Writing about Juvenile Delinquency

Crimes among minors always cause increased attention in the society. One of the reasons behind this is that the prevention of juvenile delinquency is viewed as the most important aspect of the prevention of crime in society as a whole. When writing juvenile delinquency research papers and essays, you have a change to join a discussion on the topic and contribute your opinion. If you are not sure how to do it properly or how to approach the assignment overall, do not worry, as we will guide you through the writing process step by step.

Juvenile delinquency essays topics

First and foremost, it is important to choose the topic that you are going to focus your research on. Here are a few options that we urge you to consider:

• Essays on juveniles being tried as adults and the implications of such decisions
• Prevention of juvenile delinquency essay
• Why do people commit crimes essay
• Juvenile delinquency history essay
• Psychological factors behind juvenile crimes
• Why juveniles should not be tried as adults essay
• Juvenile delinquency factors essay
• Focusing on rehabilitation of juvenile offenders
• Essay on parents’ responsibility of a juvenile crime
• Juvenile delinquency correlation to adult crime research essay
• Rates of youth crime essay (in the country of your choice)
• Juvenile crime solutions essay
• Essay on juvenile justice in 21^st century
• Stories of juveniles tried as adults essay
• Juvenile crime rate in USA essay
• Juvenile crime is a cry for help essay
• Main juvenile delinquency theories
• Juvenile delinquency linked to adult crime essay
• Poverty and juvenile delinquency essay
• Should the death penalty be permitted for juvenile offenders?
• Essay on juvenile delinquency and drug use
• The problems of juvenile justice system essay
• Juvenile delinquency incarceration and criminal justice system essay
• Juvenile delinquency prevention programs essay

Juvenile delinquency research paper topics

Juvenile justice research paper topics should be a bit more complex and require more research than those that you would generally choose for essays:

• Research paper on juvenile offenders programs and their effectiveness
• Effects of alcohol and drug abuse on juvenile delinquency
• Research paper on juvenile justice system shortcomings and ways to cope with them
• Environmental factors reinforcing juvenile delinquency
• The link between sexual abuse and adolescent crime
• The role of the police in juvenile justice research paper
• Single-parent families and juvenile delinquency
• Should juveniles be tried as adults research paper
• Recidivism in juvenile offenders
• Research paper on juvenile delinquency among females
• Bullying and juvenile delinquency: Is there a link?
• Signs of potential delinquency in children
• Empathy in children and juvenile crime
• School suspension and juvenile delinquency
• The role of the society in curbing juvenile delinquency

There are thousands of potential juvenile delinquency topics for a research paper that you can pick from, and you can further narrow them down by focusing on family, violence, gang membership, poverty, drug/alcohol abuse, detention, trial, rehabilitation programs, as well as the role of the police, government, and any other bodies within the judicial system.

Juvenile delinquency essay outline

Before starting the writing process, it is crucial that you create a writing plan in a form or a juvenile delinquency essay outline:

• You need to present the topic you are going to consider and some important background on it in the juvenile delinquency essay introduction. It is a good idea to include some interesting facts or statistics as your hook phrase to engage your audience from the very first sentence
• A juvenile crime essay thesis will be an integral part of your introduction. In this sentence, you have to briefly describe the main idea of your paper and list a few points (usually 3) that you will support this idea with.
• Body paragraphs are the biggest part of your essay. Usually, there will be 3-5 paragraphs – one or more for each point you have made in a thesis. Each paragraph will include an introductory sentence to present the point, a few supporting sentences with factual information, your analysis and opinion, as well as a transition sentence to smoothly move to the next section.
• Finally, you will need to wrap up all your arguments and ideas in the juvenile delinquency essay conclusion. After restating your thesis, make a summary of the previous discussion, and leave your readers with something to ponder upon.

Juvenile delinquency essay writing is not an easy task, but having a well-detailed outline, you won’t face any problems in the course of work. Therefore, add to your outline as you research and find more information on the topic.

Juvenile delinquency research paper outline

A juvenile delinquency research paper outline will cover the following sections:

• Introduction. Here, you should pay attention to two aspects: the background of your problem and thesis statement. You need to justify the choice of the topic, show that it is important to review it, and show what you expect to find or prove in the course of your research.
• Body. In this part, you will have to work on a few sections such as:
  • Methodology, describing your search for credible sources.
  • Literature review that compares and contrasts the opinions of experts in the field.
  • Findings/Results section summarizing what you have found.
  • Discussion, where you analyze the findings and highlight the most important and/or relevant ones.
• Conclusion. In this final paragraph, it is necessary to restate your thesis, emphasizing the importance of the problem under the review. Next, it would be best to briefly summarize the body of the paper focusing only on the most important details. After that, it is crucial to show what your research has contributed to the topic and what can be studied further.

Some research papers on juvenile delinquency might also include limitations sections, showing the limitations of the research, and a few other ones depending on the rubric for the assignment. Therefore, it is always advisable to run the outline by your professor before you start working on the paper.

