All over Europe youth delinquency is decreasing; our understanding of the factors related to juvenile delinquency and the characteristics of effective forensic youth care has increased substantially. However, effective prevention and intervention strategies are not always employed due to financial, demographical and socio-political challenges countries face, while the burden of mental health in juvenile justice populations is high. With this commentary, we highlight the importance of international collaboration to set out a direction to improve forensic youth care, to bundle our strengths and overcome our challenges. It is a continuation of the course that was set out by Doreleijers and Fegert (Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 5:20, 2011), in their editorial they highlighted the importance of collaboration and presented an overview of the state of the art on forensic youth care in eight European countries (and Russia). With this manuscript, we present an overview of statistics in juvenile justice of all European countries and present an integrated mission statement for forensic youth care, which was formulated in a keynote debate at the 6th biennial congress of the European Association for Forensic Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychology and other involved professions (EFCAP).
Juvenile Delinquency Causes And Control Download Pdf
The approach on juvenile delinquency in Switzerland is focused on the offender, not on the offence. Offenders are investigated on several domains, such as developmental stage, personality and psychosocial situation. The age of criminal responsibility (10 years) is amongst the youngest in Europe. However, the aim of the juvenile justice system is to reintegrate juvenile offenders in society, not to retaliate. The Swiss system has several strengths: institutions are generally well funded, interventions exist at all levels of intensity, the psychotherapeutic approach is widely available and there is no differentiation between civil and criminal justice placements. In order to continuously improve the system, the Swiss ministry of justice funds applied research in juvenile institutions. Based on the Swiss system, it is recommended that prevention and intervention programs start early, focus on measures, invest enough money in the system (this pays off in the long run), and do research to improve the system.
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority.[1] In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person who commits a crime and is under a specific age.[2] Most states specify a juvenile delinquent as an individual under 18 years of age while a few states have set the maximum age slightly different.[3] In 2021, Michigan, New York, and Vermont raised the maximum age to under 19, and Vermont law was updated again in 2022 to include individuals under the age of 20.[4] Only three states, Georgia, Texas, and Wisconsin still appropriate the age of a juvenile delinquent as someone under the age of 17.[3] While the maximum age in some US states has increased, Japan has lowered the juvenile delinquent age from under 20 to under 18. This change occurred on April 1, 2022 when the Japanese Diet activated a law lowering the age of minor status in the country.[5][6][7] Just as there are differences in the maximum age of a juvenile delinquent, the minimum age for a child to be considered capable of delinquency or the age of criminal responsibility varies considerably between the states.[4] Some states that impose a minimum age have made recent amendments to raise the minimum age, but most states remain ambiguous on the minimum age for a child to be determined a juvenile delinquent. In 2021, North Carolina changed the minimum age from 6 years old to 10 years old while Connecticut moved from 7 to 10 and New York made an adjustment from 7 to 12. In some states the minimum age depends on the seriousness of the crime committed.[8] Juvenile delinquents or juvenile offenders commit crimes ranging from status offenses such as, truancy, violating a curfew or underage drinking and smoking to more serious offenses categorized as property crimes, violent crimes, sexual offenses, and cybercrimes.[9]
Some scholars have found an increase in arrests for youth and have concluded that this may reflect more aggressive criminal justice and zero-tolerance policies rather than changes in youth behavior.[10] Youth violence rates in the United States have dropped to approximately 12% of peak rates in 1993 according to official US government statistics, suggesting that most juvenile offending is non-violent.[11] Many delinquent acts can be attributed to the environmental factors such as family behavior or peer influence.[12][13] One contributing factor that has gained attention in recent years is the school to prison pipeline. According to Diverse Education, nearly 75% of states have built more jails and prisons than colleges. CNN also provides a diagram that shows that cost per inmate is significantly higher in most states than cost per student. This shows that tax payers' dollars are going toward providing for prisoners rather than providing for the educational system and promoting the advancement of education. For every school that is built, The focus on punitive punishment has been seen to correlate with juvenile delinquency rates.[14] Some have suggested shifting from zero tolerance policies to restorative justice approaches.[15]
