Theory and Juvenile Delinquency

Theory and Juvenile Delinquency

 In Japans 2018, the total population was 12,644 million, which contributed to 1.7 percent of the world’s total population (Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2019). The Japanese population remained steady from the18th Century to the 19th Century. While Japan currently ranks 11th in the world’s population, its populace has faced a steady decline with each coming year since the 1880s. According to the population census in Japan the number of household members also seemed to decline from the 1970’s dropping from 3.41 members to 2.33 in 2015 (Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2015) Even though the population has deviated to a declining state, it is expected that the number of households is to increase. The actual size of the average family is predicted to dwindle in the upcoming years slowly. As far as population density goes, Tokyo Metropolis, which had a total population of 37,393,129 in 2019, is one of the most densely populated areas in the country. The demographics indicate that Tokyo’s population makes up 25% of Japan’s total population. Moreover, a substantial population is moving from rural Japan to the cities depicting that Japan makes 2/3 of its revenues from the urban areas. Besides, the population consists of 60% older people because of government fertility regulations in the 1970s, which lowered Japan’s reproduction fertility. As Japan faces a crisis of a reducing population, this only leads to juvenile delinquency..

Juvenile delinquency refers to the act of committing unlawful acts by persons under the age of 18 years. Delinquents are the persons that engage in such criminal acts and also classified into two groups, namely overt and covert. Overt delinquency exhibits aggressive behavior and more inclined to course intentional harm to the victims, while covert delinquency portrays no aggression to the victims. The existence of a wide range of theories on the subject of misconduct creates divergent perspectives. The theories focus on the courses of the behavior, its effects on the society, and viable solutions to the problem. Some of the theories include rational choice, social disorganization, and social learning theories. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the most compatible approach to the situation of juvenile delinquency in Japan, as well as its social, economic, and cultural factors affecting the country from the lens of rational choice theory.

Rational Choice Theory and Juvenile Delinquency

Economic factors

The rational choice theory suggests that the choices made by a person determine the level of maximization of utility or outcome. The approach is recognized for its relevance in a variety of disciplines (Allendorf & Pandian, 2016). In the theory and juvenile delinquency, behavioral reinforcement is a significant determinant of the persistence or non-persistence of the delinquent behavior because the reasoning behind any decision is seen as optimally viable to the delinquent even when it is irrational and destructive (Ogasawara & Yumitori, 2019). Therefore, the approach means that the decisions taken should not be viewed as necessarily optimal or viable since they might be a result of pressure from the environment, such as financial strains, social incompatibility, mental disorders. A majority of densely populated areas are often characterized by limited resources such as few employment opportunities, clean water rationing, poor education, and housing. The limitations create frustrations for the adults who are the parents to juveniles. The parents may transfer these frustrations to the children causing them to find solace in criminal activities from a tender age and inflict harm.

Further, Juvenile delinquent’s choices result from idleness. Juvenile delinquents exhibit overt or covert behavior, which may include rape, violence, and assault on their victims, pickpocketing, shoplifting, selling drugs, or vandalism to relieve psychological pressure (Ferrari & O’Donnell, 2014). On the contrary, young people brought up in areas of a low population often enjoy unlimited access to resources such as education and job opportunities, and basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. As expected, there will be choices to be made, and the young people need to make choices on an array of aspects of their lives, hence the importance of the rational choice theory. In this sociological perspective, people born into scarcity are compelled by circumstances to fend for themselves and will often end up in criminal activity to claim their share for survival. However, plentiful supplies of economic resources are more likely to create a crimeless society, as delinquency is no longer a rational choice.

Social Factors

Additionally, the rational choice approach is also useful in explaining how social factors in high and low population areas affect juvenile delinquency. The social factors include languages spoken, religion, as well as the ethnic background (Kroska et al., 2016). The social aspects of a person are typically inherited from parents, teachers, religious ministers, and political leaders. Social scientists support the theory of rational choice due to its immense empirical credibility, which also ensures minimum irrational behavior. The youth in a society learn by observing the elders speak languages pre-developed by the community.

Additionally, young adults start to recognize ethnicity, understand their religion as trained by fellow members as of society (Ogasawara & Yumitori, 2019). Consequently, the juveniles must adhere to the values taught to them until when reaching adulthood when they are allowed to make choices independently.The teachings of society can link adult criminal behavior owing to the sudden freedom.

