By Aron Jobi John
The relationship between parental influence and juvenile delinquency is a critical and extensively studied aspect of criminology and child development. This paper aims to investigate the correlation between various familial factors and criminal behavior. It seeks to ascertain if these elements can operate as causative agents for "juvenile delinquency" or if the interaction of family dynamics and outside circumstances leads to such behaviour. The family unit has been identified as a pivotal component in the upbringing of children and as a pivotal factor that influences a child's future involvement in criminal activities. Different family structures have been identified as a reliable predictor of juvenile delinquency and a significant risk factor linked to the development of criminal behavior during childhood and adolescence. Parent-child relationships serve as the foundation for understanding juvenile delinquency. Several key factors are identified in this analysis, including parental supervision and involvement. Inadequate parental guidance may result in children lacking clear boundaries, leading to risky behaviors. Exposure to domestic violence within the family environment is found to significantly affect a child's mental health and behavior, making them more likely to engage in delinquent acts. Family dysfunctions have been identified as a significant risk factor linked to the development of criminal behavior during childhood and adolescence. The paper also examines the relationship between family dynamics and outside circumstances, which can lead to criminal behaviour. Furthermore, this paper aims to trace the formation of juvenile justice system and its implication within India.
Keywords: Juvenile, Deliquency, Family, India, Analysis, Parental supervision
Juvenile delinquency refers to the conduct of minors (those under 18 years of age) who partake in illicit actions or behaviors that are categorized as disruptive or perilous. These actions encompass activities such as theft, vandalism, physical assault, drug consumption, as well as severe transgressions like sexual assault and homicide. The family unit has been identified as a pivotal component in the upbringing of children and as a pivotal factor that influences a child's future involvement in criminal activities. This paper aims to investigate the correlation between various familial factors and criminal behavior. Moreover, it seeks to ascertain whether these elements can operate as causative agents for "juvenile delinquency" or if the interaction of family dynamics and outside circumstances leads to such behaviour.
CONCEPT OF FAMILY:
The family can be seen as the primary social environment for children.Before entering the larger community, people are first exposed to the norms, values, beliefs, and customs of society within their families. Consequently, the family plays a crucial role in molding a child's character. From early childhood to adolescence and into adulthood, language norms, values, and beliefs are instilled in children. Thus, the family exerts a significant influence on the development of its members' personalities and characters. While external influences on an individual's character are important, it is the family that exerts the initial and enduring impact on its members. Therefore, a family instills its values in its children, whether they are good or bad.
Families vary widely in size and composition, hence different definitions of what a family is have been given to the idea. These diverse family types fulfill distinct functions for their members.[1] As per the Population Reference Bureau's definition, a family is a group of people linked by common birth, marriage, living arrangements, strong emotional connections, or adoption.[2] While a Desai defines a family as a unit consisting of two or more individuals connected by blood, marriage, adoption, or consensual union, who interact and communicate with one another. Families may also encompass individuals sharing common ancestry, such as belonging to a lineage, clan, or tribe. UNESCO provides a broader perspective, defining a family as a social entity, even when its members may not necessarily share the same household.[3]
Families often fulfil three basic purposes, regardless of cultural variations: attaining financial independence, improving the welfare of family members, and guaranteeing the family's survival.
The traditional notions of a family include duties and roles including closeness and affection, safety, bearing children, and raising them.[4] Assigning responsibilities, ensuring social interaction among family members, giving physical care, allocating money, preserving motivation and morale, and interacting with the outside world and its institutions are all examples of traditional family tasks.
