Combating Juvenile Delinquency

Assignment 1: Combating Juvenile Delinquency

CRJ 180: Juvenile Delinquency and Justice

Juvenile delinquency has been a problem within the world for many decades. Over the past decade or so, there have been many programs introduced to help with the juvenile delinquency problem. In the state of Georgia, there are many different ways that each region, county, and city deal with juvenile delinquency. In my community, we try to deter children from a life of crime by providing them with things to do in their free time, and when children do end up getting into trouble with the law, they are often sent to one of the many counseling programs. There is no juvenile detention center in my community. Therefore my community tries to deter children from committing crimes instead of having a rehabilitation program.

One of the main things my community has that deals with juvenile delinquency are psychological services. All of the schools participate in these services, and their goals are to improve academic achievement, promote positive behavior and mental health, support diverse learners, create safe, positive school climates, strengthen family-school partnerships, and improve school-wide assessment and accountability monitoring individual student progress in academics and behavior (Hart, 1). This program is there to make sure that no student is left behind when it comes to learning. The schools try to keep the parents involved with their children’s learning, and the school tries to ensure that no child is left behind or bullied. The schools also engage in community events, like local food drives, festivals, etc. which also helps keep the children out of trouble.

My community hosts a lot of small festivals and event, and we try to keep the children engaged. Every holiday there is something small that is hosted from pumpkin carving competitions to designing onions for the onion festival. The policy is that if we keep children engaged in school and engaged in the community that we reduce delinquent behavior within the community. Our schools also ensure that no child is left behind with their education by tailoring classes to the needs of the children and offering free after-school tutoring for each child. The schools also have a lot of after-school activities, like sports, theater, band, and other after-school activities and clubs that can be joined.

Also, in my community, we have a number of mental health offices that deal with troubled children. One of these mental health offices is Pineland Mental Health, which counsels children with disabilities and with a rough upbringing. This organization helps children who have been adopted to find their place in their new family. They also address children with mental issues, such as bipolar disorder, mental issues caused by parental drug use, etc. (Pineland BHDD, 2). There are other counseling offices that counsel the whole family as well as the child. The objective of all of these mental health clinics is to help children with mental issues and children that tend to get into trouble or hurt themselves. The hope is that by providing mental health to children that we can deter delinquent behavior by having someone there for them to talk with and counsel them.

Another thing we have in my community is a Boys and Girls club. The club, much like the school, offers children a place to go after school and things to do. There is a park within the Boys and Girls club that the children can play in as well as different sections for different sports to be played (Alignable, 3). There is also a number of parks for the children to go play. My community tries to keep children engaged, but unfortunately for us, we only have parks and a single bowling alley. My community could benefit from an arcade, a skating rink, or a go-cart racing track to add some diversity and give children more things to do. The delinquency and crime rate in my community is relatively low. We have a shooting, robbery, or drug bust once or twice a year, but it is rare for the community to have more crime than that.

Reflecting on all that my community does to keep children from going down a delinquent path, two sociological theories apply to my community. Behavioral theory, the theory that suggests that our behavior reflects our interactions with others throughout our lifetime is one of the theories (Regoli, Hewitt, & DeLisi, 4). This theory applies to my community because we believe that in order for a child to stay away from delinquent behavior is to keep a child engaged with the community. The community is trying to help shape a child’s behavior by keeping them engaged with each other. Another theory that applies to my community is social cognition. Social cognition focuses on discipline that focuses on how people perceive, think, learn, and come to behave in particular ways as a result of the interactions with their social world (Regoli, Hewitt, & DeLisi, 4). Social cognition applies to my community because we try to keep children engaged in positive activities and try to help them when we see that there is a problem.

There is not much I could propose that my community do to reduce juvenile delinquency. My community has a low crime rate, and very little of that rate is crimes committed by juveniles. The only things that my community could do are bring more things for children to participate in. My community has multiple parks, a bowling alley, after school activities, clubs, festivals, and even a boy and girl scout troop. The only things that could be brought in are things like an arcade or skating rink. I believe that as long as my community keeps children engaged and keeps children as their number one priority, we can combat juvenile delinquency.

Sources:

Aimee Hart. 2018. Psychological Services. http://www.vidalia-city.k12.ga.us/?PN=Pages&SubP=Level1Page&L=2&DivisionID=5138&DepartmentID=4995&PageID=9980

Pineland BHDD. 2018. Pineland Mental Health About Us. http://www.pinelandcsb.org/html/about_us.html

Alignable. 2018. Boys & Girls Club of Toombs County. https://www.alignable.com/vidalia-ga/boy-girls-clubs-of-toombs-county

Robert M. Regoli, John D. Hewitt, and Matt DeLisi. 2017. Delinquency in Society, Tenth Edition. P. 93, 94. This is the CRJ180 textbook.