Further, the post adulthood criminal behavior can be attributed to the rational choice theory since juveniles may no longer depend on society to make choices on the lives. Research depicts that adulthood independence may also contribute to irrational decisions (Ogasawara & Yumitori, 2019). Similarly, stable communities with established ways of reinforcing positive behavior in countries like Japan can anticipate reduced levels of adverse outcomes despite high populations with limited resources. For example, some societies develop social customs, which ensure that the young generation caters to the senior members of the nation (“NPR Choice page,” 2020). The traditions eventually become obligations over time, which reduces juvenile delinquency since the delinquents are occupied with tusking social responsibilities such as working hard by taking up multiple jobs to provide for their families. The persistence of adult criminals or the alienation of the behavior can be affected by the scarcity or the sufficiency of positive social beliefs and practices. The responsibility for taking care of family members could also promote the covert juvenile delinquency by engaging in illegal activities to generate money to support their families, hence the need for psychological preparation of the younger population.

Cultural Factors 

Countries with limited resources have higher levels of Juvenile delinquency. Cultural factors and traditions may further put a strain on the availability of resources. The social setups in some countries have rules that deter some members of the society from holding some positions at work or prohibit them from working entirely (“NPR Choice page,” 2020). For example, Muslim communities do not allow women to work. As a result, the male members of the society are overstretched to ensure that they provide for their families. Muslim communities encourage polygamist practices, which are also evidence of high social, cultural, and economic status. This leads to having more children and increases possibilities of insufficient necessary provisions. The result is a crime as the children search for money to buy food for themselves and their siblings.

Meanwhile, other cultural practices, such as open cultural beliefs that promote global integration, have more resources because they support progressive cultural practices, ensuring that all members of the society are productive. Sequentially, the pressure on one gender demographic is reducing juvenile delinquency as parents can share household budget responsibilities. Global integration opens up economies, hence creating additional resources that supplement the existing ones. Several hard-line communities in the modern world continue to consider the benefits of progressive thinking gradually, thus creating conducive environments for abundance in equal opportunities (Vaughn et al., 2019). The Rational Choice Theory is, therefore, useful and ensures that the cultural choices optimally maximize utility.

Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory refers to the process of acquiring knowledge from observing the behavior of other members of society (Ferrari & O’Donnell, 2014). In social settings, juveniles discover new practices from the older members of the community, and they learn the routines and imitate some of them. However, to imitate or not to is dependent on factors such as social, cultural status, and the outcome of the imitated behavior, which means that the choices made are still subject to reasoning as opposed to copying and pasting of a practice (Ferrari & O’Donnell, 2014). As a result, the theory of social learning is the most insufficient approach in explaining the factors coursing juvenile delinquency since it holds that learning and imitating social behaviors as the only factors for increasing or reducing Juvenile as well as post adult criminal behavior.

Conclusion

Theory and juvenile delinquency are significantly affected by social, economic, and cultural factors. These aspects of the argument are classified into several demographics, such as religion, ethnic background, population size, languages, and levels of employment. Therefore, juvenile delinquency is essential and can be solved by the use of several theoretical and practical approaches with a broad perspective to address the delinquency problem effectively. The Social Disorganization Theory and Rational Choice theory are appropriate. In contrast, the social learning theory bases itself on one aspect of the courses of the Juvenile as well as post adult criminalities, hence making it insufficient.

References

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Ferrari, J., & O’Donnell, C. (2014). Culture, Peers, and Delinquency. Taylor and Francis.

Garenne, M. (2016). A century of nuptiality decline in South Africa: A longitudinal analysis of census data. African Population Studies. https://doi.org/10.11564/30-2-846

Kroska, A., Lee, J., & Carr, N. (2016). Juvenile Delinquency and Self-Sentiments: Exploring a Labeling Theory Proposition*. Social Science Quarterly, 98(1), 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12307

NPR Choice page. Npr.org. (2020). Retrieved 18 April 2020, from https://www.npr.org/2018/12/21/679103541/japans-population-is-in-rapid-decline.

Ogasawara, K., & Yumitori, M. (2019). Early-life exposure to weather shocks and child height: Evidence from industrializing Japan. SSM – Population Health, 7, 100317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.11.001

Tripathi, D. (2016). Juvenile Delinquency: Overview, Prevention, and Laws In India. The International Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanities Invention. https://doi.org/10.18535/ijsshi/v3i2.11

Vaughn, M., Salas-Wright, C., & Jackson, D. (2019). Routledge International Handbook of Delinquency and Health. Routledge.