The Role of Faith-Based Organizations to Reduce Juvenile Delinquency
Theoretical Framework
Faith-based organizations have focused on creating a sustainable environment for juveniles to concentrate on the identification of the critical traits that promote positive personalities. Faith-based organizations integrate religious teachings in helping control negative features among juveniles. Thus, it is essential to provide a reliable platform where juvenile delinquencies can be controlled and ensure that minors lead a normal life from a religious perspective (Cox & Matthews, 2007). Therefore, a compelling theory that helps in addressing the needs of juvenile delinquents is the social learning theory. The social learning theory focuses on improving children’s behavior and overall cognitive wellbeing and deal with any concerns that might arise.
Albert Bandura (1978) developed the social learning theory aimed at understanding the learning concepts of classical and operant conditioning. The theory is developed based on two main ideas, which include the consideration of mediating processes within a given context involve stimuli and response. At the same time, the behavior is learned from the environment through observational learning (Bandura, 1978). Children tend to observe and adopt the observed skills in different ways. This highlights that children who are raised in a socially disorganized society are likely to adopt bad traits. This is because these traits are exhibited by the majority of individuals within the community. Therefore, controlling juvenile delinquency within a society requires a substantial transformation in the social environment and ensuring that there is better adoption of better behavior and cognition traits.
The adoption of a behavior can be positive or negative, as explained by other factors within society. Exposure to negative traits results in the development of negative characteristics. In such cases, there is a need to incorporate reinforcement to help in improving individual behavior. Reinforcement can be either external or internal. However, faith-based organizations play a vital role in the development of external reinforcement mainly through the identification of gaps within the community among children to help improve behavior and overall positive growth (Laland & Rendell, 2019).
Juvenile delinquency involves young individuals who are yet to attain the legal age and are involved in committing crimes. Delinquency means failure to follow the set rules and regulations as defined by the state. Social interactions and individualism are primary factors that have been associated with juvenile delinquency. It is essential to focus on maintaining a favorable system where it is possible to manage the needs of children within a given social context. The existence of society is defined based on individual interactions that shape the behavior and overall individual development.
Social learning theory outlines essential factors that help shape personal development and overall consideration of major factors that influence social change. The direction of the society identifies specific issues within the society which help promote positive change. Children are highly vulnerable because of weak mental strength and inability to make informed decisions on their own. Social influence is essential in shaping individual consideration on better measures that help influence positive outcomes (David, 2015).
The fundamental purpose of social interaction theories on juvenile delinquency focuses on explaining how social influences such as family, religion, and politics shape an individual over time. The faith-based organizations emphasize on religion and how it shapes the development of children within the society (Johnson & Menard, 2012). Children learn through observation hence teaching religious concepts which emphasize staying on the righteous path of life is a significant factor that explains major changes that define social development within a given context. There is a strong interplay between an individual, the social environment, and the delinquent behavior. Emphasizing a strong social learning context presents a well-defined system that helps promote change and overall understanding of positive changes.
The social learning theory identifies that people, especially children, develop deviant behavior through their interaction and association with those who engage themselves in deviant behavior. Thus, juvenile delinquency is caused by observation and social interaction, which are vital aspects that form the basis of the management of this behavior (Wenger, 2018). Controlling deviant behavior among individuals is undertaken through the management of individual behavior through the concentration of positive behavior. The focus on religion presents a highly efficient system where it is easy to develop better processes that help improve the level of commitment and change strategy in promoting better organizational outcomes.
Juvenile delinquency is a negative behavior that needs to be adequately assessed and focus on improving child development. Engagement of juvenile requires a more structured system which is developed in creating a more reliable system that helps in promoting change in individual behavior. The changes that need to be undertaken focus on juvenile psychological and behavioral wellbeing. Social learning theory presents a structured intervention that focuses on the gradual implementation of essential concepts that help in improving the level of individual development (Milkman & Wanberg, 2012). Maintaining a more robust approach in implementing change strategies focusses on improving behavioral traits that help develop a unified system which increases the level of cognitive performance.
Improving the behavior of adolescents requires a significant learning process, which helps in enhancing behavior development. Juvenile delinquent behavior is primarily influenced by the surrounding environment and the social interactions that the children have. Unconditional self-acceptance presents a well-defined context which helps in creating a highly structured understanding of individual cognitive wellbeing (Jennings & Akers, 2012). Understanding the challenges within the community help define a more effective platform that children can learn positive behavior. This helps in implementing better measures that can help control negative behavior and promote successful development.
The level of child development has a better role in defining their future behavior, which is integral in maintaining a highly engaged environment for an improved level of development (Watts & McNulty, 2015). When a child has a poor background, it creates a favorable environment where they are involved in crime throughout their childhood as well as adulthood. The number of young offenders who are being arrested in recent years has increased significantly. There has been a focus on zero-tolerance on crime as a significant factor contributing to higher arrests being made.
