Faith-Based Organizations and Juvenile Delinquency Literature Review
Juvenile delinquency is mainly influenced by negative behavioral development among children, which can be controlled through understanding the development of these negative traits within the community. According to Johnson et al. (2018), reintegration into the community among juveniles is a crucial factor considering the development of different programs within the juvenile justice system. The success of the re-integration is measured based on the transformation of individual behavior and denouncing their behavior. The religious community has been essential in helping manage the needs of juvenile offenders through the integration of faith-based programs within the rehabilitation systems of the juvenile correctional system. Faith-based organization focus on preaching forgiveness, acceptance as well as the promotion of strong group-based structures which can help juvenile offenders to overcome negative personality traits.
Cox and Matthews (2007) identify that peer-based religious groups within the juvenile correctional system have sought to transform the behavior of juvenile offenders and help adopt positive lives when re-integrated into society. Understanding key changes that define individual behavior and social wellbeing present a more reliable approach that can be attained in helping promote change and social interaction. Juvenile offenders typically have a difficult childhood where there is limited care, and adoption of better growth patterns since the majority of the children are unable to differentiate between right and wrong. Growing in such a context is likely to expose an individual to negative societal issues.
Yelderman et al. (2018) ascertain that there is strong evidence of the inverse relationship between religiosity and delinquency. Individuals who commit crimes are less likely to have a more robust religious understanding of life as well as values and principles that help influence individual development. The social theories have explained the relationship between a particular behavior and social interaction. Delinquent behavior is perceived as natural, which can be controlled through understanding essential factors that help improve social change and individual adoption to crucial changes that promote change development.
Religion operates as a control agent, especially within the social context. Religion is defined based on the underlying values and principles that help promote change and improve the level of change. Religious presents a positive attachment to positive social institutions that can help promote change. An individual who is more attached to religion is less likely to commit crime because they are guided by values and religious principles (Kermen, 2018).
According to Jang (2019), the perception of God and his influence in the lives of individuals present a highly structured commitment to the needs of individuals across different contexts. Children who are raised based on religious doctrines understand the existing issues which help maintain a structured system where an individual can appreciate the value of life and the need to respect others and their properties. An individual who understands the differences between right and wrong outline specific aspects that help create an improved understanding of better measures that define change. Besides, Fox (2019) maintains that an individual is less likely to commit a crime when they exposed to pro-social models which help in learning positive behavior and understanding the needs of different individuals. The faith-based organizations emphasize the need to help maintain a more robust approach to the underlying social challenges.
The measure of religiosity provides an emphasis on social bonding and better aspects that help promote change and integration of a peaceful understanding of individual needs within a given social context. Different individuals are influenced by various factors which shape their involvement in different activities within the society. The presence of criminals within the society have a detrimental influence on fundamental ideologies that shape behavioral progress. Faith-based organizations emphasize on critical processes that help create a more substantial system that can be assessed to improve individual decisions. Bouffard et al. (2017) found out that church attendance was associated with reduced drug use among juveniles. The self-reported religious influence on individual lives is immense. It presents a more exceptional system where it is easy to embrace the adoption of significant traits that influence decision making, especially concerning activities that individuals are engaged in within the society.
The parenting approach that is used defines a child’s trait and ability to understand different measures that help promote positive factors that determine change. However, various factors influence child development, such as family income and environmental settings. Children in low-income backgrounds are more likely to develop negative traits influenced by others within the community. Some of the underlying individual characteristics among juveniles are innate, making it difficult to control (Jang, 2019). Higher educational attainment among juveniles presents a more reliable approach that helps define essential factors that promote change. Therefore, managing such occurrence requires a strong adoption of better measures that can help maintain a higher understanding of better tests that can help create a highly diversified emphasis on improved outcomes. Therefore identifying the existing risk factors will have a positive influence on understanding basic strategies that can be considered in improving individual development without delinquent behavior.
The rehabilitation interventions that are implemented within the juvenile system focus on helping create a more reliable system that defines improved outcomes. A successful development of these measures helps in creating a highly structured system for change. Steele et al. (2013) identified that behavioral approaches that are incorporated within the juvenile system play a significant role in creating a highly structured system, which is vital in creating a more substantial context for child development. Every juvenile offender requires an integration of a reliable system which can help in improving the level of development. Maintaining a positive operational framework presents a highly engaged environment where the needs of children can be adequately addressed.
According to Kratcoski et al. (2020), a sufficient understanding of the reasons young individuals engage in crime is an essential aspect that is adequately emphasized upon under the common knowledge of the strain theory. Being able to understand the risk factors, which contribute to younger individuals engaging in crime, provide a better environment where they can be easily employed by focusing on these factors. Learning about the social environment at large creates an essential climate where it is much accessible to implemented better policies within these residential treatment programs that effectively engage these young offenders.
Depressed adolescents are more likely to make mistakes in their lives hence require integration of control mechanisms that would be essential in promoting better outcomes. Identify that building strong relations presents a well-defined system that offers a critical assessment of better mechanisms that change individual-level behavior (Lee et al., 2017). Behavioral, cognitive therapy has been adequately defined with a strong emphasis on improving adolescent behavior. Behavior is characterized by individual self-efficacy, perception, and the ability to understand relations. Regulation emotions and individual aggression offer a highly engaged system that can help in defining positive change.
The society plays a vital role in shaping the development process of juvenile offenders based on the reintroduction process that is developed. Community members have a different level of preference based on which intervention is adopted (Kermen, 2018). Individuals who focus on revenge prefer the incarceration of juvenile offenders, while individuals in the society who focus on forgivingness and societal integration embrace rehabilitation where offenders learn about positive behavior and development processes that help in decision making.
Fox (2019) identifies that despite the higher approach in improving commitment to faith-based practices in the management of the needs of offenders, there is a need to focus on the existing challenges undertaken when embracing faith-based approaches. A critical aspect that is assessed in this case involves the separation of the state and the church. The state does not have any affiliations to a religious group; hence the implementation of religious-based approaches in a correctional system will present a controversial move. The author further states that the integration of faith-based programs in preventing juvenile delinquency is a violation of the first amendment, as outlined in the federal constitution.
According to Badasa et al. (2015), the implementation of faith-based programs in juvenile correction has not been challenged mainly because there is no overarching strategy implemented within juvenile correction that emphasizes religious engagement. The implementation of such a measure means that it will be mandatory for offenders to undergo religious-based guidance and counseling. Jang (2019) also identifies that the emphasis on faith-based programs in the correction of juvenile offenders because it will discriminate against agnostic or atheistic juveniles. The practice of religion is based on individual religious affiliation hence present the need to understand individual traits and engagement.