COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND JUVENILEJUSTICE

SYSTEMCRIM5

C h a p t e r I B a s i c C o n c e p t s a n d D e f i n i t i o n

History

Since ancient times, enlightened legal systems have distinguished between juvenile
delinquents and adult criminals. The immature generally were not considered morally
responsible for their behavior. Under the Code of Napoleon in France for example, limited
responsibility was ascribed to children under the age of 16. Despite the apparent humanity
of some early statutes, however the punishment of juvenile offenders until the 19thcentury
was often severe.

House of Refuge – the first institution expressly for juveniles and was founded in New York
City in 1825 so that institutionalized delinquents could be kept apart from adult criminals.
In 1700’s, Juvenile delinquents did not receive special treatment or recognition. Discipline
then is what we now call abuse. There were some major assumptions about life before
the 1700’s. the first assumption is that life is hard, and you had to be hard to survive. At
the end of the 18th century, a new cultural transition appeared. This period of history
is sometimes known as the beginning of reason and humanism. People began to see
children as flowers that needed nurturing in order to bloom. They had finally began
to emerge as a distinct group

Juvenile

- is a person who has not reached the adulthood or the age of majority (usually 18).-Are
generally regarded as immature or ones whose mental and emotional faculties
are not fully developed, thus making them incapable of taking full responsibility of their
actions.-They are required to attend school between the ages of 6 and 18; they are
expected to obey their parents; they are forbidden to purchase alcohol or cigarettes or
drive motor vehicles; they may not marry without parental permission; they cannot enter to
business or financial contracts; and they are not permitted to vote, enter the military and
runaway from home .

Delinquent

- is a person, of whatever age, whose gratitude towards other individual , towards the
community, toward lawful authority is such that it may lead him into breaking the law.-is
also defined as one who repeatedly commits an act that is against the norms
observed by the society.
Juvenile delinquents may be grouped in three ways:
1 . c h i l d r e n a g i n g b e l o w 7 y e a r s o l d 2.children aging from 7 to 12 years old –
juveniles who have doll in capax (not capable of having criminal
intent)3 . y o u t h s a g i n g a b o v e 1 2 b u t b e l o w 1 8

Juvenile delinquency-
commonly the term is used to describe a large number of disapproved behaviors of children
and youths. In other way, anything the youth does that other do not approve or like can
be called juvenile delinquency.
-
Also refers to an anti-social act or behavior of minors which deviates from the normal
patter of rules and regulations, customs, and culture which the society does not accept and
which, therefore justifies some kind of admonishment, punishment, or corrective measures
in the public interest.

Legally, juvenile delinquency is defined as:

Criminal law violations that would be considered crimes if committed by adult;

An act committed by a minor that violates the penal code of the government with
authority overthe place in which the act occurred;

The committing of those things considered crimes by the country.

Any act, behavior or conduct which might be brought to court and judged whether
such is aviolation of the law

Juvenile Crime

In its simplest definition, “crime” is any specific act prohibited by the law for which society
has provided aformally sanction punishment. This can also include the failure of a person
to perform an act specifically required by thelaw.

Legally speaking, a crime is an illegal act committed by a person with a criminal intent.
Before the establishmentof juvenile courts, children under the age of seven were never held
responsible for criminal acts.

Juvenile crime, in law, denotes various offenses committed by a children or youths under
the age of 18. Such actsare sometimes referred to as juvenile delinquency.

Unlawful acts committed by juveniles can be divided into five major categories:
Unlawful acts against person
Unlawful acts against property
Drug and alcohol offenses
Offenses against the public order
Status offenses – acts that only juveniles can commit and that can be adjudicated
only by a juvenile court.

JUVENILE JUSTICE

Like adults juveniles can be charged with violations of the criminal law, but because
of their special status, an alternative system has evolved for dealing with juvenile law
breakers
Major difference between adult and juvenile justice systems involves
t h e p u r p o s e a n d n a t u r e o f t h e s a n c t i o n s imposed.

Adults – retribution, vengeance, incapacitation, deterrence,, and rehabilitation

Juveniles – in the best interest of the child

DEVELOPMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE

The roots of the juvenile justice system are two thousand years old. These can be traced
to classical Roman Law. There are two roots:

1 . P u n i t i v e
2.Support and Care

STAGES OF DELINQUENCY
a) Emergence – the child begins with petty larceny between 8 and sometimes
during the 12th year.
b) Exploration – he or she then may move on to shoplifting and vandalism between ages
12 to 14
c) Explosion – at age 13, there is a substantial increase in variety and
seriousness
d) Conflagration – at around 15, four or more types of crime are added.