Writing a causes of juvenile delinquency essay or research paper

Negative phenomena and processes of economic, ideological, social, psychological, cultural, educational, and demographic nature occurring in society are most painfully reflected in the most unprotected part of the population - children and adolescents. Therefore, studying the problems of juvenile delinquency requires taking into account social, psychological, and economic contexts.

Social factors

Dysfunctional family.

Family plays an integral role in the development of personality. Communication skills, stress resistance, and the ability to adapt to different situations are formed in the family. If the child is raised in a dysfunctional household, then his or her development will not be steady.

The formation of the minor offender personality in the family is influenced by the following factors:

• involvement in drug addiction, prostitution, or gambling;
• a negative example of family members, their immoral lifestyle, drunkenness, scandals, quarrels, and fights;
• parents’ failure to fulfill their responsibilities upbringing the children, inattention to their interests, rudeness, and despotism;
• the presence of antisocial views in the family;
• having low literacy levels and not enough education in general;
• disregard for work and other important civic duties.

Moreover, the formation of the teenager’s personality in the family is adversely affected if he or she lives with relatives who were previously convicted of certain crimes. About 40% of minor criminals come from families in which brothers or sisters were previously convicted.

School system failure.

Currently, the education system of many countries is in crisis. Schools are often more focused on discipline than students’ educational, emotional, and other needs. Therefore, learning becomes something students dread, reading starts being a torture device, lack of positive reinforcement leads to low motivation, and students view the whole educational process as something they would rather avoid. Subsequently, poor performance and unsatisfactory behavior at school becomes pretty common for children of different ages. Moreover, as peer pressure intensifies and bullying is rarely dealt with timely and properly, teenagers start engaging in delinquent behaviors.  

The impact of the environment.

The impact of informal groups on minors is very significant. Adolescents join groups due to difficulties in relationships with parents, in an attempt to rebel, or because of a desire for acceptance. Trying hard to be a part of a group, they often fail to notice how members or leaders of such gatherings influence the choices they make and helping them engage in a self-destructive behavior, which later leads to issues with law enforcement.

Economic factors

The economic situation of any country impacts society to a great extent. The main factor that has a direct link to juvenile delinquency is poverty. It’s a fact that crime and poverty are interrelated in any country or society. Children in low-income families have fewer privileges and almost no access to decent education. Many teenagers have to start working at a relatively young age in order to help their families, which sufficiently hinders their academic life. Being unable to access the privileges available middle- or higher-class individuals, teenagers may get involved in crimes to improve their financial situation. Besides, living in poor households, teenagers get involved in criminal activities faster as there many criminal gangs in such districts.

Psychological factors

It is important to consider such factors as mental diseases and emotional instability of a teenager while considering the reasons for high juvenile delinquency rates:

• Mental diseases. Psychologists believe that the psychopathic tendencies are among the factors that lead to juvenile delinquency. Psychopathic children are often not socialized, aggressive, and cruel. They rarely feel fear or empathy, and are generally narcissistic, impulsive, and tend to harm others more than they harm themselves.
• Emotional instability. One of the most important factors contributing to crime is emotional instability. It is frequent in children who do not receive enough care and affection from their parents. As a result, they grow up as emotionally unstable, aggressive, and insecure teenagers. Seeking to release their negative emotional energy, they start committing crimes.

Writing a should juveniles be tried as adults essay or research paper

The question on whether teenagers have to be tried as adult criminals is still considered a burning issue in society. In the criminal codes of many countries, the maximum sentence for adolescents is significantly limited. For instance, the US courts are more inclined to rehabilitate young offenders rather than punish them.

Currently, children and adolescents are in the most difficult situation in society. They are not protected from the negative influence of their families and are not mature enough to escape such influences and sustain themselves. Adolescents who are constantly subjected to mistreatment in the family develop the conviction that rudeness and violence is the norm in relationships between people.

Moreover, the more dysfunctional the family is, and the more delinquency is normalized in child’s daily life, the more likely it is that they will eventually display inappropriate behaviors, join gangs, steal, harm others, and engage in crimes.

Interesting facts for juvenile crime essays

The criminal situation differs from country to country, so it is a good idea to focus on a specific one when reviewing the rates. We have collected some fact and statistic from different countries to give you a bigger picture of the problem:

• In 2016, law enforcement bureaus in the U.S. performed 856,130 arrests of individuals under age 18, which was 58% less than the number of arrests in 2007. Most of the arrested individuals were males.
• In Poland, there are family courts that deal with cases involving minors, both those who committed crimes and those who are in a state of demoralization, and eventually, they proved to be very effective. The advantage of these models of justice is that they engage experts from specialized courts and public services, which have not only the professional knowledge, but also experience in this field.
• According to data from the Russian Federation, the juvenile delinquency rate is about three to four times higher than that of adult offenders. It is most prevalent among 14-years old teenagers. The most frequent types of crime are theft, robbery, and rape.
• In African countries, juvenile delinquency tends to be attributed primarily to hunger, poverty, malnutrition, and unemployment.