Theories focused on Juvenile Victimization and Violence
The story of David Holthous, as heard in the podcast, raises serious questions on rising juvenile delinquency in the United States. The psychological impact that juvenile victims face during their innocent childhood days leads to prolonging after effects for the rest of their lives. The 'Act One' story is one such incident out of thousands that happen in the US (thisamericanlife.org, 2011). However, there are many theories directly related to such incidents. Physical abuse, Child neglect, Bullying, Pedophile and Sexual abuse are more common events that have become a day to day activity. There are tough laws in store to restrict these crimes, but still it’s become non-stop. The juvenile delinquency act involves many childcare activities that include rehabilitation for juvenile criminals. However, the most challenging aspect is to bring back the juvenile victims to normalcy. It is evident that one in every four girls or one in every six boys becomes victims of juvenile delinquency before they turn to 18 years of age. The hard-hitting fact is mental trauma leads many victims to commit suicides rather than expose the crimes. These are due to death threats from the criminals to avoid exposure, threats of sexual abuse using political background and acts of blackmailing. Hence, the theory of exposing the crimes by victims never remains an easy task though it can be easily said that timely exposure would reduce the acts (Fagan, Jeffrey. 1987).
Ideas about Social Responsibility
The social responsibility part is never lead to an effective cause. The lifestyle in America has changed drastically where the time spent by parents towards children has reduced on a magnifying scale. This is one of the reasons why children are too vulnerable towards an uneven life. The hesitation shown by juvenile victims are due to the strict discipline attitude of parents. Many children fear that exposing crimes would affect their family future. The social setup that exists in American family structures needs major change. It can be easily said and done that children who belong to single parents are often victimized due to juvenile delinquency. However, the heart of the matter is that many structured families are more exposed to these kinds of crimes. Young victims most sometimes struggle to get back to their lives due to negligence by parents of not giving much focus on their growing years. However, there are many child rehabilitation centers as well as juvenile trauma care centers help these juvenile victims to regroup them thus helping them not from getting lost in their lives over a period of time. There should be proper counseling need to happen to both parents and children on a monthly basis in order to ensure that their lives remain smooth and no children should continue their lives by carrying the pain of victimization forever (Ramirez, 2008).
References
Fagan, J. (1987). Contributions of Victimization to Delinquency in Inner Cities. Retrieved from: http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6565&context=jclc
Ramirez, Florencio. (2008). Juvenile Delinquency Current Issues, Best Practices, and Promising Approaches. https://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/gp_solo_magazine_home/gp_solo_magazine_index/juveniledelinquency.html
Thisamericanlife.org. (2011). 425: Slow To React - Act One. When I Grow Up. Retrieved from: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/425/slow-to-react?act=1