Faith-based organizations have had a significant role within the corrections systems focusing on maintaining a highly diverse system that helps embrace positive social outcomes. Different faith-based organization implements different strategies which help in creating a well-organized system for change and overall commitment to positive behavior among offenders (Kewley, Beech, & Harkins, 2015). The Quakers is a faith-based organization that has implemented major religious concepts within the correctional field. It outlines that incarceration should be defined as a period of hard work and solitude to allow offenders to re-evaluate their actions and seek the guidance of the bible and denounce their sinful ways. Commitment to such teachings helps identify essential measures that help improve individual commitment to behavioral change.
Religious teachings have been integral in promoting positive behavior through a highly committed context which implements better policies that shape change development. The religious right is an important aspect that presents a more specific understanding of better processes that can help improve individual development across different settings (Johnson & Menard, 2012). The need to maintain a particular emphasis on principles and values that shape religious development provide a highly precise system that defines a unique consideration of essential processes that shape personal wellbeing. The religious right is a fundamental right that must be adequately protected to improve social development. Different individuals have different standards from which they can assess positive and negative factors which help in maintaining a healthy level of development.
Implementing a certain level of consideration on underlying concepts presents a reliable system that helps maintain a proper level of understanding of personal development. Different religions from a distinct focus on personal growth based on religious principles and values that have been developed (Watts & McNulty, 2015). A Christian worldview is based on the word of God, which contains values and principles that guide individual development and transform individual life. Religious is defined based on beliefs and faith through which followers entrust a supreme being. Christians believe that God has a plan and purpose for the world and the future development of mankind.
However, how individuals adapt to these values and principles varies, which defines the current changes in the adoption of the religion. Currently, religion does not have immense control over the lives of individuals across different religions. There have been conflicting issues regarding the integration of technology, which presents various tenets to faith. This has created division and overall control of religion on the lives of individuals (Wenger, 2018). At the time of its founding, religion was dominant, and its doctrines were hugely applied to everyday life and served as a guide to the path of righteousness. The changes that have been undertaken over the years have lessened the general belief in religion as a reliable platform for positive human development.
Research design
Research design outlines the approach of the research through the identification of a broader approach that takes into consideration better measures that help promote the underlying research issue. The research issue that I being implemented in this case focuses on determining the role of faith-based organizations in controlling juvenile delinquents. It is evident that there are various faith-based organizations that have been engaged in promoting positive behavior among offenders to help in their behavioral transformation and adopt change and implementation of positive outcomes. The research design that will be embraced in this study is a survey research design.
Survey studies focus on understanding a general focus on various factors that present a different approach to understanding a given issue that is prevalent in the general population. Every research design is developed with a critical emphasis on ensuring that the research development process is accurate, and the analysis obtains the needed outcomes (Martins & Lambe, 2013). However, there have been major challenges, primarily based on how research organization and ensuring that there is a transparent approach that helps in improving the quality of research findings. Survey design is a quantitative research that involves a focus on a sample or the entire population with a major emphasis on individual attitude, behavior, experiences, and opinions. Different approaches are employed when using the survey research design. The fact that this type of research focuses on individual assertions on various things that are assessed, it is difficult to control the development of bias either knowingly or unknowingly.
The expression of individual opinion makes it difficult to assess and evaluate whether the findings obtained are a true representative of the total population in cases where a sample population has been identified. Thus the inclusion of error margin is a crucial aspect that has been adopted in research and helps in modifying survey study results and ensure that the results are sensible and reliable based on the issues that were identified in the study (Grösser, 2013).
A major issue in the survey research design has been accuracy based on the varied approaches that are used to obtain data. It is essential to implement better approaches that help maintain a better platform with a critical emphasis on the underlying development bias and outcome management. Therefore, survey designs are necessary and crucial in creating an improved outcome within a given context (Patten & Patten, 2018). A researcher who is using survey design must understand common forms of bias and develop strategies that can help improve the accuracy of the data and the analytical approaches that are identified.
However, it is important to understand that the survey research design is appropriate when focusing on a large population. The population that is assessed present a well-outlined emphasis on key changes that present a stronger system for change (McKenney & Reeves, 2014). The ability to implement positive change presents a highly structured system that helps identify better approaches that shape overall commitment to the issues that are being communicated.
Target population
The study will target juvenile probation officers and juvenile offenders who have been engaged through faith-based organizations. These individuals have all crucial information about juvenile offenders under their custody, as well as their progress in response to a certain negative behavior that is being rehabilitated by the juvenile system. These individuals are also involved in interacting with a faith-based organization that focuses on impacting the development of juvenile offenders incarcerated.
