 203-204. Web.
Schoenfeld, C.G. "A Psychoanalytic Theory Of Juvenile Delinquency". Crime & Delinquency 17.4 (1971): 469-480. Web.
Mccrea, T. "Juvenile Courts And Juvenile Probation". Crime & Delinquency 3.4 (1957): 385-391. Web.
"Juvenile Delinquents - Findlaw". Findlaw. N.p., 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
"00.02.05: Juvenile Delinquency: Cause And Effect". Yale.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