Currently, there is not an agency whose jurisdiction is tracking worldwide juvenile delinquency but UNICEF estimates that over one million children are in some type of detention globally.[20] Many countries do not keep records of the amount of delinquent or detained minors but of the ones that do, the United States has the highest number of juvenile delinquency cases.[21] In the United States, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention compiles data concerning trends in juvenile delinquency. According to their most recent publication, 7 in 1000 juveniles in the US committed a serious crime in 2016.[22] A serious crime is defined by the US Department of Justice as one of the following eight offenses: murder and non-negligent homicide, rape (legacy & revised), robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny-theft, and arson.[23] According to research compiled by James Howell in 2009, the arrest rate for juveniles has been dropping consistently since its peak in 1994.[24] Of the cases for juvenile delinquency that make it through the court system, probation is the most common consequence and males account for over 70% of the caseloads.[25][22]
According to developmental research by Moffitt (2006),[26] there are two different types of offenders that emerge in adolescence. The first is an age specific offender, referred to as the adolescence-limited offender, for whom juvenile offending or delinquency begins and ends during their period of adolescence. Moffitt argues that most teenagers tend to show some form of antisocial or delinquent behavior during adolescence, it is therefore important to account for these behaviors in childhood in order to determine whether they will be adolescence-limited offenders or something more long term.[27] The other type of offender is the repeat offender, referred to as the life-course-persistent offender, who begins offending or showing antisocial/aggressive behavior in adolescence (or even in childhood) and continues into adulthood.[27]
Peer rejection in childhood is also a large predictor of juvenile delinquency.[13] This rejection can affect the child's ability to be socialized properly and often leads them to gravitate towards anti-social peer groups.[13] Association with anti-social groups often leads to the promotion of violent, aggressive and deviant behavior.[13] Robert Vargas's "Being in 'Bad' Company," explains that adolescents who can choose between groups of friends are less susceptible to peer influence that could lead them to commit illegal acts.[36] Aggressive adolescents who have been rejected by peers are also more likely to have a "hostile attribution bias", which leads people to interpret the actions of others (whether they be hostile or not) as purposefully hostile and aggressive towards them.[37] This often leads to an impulsive and aggressive reaction.[37]
A common contributor to juvenile delinquency rates is a phenomenon referred to as the school to prison pipeline. In recent years, school disciplinary measures have become increasingly policed.[14] In fact, 67% of high school students attend schools with police officers.[41] This rise in police presence is often attributed to the implementation of zero tolerance policies.[42] Based on the "broken windows" theory of criminology and the Gun-Free Schools Act, zero tolerance policies stress the use of specific, consistent, and harsh punishment to deal with in school infractions.[43][42] Often measures such as suspension or expulsion are assigned to students who deviant regardless of the reason or past disciplinary history.[42] This use of punishment often has been linked with increasing high school drop out rates and future arrests.[15] It was found in a 2018 study that students who received a suspension were less likely to graduate and more likely to be arrested or on probation.[44] As stated in research by Matthew Theriot, the increased police presence in school and use of tougher punishment methods leads student actions to be criminalized and in turn referred to juvenile justice systems.[14]
Socialization plays a key role in the gender gap in delinquency because male and female juveniles are often socialized differently. Girls' and boys' experiences are heavily mediated by gender, which alters their interactions in society. Males and females are differently controlled and bonded, suggesting that they will not make the same choices and may follow different paths of delinquency. Social bonds are important for both males and females, but different aspects of the bond are relevant for each gender.[52] The degree of involvement in social settings is a significant predictor of male's violent delinquency, but is not significant for females. Males tend to be more connected with their peer relationships which in effect has a stronger influence on their behavior.[53][54] Association with delinquent peers is one of the strongest correlates of juvenile delinquency, and much of the gender gap can be accounted for by the fact that males are more likely to have friends that support delinquent behavior. Delinquent peers are positively and significantly related to delinquency in males but delinquent peers are negatively and insignificantly related to delinquency for females.[54] As for females, familial functioning relationships have shown to be more important. Female juveniles tend to be more strongly connected with their families, the disconnect or the lack of socialization between their family members can significantly predict their likelihood of committing crimes as juveniles and even as adults. When the family is disrupted, females are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than males.[50] Boys, however, tend to be less connected to their family and are not as affected by these relationships.[53] When it comes to minor offenses such as fighting, vandalism, shoplifting, and the carrying of weapons, differences in gender are limited because they are most common among both males as well as females. Elements of the social bond, social disorganization, routine activities, opportunity, and attitudes towards violence are also related to delinquent behavior among both males and females.[50] 2ff7e9595c
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