Juvenile's Commit Crimes to Escape Reality
To understand juvenile delinquency, we first need to get a basic overview with why young people turn to crime to begin with. Many teens turn to other outlets for coping with stress, curiosity, peer pressure, to rebel, or even just pleasure. According to a website called, "Drug and Alcohol Rehab" , a drug user has little social support, so they turn to drugs to replace the important relationships that they are missing. We also need to take into consideration other aspects of ones life, such as mental health, family life, socioeconomic factors, race and family life.
Juvenile Delinquency and Drug Use have a Mutual Relationship
Graph showing the rates of types of drugs used by minors. Source: University of Michigan |
According to an article, “Most Juvenile Offenders Use Drugs and Alcohol”
by CASA News Release, four out of five juvenile delinquents are abusing alcohol
and drugs while committing their crimes. Therefore, it is clear that there is
some sort of relationship. The affiliation between crime and drug use
doesn’t have one exact explanation, but there are some factors that allow them
to benefit from one another.
Drug use and delinquency are
correlated because some types of crime, such as theft or robbery, are too
finance their substance abuse problems. Lets also take into consideration that
drug use is a crime itself, so obviously a drug user’s morals and values don’t
reflect a good person. Put that with a developing juvenile brain, and you can
understand more about the causes of juvenile delinquency.
Laura Dykstra works as a Faculty Research Associate for the
Center on Young Health and Development at The University of Maryland. Laura
believes that there is certainly a relationship between juvenile delinquency
and drug abuse, but believes there are many reasons why these two are
affiliated with each other.
Laura explains that there isn’t exactly a casual
relationship, but that drug use and delinquency might be caused by low
self-control in an individual. The Low Self Control Theory, which is a general
theory of crime, states that when people have low self-control don’t stop
themselves from engaging in crime and act on impulse, which is something that
they learn at a very young age.
Prevention and Rehabilitation benefits the Individual and their Family
According to Student Pulse, the best way to stop juvenile delinquency
is early intervention with a child. Once a person engages in criminal activity,
they already have a developed mindset about crime. So, the best prevention is too take action before crime is even an option for a child. Some early prevention techniques
will include school programs and quality family life. If an individual feels as
if they have social support, it will alleviate the feeling that they need to
turn to crime. The best prevention programs will concentrate not only on the
individual, but also their home life. Their parents will also be a part of the
programs so they know how to deal with their children if they start showing
risky behaviors.
Laura also believes that early intervention is
the best way to prevent juvenile delinquency. However, when a child already has
engaged in criminal activity there must be strong rehabilitation programs to
help the young adult reestablish a new life.
Rehabilitation is extremely crucial to a juvenile delinquent so
they can reform their life before it is too late. According to Kelie Darbouze,
who has done research in this field at The University of Maryland, group
therapy, group housing and family therapy are all effective ways to help a
troubled juvenile.
Group therapy is effective because it allows a group of
troubled individuals to talk among one another, with the therapist monitoring
and only intervening at particular points. The group of individuals share common
characteristics and are able to relate on certain experiences and issues in
their lives, allowing them to open up more.
Group Housing is also another
effective strategy in the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents. Sometimes
when an individual returns home after committing crime, the same setting may
tempt them to become a repeated offender. However, when they go to a different
house setting in a safe, but strict environment with new people (who are going
through the same thing) it helps them transition better into society.
Lastly,
family therapy gives the family a chance to create strong social bonds, that
might have been misplaced before hand. Social bonds with family are extremely important, so they know that they are being supported by their loved ones.
Crime is unavoidable, we actually need it to be a functioning society. Crime and drug use not only affects the people surrounding the criminal, but also the criminal, themselves. There is no exact solution to crime or to one hundred percent prevent juvenile’s to engage in crime, but with the proper techniques we can eliminate some crime, or at least reduce the severity of crimes committed. After reading about the topic, what is your opinion of the relationship between juvenile delinquency and drug use, from a public eye point of view? Listen to my dad's opinion.