CLASSIFICATION OF DELINQUENCY

1.Unsocialized Aggression – reject or abandonment, no parents to imitate and

become aggressive

2.Socialized delinquency – membership in fraternities or groups that advocate

bad things.

3.Over-inhibited – group secretly trained to do illegal activities like marijuana

cultivation.

PATHWAY TO DELINQUENCY

1.Malicious – expression of defiance

2.Negativistic – changeable attitudes like not being satisfied with status

3.Non-utilitarian – vandalistic attitude like graffiti
4.Hedonistic – doing bad things for pleasure

TYPES OF DELINQUENT YOUTH

Delinquent youths may be grouped according to manner in which their personality types
define and affect their delinquent behavior. They are:

1)Socialized delinquents – they become delinquents as a result of their

social association with people from whom they learned deviant values. They are more likely
to become property violators than violentoffenders.
2)Neurotic delinquents – these youths become delinquents as a result of distortions of their
personality and their ideas and perception of the world around them. They may commit
delinquent acts because of their insecurities about their masculinity. They may become
deviant because of some anxiety or neurotic compulsion.

3)Psychotic delinquents – there are youths with severe personality disorders have
a significantly distorted perception of the society and people around them.

4) Sociopathic delinquents – these youths are characterized by an egocentric personality.

They have limited or no compassion for others. Because of this character defect, they can
easily victimize others with little or no anxiety or guilt.

OTHER WAYS TO CLASSIFY DELINQUENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

a)Environmental delinquents – they are the occasional law breakers

b)Emotionally maladjusted delinquents – these delinquents are the chronic lawbreakers

who make breaking of laws a habit they cannot avoid or escape from.

c)Psychiatric delinquents – they are persons who become delinquent due to mental illness
or serious emotional disturbances in the family.

EARLY CONCEPTUALIZATION IF CHILDHOOD

Childhood dates only to somewhere between the 14th and 17th centuries. Prior to this
time, “small people” were either accorded no special presence at all, or were regarded as
miniatures of adults.

Children as non-human
Practices which reflected children as non-human include:

Infanticide – especially illegitimate, deformed, poor, later born, and girls.

Abandonment – often left on the streets, on door stoops and in orphanages;
anothercommon forms was wet nursing.

Swaddling – involved depriving the child of use of limbs by wrapping them in
endless bandage; child could be left unattended

Children as miniature adults

Practices which reflected children as miniature adults include:

Adult punishment for misdeeds – punishments for children were severe, even the
death penalty for minor offenses.
Slavery and apprenticeship – children were commonly sold into slavery, prostitution
andapprenticeship, sometimes as security on debts or as political hostages.
Morality, sex and prostitution – children were exposed to adult sexuality form an
early age, and even used as prostitutes.
THE INVENTION OF DELINQUENCY

The following laws paved the way to the invention of delinquency:

1)Roman law and Canon (church) Law – approximately 2000 years ago. Roman Law and
Canon Law madedistinction between juveniles and adults based on notion “age of
responsibility”

2)Ancient Jewish Law – The

Talmud (body of jewish civil and religious laws) specified condition under which immaturity
was to be considered in imposing punishment.

3 ) C o d i f i c a t i o n o f R o m a n L a w - i n 5 th century B.C. this law resulted in the Twelve

Tables which made it clear that children were criminally responsible for violation of law and
were to be dealt with by the same criminal justice system as adults. Punishments for some
offenses, however, were less severe for young people than for adults.

4)Anglo Saxon Common Law – this law was influenced by Roman and Canon Law, which
emerged in England during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.The distinction made
between adult and juvenile offenders in England at this time is most significant. Under
common law:
- Children under 7 were automatically presumed innocent because of their age.
- Children over 14 were automatically judged as an adult
- Children between 7 and 14 were presumed innocent because of their age, but could be
found guilty under certain circumstances.

CREATION OF THE INSTITUTION

As result of the increasing recognition of the problem of delinquency, several institutions

for juveniles were established in the east between 1824 and 1828. These institutions were
oriented toward education and treatment rather than punishment, through whippings, long
periods of silence and loss of rewards were used to punish the uncooperative

THEORIES OF DELINQUENCY

Various theories have been propounded to understand the deviant behavior of juveniles.
They are classified as follows:

A.Early general theories on the causes of delinquency

1.)Demonological theory – this was developed during the middle ages. Hence, it is the oldest
perspective oftheory. It was based on the belief of primitive people that every object and
person is guided by a spirit.This theory promoted the notion that persons should not be
held responsible for their actions when theydo evil things because their body is possessed
by evil spirits.

