Juvenile Delinquency 4 The current statistics of juvenile delinquency are astounding. I will look at the most recent statistics and a few of the programs implemented to reduce or prevent delinquency. Before delving to deep into juvenile delinquency it is important to consider the definitions of “juvenile” and “delinquent”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives two definitions of “juvenile”: 1. Showing incomplete development, and 2. A young person; one below the legally established age of adulthood (1997). Merriam-Webster defines “delinquent” as: offending by neglect or violation of duty or law (1997). As a complete definition of juvenile delinquent it is safe to repeat “a person below the established age of adulthood that offends by neglect or violation of duty or law (1997)”.The history of juvenile delinquency had harsh beginnings. Children were viewed as non-persons until the 1700’s(Rice 1995). They did not receive special treatment or recognition. Discipline then is what we now call abuse. It was believed that life was hard, and you had to be hard to survive. The people of that time in history did not have the conveniences that we take for granted. For example, the medical practices of that day were primitive in comparison to present-day medicine. Marriages were more for convenience, rather than for childbearing or romance. The infant and child mortality rate was also very high. It did not make sense to the parents in those days to create an emotional bond with children when there was a strong chance that the children would not survive until adulthood (1995).At the end of the 18th century, “The Enlightenment” appeared as a new cultural transition. People began to see children as flowers, who needed nurturing in order to ...
