GMILLAMINA_2024

Pangasinan State University

Binmaley Campus
COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATION

Criminology 5
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
and
JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

Gina S. Millamina
January 2024
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Chapter 2

2.1. Theories of Juvenile Delinquency.

A. Early General Theories on the Causes of Delinquency

1. Demonological Theory – this was developed during the Middle Ages. This theory promoted the notion
that people should not be held responsible for their actions when they do evil things because their
body is possessed by evil spirits.

2. Classical Theory – postulated by Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. It is consistent with the
utilitarian view that people weigh the benefits and costs of future action before they decide to act.
This assumes that people are rational, have free will, and therefore able to choose.
• Hedonism – is a doctrine that pleasure is the highest good in life and moral duty is fulfilled through
the pursuit of pleasure.
Classicists 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
of other 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 to the idea that anything good or useful will follow or result from
punishing offenders.
a. Criminals or delinquents should be punished because they deserve it; a punishment is morally
right and just considering the harm and damage caused by the offense.
b. Punishing criminals has no positive purpose or no positive effect on the minds and hearts of the
people.

3. Positive or Italian theory – this theory was developed by Cesare Lombroso, Enrico Ferri and Raffaele
Garofalo. It promotes the idea of determinism as a way of explaining crime and delinquency.
Determinism means that every act has a cause that is waiting to be discovered in the natural world.
• Positivists believed that the causes of juvenile delinquency could be identified through the application
of the scientific method.
• Positive theory blames delinquency on biological, psychological, and sociological factors.
4. Critical Theory – critical Criminologists and sociologists view juvenile delinquency as a byproduct of
existing social arrangements. This theory blames delinquency on the imbalance of power within
human society.

B. Biological Theories
Early biological theories claim that criminal behavior is a result of biological or genetic defect in the
individual.
1. Lombrosian Theory – developed by Dr. Cesare Lombroso, known as the father of criminology. 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 thus 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 Hooton which has the
following assumptions:
a. Crime is the result of the impact of the environment upon low-grade human organisms and that
criminals were originally inferior people.
b. Crime exists because there are some inferior people who are responsible for it.
c. Men with mediocre builds are people who tend to break the law without preference because
crimes are like physical make-up, characterless.
d. Criminals should be permanently exiled to self-governing reservations, isolated from society,
sterilized to prevent future offspring.
3. William Sheldon’s Theory – body type affects a person’s entire personality or temperament. People
are classified into 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 exists 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.
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4. Genetic Theory – this theory assumes that:

a. Crime and delinquency is committed by people who have abnormal genetic structure or
chromosomal abnormalities.
b. DNA is the transmitter of genetic materials (genes).
c. Extra Y chromosome is responsible for aggressiveness and thus, criminal activity.

C. Psychological Theories
These theories assume that:
a. Delinquency is a result of internal underlying disturbances.
b. These disturbances develop in childhood and tend to become permanent features of the individual
character.
1. Psychogene Theories – these are theories which blame delinquency on impulses that are rooted in the
child rather than in his environment. It is easier to change a person than it is to change an environment.
1.1. Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory – Sigmund Freud believed that people develop in a series of stages.
When abnormalities occur, the person is more likely to experience conflict. Conflict stems from the
person’s basic drive (ID) and social controls.
The Four Elements in Freud’s Theory:
a. Human nature is inherently anti-social. Every child possesses a set of primitive anti-social instincts
that Freud called ID.
b. Good behavior comes through effective socialization. Through socialization, the child learns internal
control.
c. The life-long features of the human personality originate in early childhood. By age 5, all the essential
features of the child’s adult personality have been developed.
d. Delinquent behavior is the result of a defective superego.
The Three Parts of Human Psyche (personality):
a. ID – it is the unconscious portion of personality dominated by the drive (cravings) for pleasure and by
inborn sexual and aggressive impulses. If left unchecked, it may destroy the person.
b. Ego – this is the rational part of the personality; it grows from the ID. It represents problem solving
dimensions of personality.
c. Super ego – it grows out of ego. It represents the moral code, norms and values the individual has
acquired. Hence, it is responsible for feelings of guilt and shame.

