Essay on The Most Prevalent Causes of Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency is a problem these days, despite a recent drop in arrests. Roughly 2.5 million juveniles are arrested every year for different crimes in America. About 100,000 of those are violent crimes, however those statistics are slightly inaccurate since only half of juvenile crimes are reported (Juvenile Justice Basic Statistics, 2011). Creating interventions to assist at-risk youth means preventing them from starting on a path to crime is a priority. Juvenile justice system researchers and professionals must gain a better understanding of the contributing elements that cause delinquent behavior. The study seeks to determine the most prevalent causes among the criminal population that induce a propensity for criminal behavior.†¦show more content†¦Each of them will utilize self-report measures from both the juvenile, and, for those factors involving the family, one of their parents or guardians, as well. These definitions can provide a great deal of explanatory po wer for the reasons behind different types of juvenile behavior (Farrington et al., Van Hulle et al., 2007). These factors will serve as the independent variables for this study, and the dependent variable will be the frequency of delinquent behavior. Sampling will be performed based on juveniles of high school age that will be recruited from community samples; recruiting will take place on campus at schools throughout a major American city. Recruiting will take place in neighborhoods from various socioeconomics backgrounds, so as to provide a diverse sample both economically and racially, as ethic minorities tend to be located in lower socioeconomic status may contribute to delinquent behavior (Van Hulle et al., 2007). Interviewers provide numbers to be contacted while recruiting, with the permission of schools, and offered $40 for participating in a study that will involve an interview with them and their parents. 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