JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the last unit, we discussed socialization. In addition, the unit served to introduce us to other units in this course. You can now define socialization, identify and discuss the agents of socialization, and specify the values of interpersonal relationships. It is now time for us to discuss a very relevant and useful unit: juvenile delinquency. Let us take a look at what other content you should learn in this unit as specified in the objectives below.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
define the concept of juvenile delinquency;
identify the places where delinquent personality operates; and
describe how the situation of juvenile delinquency may be remedied.

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Concept of Delinquency

By legal definition, the juvenile delinquent is neither a neglected youngster nor a young criminal but one who occupies instead some twilight zone between the two. According to the law, if a young lawbreaker is legally defined as a juvenile delinquent, he cannot be charged with crime or treated as a criminal. Like the neglected and dependent child, he becomes a ward of the state. Sometimes, as in the case of murder, the young lawbreaker is

charged with a crime, tried and punished in the regular courts. For most other offences, however, the law requires that an offender under a certain age be adjudged delinquent and not criminal. On the face of it, the concept of juvenile delinquency may be said to be one of pro-criminality, the youthful violator in adult law is regarded as pre-criminal and as someone not only in need of rehabilitation but likely to be amenable to it. The incorrigible child, even though he violates an adult law, is also regarded as probably pre-criminal. The breakdown of parental authority is by itself considered ominous. The concept of juvenile delinquency automatically places the 17-year-old habitual committer of crime in the same legal category of responsibility with the 10-year-old child who steals a tyre as an escapade. Care must be taken to ensure that the concept of juvenile delinquency does not blur our perception of the distinction between delinquent youths and those who are, to all intents and purposes youthful criminals.


The special importance which delinquency has acquired in relevant years in the public mind may be traceable to a growing conviction that delinquent behaviour patterns are spreading among young people formerly relatively immune to them. Children who pickpocket with a view to buying sweets, or anything else are delinquents. Unlicensed schoolboys and undergraduate students riding automobile machines and or driving cars are delinquents. Vibrant Lagos youths who found the wild afternoon bar beach sun in 1985 a perfect rendezvous for their adventure when they were supposed to be in school or at work are delinquents. As Omotunde (1985:6) reveals, alcohol was unabashedly consumed and assorted weeds freely puffed by the youths. Such was the situation in July, 1.985 when a news crew of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) recorded the level of juvenile moral degeneration as was often exhibited at the Lagos bar beach. It was intended for a documentary, but a one-.minute clip during the evening network news was enough to cause a stir in the then Lagos State Government of Governor Mudashiru who swiftly set up a 4-member tribunal to probe what later became commonly known as the ‘bar beach show of shame’ and other issues relating to juvenile delinquency tribunal. It is important for you to note that its findings revealed that many of the principal actors were mainly school drop-outs.

3.2 Places where Delinquent Personality Operates

There are certain conditions in some places that make it more likely that the delinquent learning and the development of the delinquent personality will operate. Amongst such places and conditions are:

=The Family: Dacey (1989 cited in Alhassan, 2000) writes that the family is, and for millennia has been the social group that has the most influence on individual behaviour. Negative feelings within the family or the sudden alteration of family life can create disturbances that lead to juvenile delinquency. Burt (1925) in his book, The young delinquent, opined that the most favorable condition associated with delinquent acts is ‘a defected home discipline’.

I want you to note that discipline in such a home may be too strict, too lenient or worst of all, alternating between strictness and leniency. Merrill (1947) reports ‘good’ discipline in 15% of the delinquent homes and 63% of the non-delinquent homes. The Gluecks (1950) report ‘lax’ discipline in 57% of the delinquent cases and 12% of the non-delinquent ones. In deeper analysis, the Gluecks found that the fathers typically used physical punishment as a method of control in 68% of the delinquent cases, they used reasoning as a method of control in 11 % of the former as and in 24% of the latter.


So many things may happen within the family: It is through the family that the child most directly comes into contact with the value conflicts that exist in society. Not uncommon are the parents whose own overwhelming drive for success is all too obvious. Children who experience unhappy home lives, rejection by parents and inferiority complex are usually delinquent. Let us note that conflicts within the family, parental rejection, delinquent parents who take to alcoholism and lack of parental supervision of their children could easily bring about delinquency in children.