2. The Low-IQ Theory – this theory claims that:

a. People with low intelligence are easily led into law-breaking activities by the wiles of more clever people.
b. People with low intelligence are unable to realize that committing offenses in a certain way often leads to
getting caught and eventual punishment.
Critics in this theory: Low IQs do not lead to higher rates of delinquency per itself but merely higher rates of
getting caught.

3. Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Theory – this theory claims that:

a. Juvenile delinquency is caused by immaturity and hyperactivity.
b. Grade schools usually experience attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is characterized by:
1) Short attention span
2) Day dreaming
3) Sluggishness
4) Preoccupation
5) Impulsiveness

4. Frustration-Aggression Theory – this theory claims that people who are frustrated will act aggressively, and
people who engage in aggression are frustrated first.
Frustration – is a behavior directed at anticipated goals or expectations.
Aggression – is a behavior whose goal is to inflict damage or injury on some objects or persons.

D. Social Class Theories

1. Social Disorganization Theory – this theory was recognized early in the 20th century by sociologists
Clifford Shaw and Henry Mckay. In this theory, disorganized areas cannot exert social control over
acting-out youth; these areas can be identified by their relatively high-level age of change, fear,
instability, incivility, poverty, and deterioration. These factors have a direct influence on the area’s
delinquency rate.
2. Anomie Theory – advocated by Emile Durkheim, anomie is normlessness produced by rapidly shifting
moral values. This occurs when personal goals cannot be achieved using available means.
Anomie – refers to a breakdown of social norms and a condition where norms no longer control the
activities of members in society.
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3. Strain Theory – contends that certain classes are denied legitimate access to culturally determined
goals and opportunities, and the resulting frustration results in illegitimate activities or rejection of
society’s goal. According to sociologists Robert Merton, although most people share common values
and goals, the means for legitimate economic and social success are stratified by socio-economic
class. Consequently, these youths may either use deviant methods to achieve their goals or reject
socially accepted goals and substitute deviant ones.
4. Differential Opportunity Theory – delinquent subcultures, according to Richard Cloward and Lloyd
Ohlin, flourish in the lower classes and take forms so that the means for illegitimate success are no
more equally distributed than the means for legitimate success.
Three types of delinquent gangs (Cloward & Ohlin):
a. The criminal gang – emerges in areas where conventional as well as non-conventional values of
behavior are integrated by a close connection of illegitimate and legitimate businesses.
b. The conflict/violent gang – non-stable and non-integrated, characterized by an absence of
criminal organization resulting in instability.
c. The retreatist gang – equally unsuccessful in legitimate as well as illegitimate means.
5. Class Conflict Theory – according to Richard Quinney and William Chambliss, conflict theory is
based upon the view that the fundamental causes of crime are the social and economic forces
operating within society. The criminal justice system and criminal law are thought to be operating on
behalf of rich and powerful social elites, with resulting policies aimed at controlling the poor.
6. Differential Oppression Theory – John D. Hewitt and Robert Regoli proposed that much serious
juvenile delinquency is a product of the oppression of children by adults, particularly within the
context of family. The maltreatment of children has been found to be highly correlated with both
serious and moderate delinquency as well as other problem behaviors.

E. Interpersonal Theories
1. Differential Association Theory – introduced by Edwin Sutherland, it asserts that criminal behavior
is learned primarily within the interpersonal groups and that youth will become delinquent if
definitions they have learned favorable to violating the law exceed definitions favorable to obeying the
law within the group.
2. Social Learning Theory – this theory views that behavior is modeled through observation, either
directly through intimate contact with others, or indirectly through media. Social learning theory
suggests that children who grow up in a home where violence is a way of life may learn to believe that
such behavior is acceptable and rewarding.