Case study
Case study 1
James Curtis is a 15-year-old only child in a family of working-class parents. Throughout his childhood, James has always been under the care of a nanny with his parents always busy at work. He developed a close bond with the nanny rather than his parents, which was informed by their frequent absentia from his life. He lived in a very free environment where he could interact with everyone from the neighborhood. His interactions mainly were with older children who had a significant influence on his life.
He developed a deviant behavior in school, where he was rude to his teachers and abusive to other children. He was always a bully. Despite calls for his parents to accompany him to school, they never showed and always defended his actions. Recently he was arrested for robbery with violence where a young lady in the streets was injured and stole her valuables. All of his accomplices were adults. He was remanded in a local juvenile prison. Before this arrest, he already had a previous encounter with the law where he was found peddling drugs. However, he was warned and released.
The local faith-based organization has been engaged in interacting with juvenile offenders and focusing on addressing important behavioral and cognitive issues that are likely to have a positive influence on their wellbeing. James is one of the juvenile offenders who has enrolled in this program. It is evident based on the case that James has had a difficult childhood, and his parents did not have time to guide him and show him the right way and difference between right and wrong. The engagement with the faith-based organization is aimed at helping present a highly structured emphasis on individual behavior and the development of important aspects that help transform individual development. James has shown significant improvement in his behavior and how he interacts with others. He understands the role of religion in society and the need to respect everyone.
Case study 2
Cate Phyllis is a 14-year-old child who has been brought up in a single-parent family. Her mother has always been very supportive and ensured that Cate receives the best care as a child growing up. However, as a child, she was given extra freedom, which allowed her to get everything that she wished for. Her mother did not know that such behavior was creating room negative personality development. She was always demanding things even from her colleagues in school and teachers. Her social interactions were always characterized by violence and abuse.
She was always feared by her mates because she could easily turn violent. The mood changes described her personality. Her teachers were unable to fathom the issue with her, and in most cases, she was always found to be on the wrong. She was suspended three times from school because he refused to go back to school because she thought that she w judged fairly. Her mother was unable to convince her to change her mind and go back to school. Her social interactions included adult men who were known members of the local gang. She was recently arrested by law enforcers for drug trafficking. She was held at a local juvenile prison and enrolled in one of the educational programs. She agreed to join a faith-based program as well, which taught behavioral transformation and the need to understand the righteous path of development.
Building personal identity from a religious perspective helps ensure that there is a clear path to social relations and the ability to make the right decisions. Religion presents a highly efficient platform that outlines behavioral development and the need to maintain a stronger mental strength and avoid being influenced by others. Cate has been able to understand that she has made many mistakes in life, and despite her mother being present most of the time, she has often overlooked her importance and allowed social influence, which has been detrimental to her life.
Research question
What is the role of faith-based organizations in reducing juvenile delinquency?
Data collection
Data collection presents the method that will be used in engaging the sample population from the targeted setting and improve the focus on quality data. The target population is the juvenile probation officers and juvenile offenders who have been engaged with a faith-based organization (Voleti, 2019). The Juvenile probation officers evaluate the change in the behavior of juveniles after enrolment in different programs based on the behavioral and cognitive wellbeing as well as making a determination on their ability to denounce their criminal ways. Children are easy to educate because the majority of them are willing to learn.
The case study was obtained from the primary source within the local juvenile correctional enter where children have been engaged in controlling their behaviors and psychological wellbeing through religious teachings. Therefore the two case studies were obtained from juvenile offenders who are still undergoing religious teachings (Peters, 2016). The information was obtained from face to face interviews conducted t help understand the history of these offenders and making a determination on the influence of faith-based organizations on their lives.
Juvenile probation officers were also engaged, although through the use of online semi-structured questionnaires that were sent to their emails. The use of semi-structured questionnaires as adopted in this case present the respondents with the ability to help present structural information based on the research question that has been identified, juvenile probation officers have a better knowledge on the influence of faith-based organizations based on the existing and past engagement and ability to transform a child’s behavior.
Questionnaires administered through e-mail are cost-effective and easily accessible because every participant receives a questionnaire through their e-mail, where they are expected to provide honest and informative responses based on the questions that have been included. The respondents are required to fill the questionnaire at their own free time, and this may also have a negative influence on the response rate since when a participant is not notified on the questionnaire sent to their email, it might be difficult for them to respond within the outlined study limit (Ornstein, 2014).
Data analysis
Data analysis presents key approaches based on the data that has been provided. The analysis sought to investigate the role of a faith-based organization in the management of juvenile delinquency. The faith-based organizations utilize the fact that youths are willing to listen hence can transform their lives quickly after realizing that they have made mistakes. The case study presents qualitative data that focuses on answering the research question outlines (Fletcher, 2015).