2)Classical theory – postulated by Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham, classical theory
was consistent with the utilitarian view that people weigh the benefits and costs of future
action before they decide to act.-It promoted the idea that people choose criminality
the same way when they choose conformity, that youths commit crime because they
think or imagine that greater good things can be earned through conformity. This is
because people by nature are hedonistic.`

Classicist have four good reasons why delinquent persons and offenders should
be punished:

a)General deterrence – punishment of delinquents and criminal offenders will strike fear in
the hearts ofother people, thus making them less likely to commit acts of delinquency or
crimes.

b)Specific deterrence – punishment will strike fear in the hearts of wrongdoers, thus
making them less likely to offend others again.

c)Incapacitation – the simplest form of jurisdiction; wrongdoers should be locked up in jail

since while they are imprisoned in an institution, they cannot commit offenses against
other people in the outside world.

d)Retribution – this reason objects the idea that anything good or useful will follow result
from punishing offenders;

- Criminals or delinquents should be punished because they deserve it; a punishment

is morallyright and just in light of the harm and damage caused by the offense.
-
- Punishing criminals have no positive purpose or no positive effect on the minds
and hearts ofthe people.
-
3.) Positive or Italian theory – this theory was developed by Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri,
and RaffaeleGarofalo. Positive theory promoted the idea of determinism as a way of
explaining crime and delinquency.Determinism means every act has a cause that is waiting
to be discovered in the natural world.

4.) Critical theory – this theory is much more significant criminological analysis on the
causes of juveniledelinquency. Critical criminologist and sociologist view juvenile
delinquency as a by product of existing social arrangements. The concepts of power,
influence, inequality and conflict guide this theory in exploring and clarifying the nature of
juvenile delinquency. This theory blames delinquency on the imbalance power within the
human society.

B.Biological theories

Early biological theories claim that criminal behavior is a result of biological or genetic
defect in the individual. Contemporary biological theories focus more on variations in
genetic and other biological factors in interaction with the environment, and are less likely
to refer to biological defects or abnormalities.

1)Lombrosian theory – it was developed by Dr. Cesare Lombroso, a prison doctor in Turin
Italy and knownas the father of criminology. His job was to examine hundreds of criminals.
This theory holds the following assumptions:
a.Criminals have many stigmata (distinctive physical features) such as
symmetrical faces, enormous jaws, large or protruding ears, and receding chins.

b.Criminals are atavistic beings who look differently and think differently. Having the
mentality of primitive people, they are incapable of living in modern society.

c.Criminals are classified as epileptic, insane and inborn.

2.) General Inferiority Theory/ Hooton’s Theory – this was proposed by Earnest Hooston.
This theory has thefollowing assumptions:

a. Crime is the result of the impact of environment upon low-grade human organisms and
that criminalswere originally inferior people.

b. crimes exist because there are some inferior people who are responsible for them.

c. Man with mediocre builds are people who tend to break the law without preference
because crimes are like physical make-up, characteristics.

d. Criminals should be permanently exiled to self-governing reservations, isolated from the

society,sterilized to prevent future offspring.

3.) William Sheldon’s Theory – according to Sheldon, body type affects the person’s entire
personality or temperament. People are classified in three ways:

a. Endomorphs – people who tend to be fat, round and soft, and to have short arms and
legs.

b. Mesomorphs – people who have athletic and muscular physique; with active, assertive
and aggressive personality. Delinquency exist because there are mesomorphic men or
youths who are responsible for its occurrence.

c. Ectomorphs – people who are basically skinny with lean and fragile bodies.

4.) Genetic Theory – this theory assumes that:a. Crime and delinquency is committed by
people who have abnormal genetic structure or chromosomalabnormalities. b. DNA is the
transmitter of genetic materials (genes)c. Extra Y chromosome is responsible for
aggressiveness and thus, criminal activity. Men with extra Ychromosomes are taller and
have a 10 to 20 percent greater tendency to break the law that genetically normalXY males.

C.Psychological Theory

These theory assumed that:

a.Delinquency is a result of internal, underlying disturbances.

b.These disturbances develop in childhood and tend to become permanent features of the
individualcharacter.

c.Since the individual has problems, he or she must be the focus of attention if
the problem is to be solved.