F. Situational Theories
a. Drift theory (Naturalization theory) – this theory proposes that juveniles sense a moral obligation to
be bound by the law. When it is not in place, delinquents will drift. David Matza and Gresham Sykes
suggest that delinquents hold values similar to those of law-abiding citizens, but they learn techniques
that enable them to neutralize those values and drift back and forth between legitimate and delinquent
behavior. Drift is a process by which an individual moves from one behavioral extreme to another,
behaving sometimes in an unconventional manner and at other times with constraint.
Five techniques of neutralization
1. Denial of responsibility
2. Denial of injury
3. Denial of victim
4. Condemnation of the condemners
5. Appeal to higher loyalties

G. Societal Reaction Theories

1. Labeling Theory – developed by Howard Becker, labeling theory views that youths may violate the law
for a variety of reasons including poor family relations, peer pressure, psychological abnormality, and
pro-delinquent learning experiences. Whatever the cause of the delinquent behavior, the offenders
will be given a negative label that can follow them throughout life such as “troublemaker”, “mentally
ill” and “juvenile delinquent”.
H. Control Theories
1. Social Control Theory – this theory by Travis Hirschi states that members in society form bonds with
other members in society or institutions in society such as parents, pro-social friends, churches,
schools, teachers, and sports teams.
2. Self-Derogation Theory – introduced by Howard Kaplan, this theory states that all motivation to
maximize our self-esteem, motivation to conform will be minimized by family, school and peer
interactions that devalue our sense of self. Interaction and behavior may be self-defacing or self-
enhancing.
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3. Interactional Theory – originated by Terrence Thornberry, this theory states that weakening of a
child’s social bond is the fundamental cause of delinquency. Interactional theory examined the
changing nature of relationships over the life course.
4. Self-Control Theory – this theory argues that it is the absence of self-control rather than the presence
of some forces or factors such as poverty, anomie, opportunities for deviance, delinquent peers,
exposure to definitions favorable to deviance, etc. that leads to deviance.

I. Other Theories
1. Cultural Deviance Theory – this theory links delinquent acts to the formation of independent
subcultures with a unique set of values that clash with mainstream culture. It argues that children
learn deviant behavior socially through exposure to others and modeling of others’ actions.
2. Structural Functionalism Theory – some structural structures exert a definite pressure upon certain
persons in society to engage in non-conforming rather than conforming behavior. Juveniles who
engage in crimes do so to defy society’s defined goals and innovate their own goals of delinquent
behavior.
3. Rational Choice Theory – deviance is a result of high calculation of risks and awards. Juveniles do not
always choose the most rational actions.
4. Routine Activities Theory – developed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson. This theory claims
that crime is a normal function of the routine activities of modern living; offenses can be expected by
capable guardians. The greater the opportunity for criminals and victims to interact, the greater
probability of crime.
Factors affecting Routine Activities theory:
a. Lack of capable guardian
b. Suitable target
c. Motivated offenders
5. Learning Theories – this theory advances that delinquency is learned through close relationship with
others. It asserts that children are born “good” and learn to be “bad” from others.

2.2. Factors and Causes of Juvenile Delinquency

A. Family, Peers, Environment, School, and Mass Media
The problem of juvenile delinquency is attributed to factors such as family, peers,
environment, school, and mass media that affect the socialization of children. Socialization is the
process through which children learn the ways of society or social group so that they can function
within it.
1. Family
Family is the first and most important social unit to affect children; it is the first social world
the child encounters. Individuals learn the attitudes, behaviors and social roles considered
appropriate for them from already socialized individuals, typically parents and other family
members. Through the socialization process in families, the personalities, characters, values,
and beliefs of children are initially shaped. Families help in the development of stable and
emotionally secure individuals and enhance the cognitive and language development of children
by providing a variety of intellectually rich and stimulating experiences. Parents and older family
members also serve as role models, transmitting educational values providing an environment
in which children can safely develop a sense of independence.
At theoretical level, families are the primary source for teaching children self-control, a major
point of delinquency. It has been observed that adolescents who have self-control are more
attracted to delinquency behaviors than youth with greater self-control. The primary cause of low
self-control appears to be in-effective child-rearing.
One of the most critical aspects of socialization is the development of moral values in
children. Moral education, or the training of the individual to be inclined toward good, involves
several things, including the rules on the dos and don’ts and the development of good habits.

2. PEERS
Peer group or barkada is a group of youths with similar age levels and interest that often can
empower young people in their sense of feeling worthwhile and important. The social world of some
adolescents revolves around their closest friends. They search for acceptance, status, identity and
meaning through interaction with others.