Qualitative research methods focus on explaining the experiences and decisions that are made based on an issue that is being assessed. It helps understand important developmental aspects that are essential in improving the level of change. There is a need to define a strong change approach, which helps in creating a highly structured system that can be considered in improving the current knowledge on the issue that is being investigated. The use of statements in qualitative research provides the basis that helps inform decision making as well as policy development (Williamson, Given, & Scifleet, 2018).
The content analysis presents a critical research analysis where there is an assessment of the research problem and identifies key issues that were identified from the analysis. The analysis of the transcribed data was based on thematic analysis. The thematic analysis presents a platform where the transcribed data is assessed with a key focus on getting the meaning of each statement and help in the formulation of themes (St. Pierre & Jackson, 2014).
The case outcomes identified have shown that the majority of juvenile offenders have a difficult childhood, which does not conform to basic child care. Parents are rarely involved in the growth of their children hence do not control their relationships within the society. Early child development requires a strong role and performance from the parent to ensure that children adopt positive values. Religion has not been emphasized as a method where children can learn positive concepts as identified by the faith-based organization programs these children undergo while incarcerated.
The case studies have shown that faith-based organization plays an essential role in promoting better behavior and psychological wellbeing among juvenile offenders. Children are able to understand the difference between right and wrong as well as the influence of bad company hence focus on avoiding such contacts within the community. The cases have identified that the behavior of these offenders took a major turn for worse after starting social interactions with wrong groups.
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. 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 stronger context for child development (Sutton & Austin, 2015). 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.
Discussion
The findings from the analysis have shown that faith-based organizations play a major role in the juvenile correction system. The ability to understand the needs of individuals within the society can be effectively determined through the identification of individual needs and different approaches that can help correct wrongdoing. The study has focused on qualitative research, which presents diverse research concepts.
A major strength of qualitative data is that it provides a detailed understanding of specific issues that help in maintaining a greater emphasis on essential processes that help in improving knowledge level based on the issue that is being investigated. It helps in understanding a detailed description of events in an open manner, which is essential in improving the level of commitment and individual development (Sutton & Austin, 2015). Qualitative research is easy to analyze, considering that it involves different approaches that can be adequately assessed and help improve the level of engagement. The analysis consists of a review of statements with a critical focus on the development of themes.
However, this type of study also has different challenges that need to be identified in helping inform future researchers on the best approach to consider in creating a diversified commitment to better decisions in research development. The survey research design is an effective approach in conducting studies that involve large samples, although there are specific issues that limit the effectiveness of this approach. It is difficult to control the level of bias in survey studies.
Bias in survey design has a detrimental influence on the quality of the outcome and effective determination of the underlying research problem. Understanding the source of bias in research help identify counter-measures that can be engaged and focus on creating a strong system that improves the quality of outcomes (Gale, Heath, Cameron, Rashid, & Redwood, 2013). Bias in a research process is detrimental to making accurate results, which cannot be replicated. The integration of scientific methods helps in developing important methods, which need to be followed effectively to reduce the degree of bias based on a specified percentage of error, which shows the extent to which a given analysis is accurate or can explain the phenomena considered.
There is a need for researchers to focus on adopting a mixed methods study approach to help model the study based on quantitative outcomes. Qualitative aspects in a mixed-methods study should help in confirming the findings based on an understanding of individual opinions and experiences explaining the changes that have been identified. These measures present a highly structured understanding of decision making and the ability to develop quality and reliable studies.
Policy change
Faith-based organizations play a major role in n controlling juvenile delinquency. This means that the key policy change, in this case, would involve the integration of religious approaches as mandatory teachings in juvenile rehabilitation. Religion outlines specific factors that help maintain a highly advanced system where the needs of juvenile offenders can be engaged. Religion focuses on transforming individual behavior and psychological wellbeing. Understanding that there is help in religion has been essential in improving outcomes in the transformation of youth behavior.
Rehabilitation is a crucial approach within the juvenile justice system that focuses on the changes in individual behavior while also taking into focus the individual’s needs and the underlying factors that lead to committing a crime (Winters & Beerbower, 2017). Understanding the background provides a critical focus on important processes that give a greater emphasis on essential changes within the system. A financially unstable individual would consider crime as an option in which they can become even with others who are stable within society. Not everyone is privileged within the organization.
Conclusion
Faith-based organization in the juvenile correction system provides a positive environment for social learning. Social learning is based on activities that occur within the environment. Controlling individual influence on these activities presents a stronger system where it is easy to improve individual decision making. Juvenile offenders require a favorable platform where they can express themselves well and help outline key measures that promote positive behavior within society. These organizations have played a major role in exposing youths to pro-social standard behaviors. Enhancing the youth’s spirituality is a key aspect that has played a major role in improving the behavior of juvenile offenders because they understand themselves more and their capabilities.