In most cultures, individuals under the age of 18 years are considered dependent individuals (i.e., minors) who cannot stand on their own feet. Then how come some of them perform criminal activities? This further leads us to question what factors motivate children to become a part of the criminal world.
The understanding of criminal activity is, more often than not, limited to a criminal’s personal characteristics and their intentions towards a crime; thus, ignoring the external factors that contribute to it. Crime research poorly documents the role of external factors contributing to criminal activity, especially when it comes to juvenile crimes.
Generally, delinquency has been observed and predicted when children turn six. If the signs of aggressiveness and antisocial behavior are visible at the age of nine, one can observe that delinquency is growing. However, if a child gets associated with delinquency when they are 16, it’s hard for them to not be part of it as per studies.
The social disorganization theory states that a majority of the crimes committed by minors are influenced by external factors like financial instability (example, low household income forcing children to take on the responsibility of earning a living) and economic disruption (example, no stable accommodation, frequent migration, and dropping out of school).
The level of crimes committed by minors also increases when there is an amalgamation of different values, behaviors, and languages in society. This leads to difficulty in communication with others in society, making the relationship with neighbors in a society weak. Further research shows that an increase in crimes committed by minors is connected to the society’s ‘collective efficacy,’ meaning that the more that people of society actively control the behavior of others around them, the more will be the reduction of crimes committed by minors.
According to the social disorganization theory, we know that a person’s social and physical environments are responsible for their decisions and behaviors. The most easily adaptable acts and behavior are influenced by parents. For instance, if a dog barks at a child and their parents try to quieten the dog by hitting it with stones, the child might think it is the right thing to do. They easily learn from their surroundings, and as family is the first source of interaction, anything the family does will influence the child’s behavior.
Research claims that delinquency also increases due to ineffective ways of parental control. It states that when the parents are unable to handle a child (for example, in cases of children born due to teenage pregnancy, parents facing economic distress, parents abusing substances, or improper family planning), they start to reject them. If a child is rejected by their parents, they tend to grow up in a conflicting environment which increases the communication gap. With the increase of the communication gap, a decrease in understanding and supporting a child’s decisions is observed, further leading to conflicts. This is detrimental for children because if they face conflicts at a young age, their future interactions with other people are affected. For example, a conflicting surrounding around children can affect their social skills with other people. Thus, children won’t have a good experience when it comes to people, making them less likely to converse with others. This kind of behavior can make teachers and peers reject these children. Further, this increases the chances of the children becoming delinquent.
Usually, single-parent families are less effective in supervising children as only one parent does the job of taking care of them. This can also make children commit crimes.
In the current context of crimes committed by minors, checking the external (personal and cultural) factors of delinquency in children is excessively significant. Children don’t understand what is right and wrong till a certain age and when they do, it might be too late for them. Proper supervision and positive parenting is needed, as any kind of abuse or fight at home can divert a child’s mind towards crime because it becomes like an escape for them from their real life. Thus, it’s important for adults to take a step forward in the matter of crimes committed by minors otherwise it will never reduce.
Muskaan Kashyap