Peer Relations and Delinquency

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Research shows that peer group relationships are closely tied to delinquent behaviors. Kids
who report inadequate or strained peer relations, who say they are not popular with the opposite sex,
are the ones most likely to become delinquent. The weight of the empirical evidence indicates that
youths who are loyal to delinquent friends, belong to gangs, and those who have “bad companions”
are the ones most likely to commit crimes and engage in violence. Reviews of the research show
that delinquent acts tend to be committed in small groups, rather than alone – a process called co-
offending. The group process may involve family members as well as peers; brothers are likely to
commit offenses with brothers of a similar age.

Peer Rejection/Peer Acceptance

While most research looks at the influence of deviant peers, there is also evidence that
conventional, law-abiding peers affect behavior. By snubbing kids whom they consider wild and
unruly, peer rejection helps lock aggressive kids into a cycle of persistent violence that is likely to
continue into delinquency-producing traits. For example, rejected kids who have attention and
hyperactivity problems are more likely to suffer later conduct problems.
Peer rejection may help increase and sustain antisocial behaviors’ because outcast kids
become suspicious of other people’s motives, see them as hostile, and become more likely to
respond in an antisocial manner. Because the most popular kids reject them, these troubled youths
have fewer positive social options and may be drawn to lower status and deviant peer groups.
Hoping to belong and be accepted in at least one peer group, no matter its damaged reputation, they
feel compelled to engage in more antisocial activity to gain standing and approval.

Gangs
As youths move through adolescence, they gravitate toward cliques that provide them with
support, assurance, protection, and direction. Peer group membership allows them to devalue
enemies, achieve status and develop self-assurance. In some instances, the peer group provides
the social and substance abuse. In this instance, the clique is transformed into a gang.
Gangs are groups of youths who collectively engage in delinquent behaviors. Yet, there is a
distinction between group delinquency and gang delinquency. The former consists of a short-lived
alliance created to commit a particular crime or engage in a random violent act. In contrast, gang
delinquency involves long-lived, complex institutions that have a distinct structure and
organization, including identifiable leadership, division of labor (some members are fighters, other
burglars, while some are known as deal makers), rules, rituals, and possessions (such as
headquarters and weapons).
Other definitions of gang are as follows:
• Any congregation of youths who have joined together to engage in delinquent acts.
• A cohesive group that holds and defends territory or turfs.
• An interstitial group, a phrase coined by gang expert Frederick Thrasher. He used the
term to refer to the fact that gangs fill the “cracks” in the fabric of society. To be
considered a gang, a group must maintain standard group processes, such as recruiting
a new member, setting goals (such as controlling the neighboring drug trade), assigning
roles (appointing someone to negotiate with rivals), and developing status (grooming
young members for leadership roles).
Although a great deal of divergence over the definition of gang exists, Malcolm Klein argues that two
factors stand out as part of the concept of the youth gang:
1. Members have self-recognition of their gang status, and use special vocabulary, clothing
signs, colors, graffiti, and names. Members set themselves apart from the community and are
viewed as a separate entity by others. Once they get the label of gang, members eventually accept
and take pride in their status.
2. There is a commitment to criminal activity, though even the most criminal gang members
spend the bulk of their time on noncriminal activities.

Gang Types
Gangs have been categorized by their activity. Some are devoted to violence and protecting
their neighborhood boundaries or turf; others are devoted to theft. Some specialize in drug
trafficking; others are primarily social groups concerned with recreation, rather than crime.

Most gangs fall into one of four categories:

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1. Social Gang – involved in few delinquent activities and little drug use other than alcohol and
marijuana. Membership is more interested in the social aspects of group behavior.
2. Party Gang – concentrates on drug use and sales, forgoing most delinquent behavior, except
vandalism. Drug sales are designed to finance members’ personal drug use.
3. Serious Delinquent Gang – engages in serious delinquent behavior while eschewing most
drug use. Drugs are used only on social occasions.
4. Organized Gang – heavily involved in criminality and drug use and sales. Drug use and sales
reflect a systematic relationship with other criminal acts. For example, violent acts are used to
establish control over drug sale territories. Highly cohesive and organized, this gang is on the verge
of becoming a formal criminal organization.