In addition, the size of the family, which is usually large in African societies, the emotional climate of the home caused by parental coldness and lack of any appreciable degree of freedom could bring about delinquency in children. Delinquency rates has been found to be high in homes broken by death, divorce, desertion or prison terms, and in homes where there is lack of emotional security.


The Peer Group: Juvenile gangs recruit, stimulate, and teach delinquents. Shaw and Mckay (1961) and the Gluecks (1950) and others have concluded that delinquency is largely a gang operation. Of 5,480 offenders, Shaw found that only 18% had committed their delinquency alone, 30% had a single companion, 27% had three or more. 89% of those charged with theft had at least one accomplice. Note that the gang contributes to delinquency rates in several connected ways.
The adolescent tends to want to conform to the ways of his peers. Because delinquent gangs are organized groups, they are in a particularly good position to exercise pressure for conformity.
Delinquent gangs provide ready antisocial channels for the energies and the normal and special personality needs of the adolescent.

It is to be noted that a gang can provide security, recognition, affection, and new experience when these are not provided by the family or elsewhere in society.


The Mass Media: The mass media are a key factor in the generation of delinquency. Radio, television, films, comic books, and newspapers contribute to delinquency by glorifying, overemphasizing and giving instruction in crime. It is important for you to note that this is one of the theories of delinquency causation that has attracted the most popular support from the public.
I am sure you are eager to know what the public reaction is against the mass media. Among the charges against the mass media are that they stimulate the juvenile appetite for adventure; glorify the criminal; impart knowledge of criminal techniques; and overemphasize the extent of criminal life in our society.


Children tend to remember good or bad acts learnt in movies more easily. We know that motion pictures can affect attitude towards social groups. Children who watch a sex act in a film tend to imitate such action. And this is seen as an aspect of delinquency. In a highly delinquent area, newspapers, which are sensational and which glorify various crimes and offences are usually in great demand. It is not therefore surprising that Lagos Weekend, Africa’s largest-circulation week-end daily, is printed and published in Lagos and not in Lokoja.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

Take a close look at your immediate community. Are there delinquent gangs there? How do they operate?

Let us continue our discussion by looking at what we may do to sufficiently reduce the incidence of delinquency.

3.3 Remediation

Note that preventive measures are more reassuring. To prevent delinquency, it becomes necessary to deal with both personality factors and environmental influences, especially those coming from home, intimate associates and the community. Creating a wholesome environment and eliminating undesirable influences are two important phases of a constructive preventive programme. For instance, the Lagos state Government in 1985 accepted the recommendation of the Lagos Bar Beach Juvenile Delinquency Tribunal and banned the sale of cigarettes and alcohol to persons under 18 years while the doors of hotels and pub houses were shut .against them. Police patrol at the bar beach was made more effective at all times so as to rid the resort of malingering and criminals while the government stopped further approval of beer parlours and liquor sales points within school vicinities. The principal actors among the youths were sent to approved schools and foster homes as applicable where they can be conditioned to grow to become useful citizens.


We must embark on a genuine and sustained reconstruction of the Nigerian society. There are several ways that schools and teachers can facilitate the instruction of Nigerian youths and aid them in the solution of their personal problems.

Effort to lead juvenile gangs and clubs into socially acceptable .avenue of behaviour must be embarked upon on a sustained basis. The government should make provision for social services agency that would give adequate and continuous attention to family.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit you have learnt maladjustment. You have therefore learnt the concept of delinquency. In addition, you have learnt where delinquent personality operates and remediation strategies that may be employed.

5.0 SUMMARY

1. What you have learnt in this unit concerns maladjustment. 
2.  You also learnt concept of delinquency. 
3. The family, the peer group, and the mass media are among the factors that generate delinquency.
4. . Towards solving this problem, the school and teachers have been caned upon to be alert to the symptoms of the delinquent-prone such as extreme restlessness, hostility, truancy, and any apparent lack of moral standards, .amongst others. 
5.  The government should make provision for social service agency that would give adequate and continuous attention to family situations and parent education. 

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. a. Complete this statement:
‘For preadolescents and adolescents, the law requires that an offender under a certain age be adjudged……...…and not………….. b. Among the places and conditions where the delinquent personality operates are:
c. State any three (3) ways in which the gang contributes to
delinquency rates in Nigeria.