Juvenile Crime

Juvenile crime rates have nearly doubled in most countries. In the news we keep hearing about youngsters got mixed up in shady affairs and committing petty crimes. Firstly they just steal an apple from the market stands, then rob a small shop, next day we learn about a 17-year-old kid who killed his classmates. People are concerned and rightly so. That\'s all what we do or maybe give them a harsh punishment. It seems that the problem has only focused on punishment and very little on prevention or intervention.


There is no single cause of violence but we can certainly list a lot of risk factors, which increase the development of delinquent behavior. These include child abuse and family disintegration, violating behavior, academic failure, school dropout, and lack of contact with the society, fighting with peers and antisocial behavior early in life.


In order to reveal the real background of juvenile crime it\'s obviously not enough to stop at this point. Probably none of the young delinquents were born with aggression, rage and hatred. Their environment and our society have turned them into who they are today. Juveniles have to face the cruel sides of the world too early and they are not well prepared for it yet. Some of them are able to deal with it, some of them are not. The latter shocked by the realization will escape to the world of crimes so trying to hide themselves from all the disappointment.  


Crime rates are the highest in the more urbanized societies where traditional life


styles don’t prevail and local communities and social control have become loose. Young people are allowed to live a totally free and undisciplined life in the dark streets of abandoned city districts. Getting a false image from these places they are assured that the proper way of living is the one they experience there. Just following the bad example, without being aware of what they are really doing,


The situation is the same with the...