Gang Locations
The gang problem has traditionally been considered an urban, lower-class phenomenon.
Two types or urban areas are gang prone. The first is the transitional neighborhood, which is
marked by rapid population change in which diverse ethnic and racial groups find themselves living
side by side and in competition with one another. Intergang conflict and homicide rates are high in
these areas, which house the so-called urban underclass.
The second gang area is the stable slum, a neighborhood where population shifts have
slowed down, permitting patterns of behavior and traditions to develop over several years. The
stable slum more often contains the large, structured gang clusters that are the most resistant to
attempts by law enforcement and social service agencies to modify or disband them.

Gang Age
The ages of gang members range widely, perhaps from as young as 8 to as old as 55.
However, members of offending groups are usually no more than a few years apart in age, with a
leader, or instigator, who may be more experienced and a few years old.
A recent survey of 3,368 youths, including almost 2,000 gang members, conducted by the
National Gang Crime Research Center, found that kids first hear about gangs at around 9 years old,
get involved in violence at age 10 or 11, and join their first gang at age 12. By age 13, half of the gang
boys interviewed had fired a pistol, seen someone killed or seriously injured by gang violence, gotten
a permanent gang tattoo, and been arrested.
Gang experts believe the average age of gang members has been increasing yearly. This
trend is attributed to economic reasons. William Julius Wilson found that the inability of inner-city
males to obtain adequate employment prevents them from attaining adult roles; for example, they
cannot afford to marry and raise families. Criminal records acquired at an early age quickly lock
them out of the job market. Remaining in a gang into their adulthood has become an economic
necessity. The weakening economy should prolong gang membership even further.

Gang Formation
Gang formation involves a sense of territoriality. Most gang members live near one another,
and their sense of belonging and loyalty extends only to their small area of the city. At first, a gang
may form when members of an ethnic minority newly settled in the neighborhood join for self-
preservation. As the group gains numerical domination over an area, it may view the neighborhood
as its territory or turf, which needs to be defended. Defending turf involves fighting rivals who want
to make the territory their own.
Once formed, gangs grow when youths who admire the older gang boys and wish to imitate
their lifestyle “apply” and are accepted for membership. Sometimes, the new members will be given
a special, diminished identity within the gang that reflects their inexperience and apprenticeship
status. Joan Moore and her associates found that once formed, youth cliques (klikas) in Hispanic
gangs remain together as unique groups with separate names (for example, the Termites), separate
identities, and distinct experiences; they also have more intimate relationships among themselves
than among the general gang membership. She likens klikas to a particular class university, such as
the class ’94 – not a separate organization, but one that has its own unique experiences.
Moore also found that gangs can expand by including members’ kin, even if they do not live
in the immediate neighborhood, and rival gang members who wish to join because they admire the
gang’s way of doing things. Adding outsiders gives the gang the ability to take over new territory.
However, it also brings with it new problems, since outsider membership and the grasp for new
territory usually results in greater conflicts with rival gangs.
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Gang Leadership
Most experts describe gang leaders as cool characters who have earned their position by
demonstrating a variety of abilities – fighting prowess, verbal quickness, athletic distinction, and so
on. Experts emphasize that gang leadership is held by one person and varies with activities, such as
fighting, sex, and negotiations. In fact, in some gangs, each age level of the gang has its own leader.
Older members may be looked up, but they are not necessarily considered leaders by younger
members.
Depending on the organizational structure of the gang, there appears to be a diverse concept
of leadership. Less organized gangs are marked by diffuse and shifting leadership. Larger and more
organized gangs have a clear chain of command and leaders who are supposed to give orders, plan
activities and control members’ behavior.
Gang Communications
Gangs today seek recognition both from their rivals and the community. Image and
reputation depend on the gang’s ability to communicate with the rest of the world. One major source
of gang communication is graffiti or writing on walls. For example, among Latino gangs, the term rifa
is used to assert power; “p/v” or por vida means the gang wants to control the are “for life;” numeral
13 signifies that the gang is loco or “wild”.

