Youth in the Justice System
April, 16 is a day that will live in my memory for long. I had an appointment with my uncle in town. However I left school late and I had to pass by my apartment to pick the documents that he wanted us to go through. He had waited for an hour and I knew he was already angered by my lateness. Unfortunately after picking the documents I found my bicycle had developed a puncture. I considered walking to town and realized I would be 30 minutes late yet I had already delayed by an hour. By good lack though I saw a bicycle in the court yard and I was undecided whether to go with it or to ask the owner. I saw a lady park the bicycle, but I thought waiting to ask for permission would take longer so I thought of just picking the bicycle and cycling to my uncle. I am not fond of taking people’s properties without their knowledge and I equally don’t like failing to meet appointments deadline, so I was really in dilemma.
Indeed it is true that “a person’s personal definition of a situation is what will determine how that person will behave in that situation”. In fact I accessed the situation and thought it is more rewarding meeting my uncle and going through the documents than the consequences of being condemned for stealing a bicycle. Surely, a person’s immediate situation is important in determining the decision that an individual will make in a given situation.
Certainly the thought of antisocial factor raced into my mind. And as stated by Bartol and Bartol “what will my peers think of on how I act in this situation?” I asked myself the same question. I have friends in the neighborhood and we usually go to church together, so I considered whether to go against the norms of our friendship by picking the bicycle, but I realized this can’t be right.
My attitudes, values and beliefs affected my decision of taking the bicycle. Without a doubt “the attitudes, values and beliefs we hold are reflected in how we think and feel about situations” (Bartol and Bartol, 2009). I hate people who take their neighbors properties without the neighbor’s permission. And usually I consider this as stealing. So the thought of taking the bicycle without the owner’s permission was not just the way I should go, I thought.
Convention ambition and performance (education, employment, leisure and recreation) a person holds affects a decision the person will make. Bartol and Bartol (2009) indicated that “if a person values and invests themselves in prosocial pursuits, they are less likely to see benefits to antisocial or criminal behavior, basically because such behavior would jeopardize their investment”. In deed this is right because I considered myself, a law student aspiring to become a lawyer stealing a bicycle. Surely it was going to give me a bad name, too bad for a lawyer, and I decided not to take the bicycle.
Family-child relations: affective quality normative supervision/training is equally important in defining individual’s choice in a situation. “This factor relates to the quality of the relationship between the individual and his or her family, both currently and while growing up” (Bartol and Bartol, 2009). My family holds high Christian values in the society and I realized I can’t do anything that is going to put my family Christian life into shame.
Work Cited
Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2009). Juvenile delinquency and antisocial behavior: A developmental perspective (3rd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