3. ENVIRONMENT – the culture, norms and behavior of the child’s surroundings may very well
influence the upbringing of the child especially throughout their formative years and such
misbehaviors learned will be carried out until a child’s maturity or entrance to the adolescent world.
Behavior modification by means of imitation as brought about by the environment is as follows:
• Rampant drug addiction
• Vices such as gambling and alcoholism.
• Association with criminal groups and gangs
• Impulse of fear and resentment
• Crime inducting situations and presence of hazards.
• Attractive nuisances prevalent in the environment

4. The Role of Mass Media against Delinquency:

Mass media should be encouraged to ensure that young people have access to information
and material from a diversity of national and international sources. It should support portraying the
positive contribution of young people to society.
Mass media should be encouraged to disseminate information on the existence of services,
facilities, and opportunities for young people in society.
The mass media generally and the television and film media, should be encouraged to
minimize the level of pornography, drugs, and violence as well as to avoid demeaning and degrading
presentations and to promote egalitarian principles and roles.
The mass media should be aware of its extensive social role and responsibility, as well as its
influence, in communications relating to youthful drug and alcohol by relaying consistent messages
through a balanced approach. Effective drug awareness campaigns at all levels should be
promoted.

❖ OTHER FACTOR AFFECTING JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

GOVERNMENT – some department or agencies of the government also create factors that influence
the youth to become delinquent such as:
1. Political interference of the higher positions.
2. Unfair decisions of the court.
3. Police carelessness and unfair treatment, and even the police policy itself.

RELIGION – religion is another factor as such shapes the child’s spiritual beliefs. It serves as a guide
to his or her moral preferences as he grows up. The molding of a child’s character starts from his
spirituality which is brought about by the teachings of his or her church. The moment children fear
no God, the probability of acknowledging the existence of their parents as the source of their being,
does not exist in their minds, leading them to think that they owe nobody anything. Deviant behavior
flourishes among this type of children.
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Exclusion – the growing gap between rich and poor has led to the emergence of “unwanted others”.
The exclusion of some people is gradually increasing with the accumulation of obstacles, ruptured
social ties, unemployment, and identity crisis.

Chapter 3
Family Conditions, and the Role of the Parents and Teachers against Delinquency
3.1 Family Structure

Family conditions that influence the development of juvenile delinquency

1. Separation of parents/broken home
2. Family desertion
3. Both working parents
4. Parental rejection
5. Single-parent household
6. In-law problems
7. Lack of parental guidance
8. Family displacement
9. Low income of parents
10. Teenage pregnancy
11. Latchkey children

Family structure (both the family size and birth position had been found to have predictive effects
on delinquency)
1. Family size – parents of larger families tend to give less parental attention to their children.
Children of large families have a greater chance to become delinquent; it was found that
delinquency is associated with the number of brothers in the family, but not with the number
of sisters.
2. Child’s birth order in the family – birth order affects the delinquent behavior with
delinquency more likely among middle children than first or last children.
Relationship between Parents and Children
The strongest predictive factor for delinquency is having criminal parents. It may be that
parents provide a model of behavior for the children to copy or a model of aggressive and anti-social
behavior which in turn leads to delinquency.
1. Family rejection – studies found a significant relationship between parental rejection and
delinquent behavior. As a result of rejection, they are deprived of one or both of their parents
through abandonment, hospitalization, divorce, death or intervention of public agencies.
2. Discipline in the home – inadequate supervision and discipline in the home have been
commonly cited to explain delinquent behavior.
Three types of home that breeds three types of behavior:
1. A loving, friendly and just home that breeds Conforming behavior.
2. A loving, liberal and open-minded home that breeds Critical behavior.
3. A loveless, lonely, and problematic home life that breeds Deviant behavior.
Family Model
1. The corporate model – the father is the chief executive officer. The mother is the operating
officer and implements the father’s policy and manages the staff (children) that in turn have
privileges and responsibilities based on their seniority. The father makes the most; he is the
final word in the corporate family. Intimacy runs to the profit motive.
2. The team model – the father is the head; the mother is the chief of the training table and
cheerleader. The children, suffering frequent performance anxiety, play by the rules and stay
in shape with conformity calisthenics. In the team family, competition is in the name of the
game; winning is everything.
3. The military model – the father is the general. The mother is the guard duty with a special
assignment to the nurse corps when needed. The kids are the grunts. Unruly children are sent
to stockades, insubordinate wives risk discharge. Punishment is swift, and sadism is called
character building.
4. The boarding school model – the father is the rector or headmaster and oversees training
school minds and bodies. The mother is the dorm counselor who oversees the realm
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emotion, illness, good works, and bedwetting. The children are dutiful students. The parents
have nothing left to learn; there’s nothing but teach and test.
5. The theatrical model – the father is the producer and plays the role of the father. The mother,
the stage manager, doubles in the part of mother. The children, the stagehands, also act the
role of the girls and boys. No writers are necessary because the lines are scripted; the roles
are sex stereotypes, the plot predictable.
Quality of Home
Poor family home life, measured by marital adjustment and harmony within the home, also
affects the rate of delinquent behavior among children more than whether the family is intact.
Happiness of marriage, good marital relationships and strong family cohesiveness in homes
are the key whether the children become delinquent.
1. Broken Home - this does not refer to the separation of parents leaving their children behind
but includes the presence of parents who are irresponsible so that children experience
constant quarrels in home.
Effects of family breakdown to the children:
a. Being brought up by one parent instead of two decreases the amount of surveillance, which
protects against delinquency.
b. Divorce plunges the family into poverty, which is associated with deviance and forces the
family to find accommodation in a high delinquency area.
c. People who divorce are less stable character than normal and pass their instability onto their
children.
2. Single Parent Family – majority of single parent families are the products of divorce. Part of
the effect is simply that of the strained relationships between the parents prior to family
breakdown.
Effects of Single-Parent Family:
a. Single parents are much more likely to be living in poverty, or living in a high-delinquency area
than are married persons.
b. Single parents may find it more difficult to control their children during late childhood and
adolescence.
c. The fathers of the children of single-mothers may have criminal behavior or alcoholism which
may have influenced their children prior to family break-down.

3.2 Parenting style

Parenting Styles
Another perceived delinquency factor is parenting style. Parents could manifest one of the
following parenting styles:
1. Authoritative parents – they are warm but firm. They set standards for the child’s conduct
but form expectations consistent with the child’s developing needs and capabilities. They
give high regard for the independent development of the child and self-direction but assume
the ultimate responsibility for their child’s behavior.
2. Authoritarian parents – they place a high value on obedience and conformity, tending to
favor more punitive, absolute, and forceful disciplinary measures. These parents are not
responsive to their children and show little warmth and support.
3. Indulgent parents – they behave in responsive, accepting, benign or kind, and more passive
ways in matters of discipline. They place relatively few demands on the child’s behavior,
giving the child a high degree of freedom to act as he or she wishes.
4. Indifferent parents – they are unresponsive to their child and try to minimize the time and
energy they must devote to interacting with the child or responding to the child’s demands.

Parenting skills
The following are ways of developing parenting skills:
1. Notice what the child is doing.
2. Monitor it over a long period of time.
3. Model social skill behavior.
4. Clearly state house rules/policies.
5. Consistently provide the same punishments for transgressions and disobedience.
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6. Provide reinforcement for conformity.

7. Negotiate disagreements so that conflicts and crisis do not escalate.

3.3 School and Teacher’s role

Role of the teacher in educational programs of Juvenile Delinquents:

1. The teacher should make the school a society in miniature for the socialization of children.

2. Great persons from different social streams should be invited by the teacher to deliver lecturer and
speeches to develop the social and moral character children.

3. The teacher should give importance to the mental hygiene of the children.

4. The teacher should be co-operative helpful and sympathetic to solve their problems.

5. The teacher should take interest for the physical, mental, and emotional aspect of the children and in
case of any defect arises he should consult with concern doctors and psychologists.

6. The teacher should inspire the children for the development of a fire character.

7. After intelligent test the classifications of students may be done.

8. The teacher should provide all kind of facility for the mentally backward children.

9. The teacher should keep a keen relation with the parents and should provide the detailed information
time to time about their children.