CONCEPT OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT:
The term "child development" describes a kid's overall development, including its behavioural, emotional, intellectual, and perceptual skills. According to John Watson, recognized as a key figure in American Behaviorist Theory, children are seen as passive entities that can be shaped by controlling the associations between stimuli and responses. In contrast, the U.S. Department of Education asserts that children can be educated to become responsible individuals. "Responsibility" is defined by Mitton and Harris as the capability to make choices and take accountability for the consequences of those choices.[5] Therefore, the goal of positive child development should be to teach children to take full responsibility for their actions. This underscores the vital role of parental guidance, as children require direction from their parents to thrive in various tasks. Despite the various potential factors contributing to juvenile delinquency, society often perceives delinquent behavior in children as a reflection of parental failure.[6]
THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT FAMILY STRUCTURES:
Married Families: According to Wardle, a stable marriage between a child's mother and father is essential for providing them with the best foundation and opportunities for a successful and happy life.[7] Marriage consistently and positively influences children's overall well-being, playing a crucial role in their happiness, health, and security, ultimately offering them the best life prospects.[8] Children raised by married parents are in a better position to avoid some of the challenges associated with adolescence and childhood. For example, studies have indicated that kids raised in single-parent homes are more likely to experience behavioural and educational problems as well as a tendency to commit crimes. Notably, a number of societal issues, including adolescent pregnancy, criminality, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence, are greatly exacerbated by the separation of dads and their children. According to the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's National Report on Juvenile Offenders and Victims, minors who live with both parents are less likely to participate in delinquent activities including drug and sexual abuse. According to the report, only 5% of youths living with both parents were involved in delinquent activities, as opposed to 12% of youths in other family arrangements also a similar report in 2010 found that 45% of youths in custody for delinquent acts came from single-parent families, while 30% came from two-parent families.[9] Consequently, raising children with both parents has proven to be advantageous in fostering emotional well-being and increasing the likelihood of academic achievement.
Divorced Families: Parental divorce is consistently identified as a reliable predictor of juvenile delinquency and a significant risk factor linked to the development of criminal behavior during childhood and adolescence.[10] This association leads to an increase in criminal convictions and antisocial conduct. Scholars have examined behavioural and disciplinary issues from a variety of theoretical angles, including the psychological anguish resulting from parental divorce. It appears that children from single-parent households are more prone to unemployment, school dropout, diminished psychological well-being, and involvement in sexual violence compared to children from two-parent families.[11] The transition from a two-parent to a single-parent family often results in the loss of economic resources, as there is only one breadwinner in the family, and it also leads to a decrease in child supervision.[12] Additionally, fathers residing in separate households tend to have limited contact with their children, which can erode commitment and trust.
Cohabiting Families: A study conducted by Sarantakos involving 74 juvenile offenders revealed that 74% of them originated from households with cohabiting partners, in contrast to only 26% who came from families with married couples.[13] Furthermore, it was observed that 49% of children from families with cohabiting couples had committed two or more offenses, while only 21% of those from married couples had done so. Notably, the children from cohabiting couples were the only ones who had committed three or more offenses. These findings are evidently associated with the family environments prevalent among most of the offenders. Lack of unity, instability, marital violence, adversarial parental attitudes, parental apathy, and parental conflicts are characteristics of these situations.
FAMILY DYSFUNCTION:
A family that exhibits undesirable behavioural patterns, conflict, and instability is considered dysfunctional. Children in these households, in particular, frequently face neglect or a lack of support while dealing with challenges like substance addiction, mental health disorders, or social isolation. In dysfunctional households, the relationships between family members weaken, and sometimes children experience hopelessness that may push them into criminal activity. A number of factors in dysfunctional households can lead to adolescent criminality. These elements consist of:
1. Inadequate parental monitoring and engagement: Children raised in dysfunctional households with poor parenting may not receive the appropriate attention or guidance from their parents, leading to feelings of neglect and a lack of clear boundaries. This can lead to children being more likely to participate in harmful behaviours because there aren't clear norms and consequences.
2. Domestic violence: A child's behaviour and mental health may be greatly impacted by witnessing or experiencing domestic violence. When kids engage in this kind of aggression, the effects are far more severe. Children suffer serious emotional injury as a result, which increases their likelihood of acting aggressively or delinquently.
3. Substance abuse: The dynamics of the family might be upset and children may grow up in an unstable and unsupportive environment when one or more family members abuse drugs or alcohol. Children may be more likely to experiment with drugs or alcohol themselves in such circumstances.
4. Poverty and unstable finances: Families dealing with poverty and unstable finances frequently feel stressed and tense, which can result in arguments and dysfunction. Growing up in such conditions can cause some children to resort to delinquent behaviour as a coping mechanism for life's difficulties.
5. Mental health issues: In dysfunctional families, mental health conditions including melancholy, anxiety, and trauma can impact both parents and children, leading to a lack of stability and support. Children who do not receive proper mental health care may be more likely to act in a delinquent manner.
It is important to remember that although these elements may play a role in juvenile delinquency, they do not ensure that a child will conduct in a delinquent manner. Numerous kids from broken homes are able to overcome these obstacles and go on to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.
PARENTAL ATTITUDES:
Children look to their families as their main source of love, support, and friendship. The nature of the bond between parents and their offspring is a major factor in determining a child's likelihood of participating in criminal activity. Since a happy home environment aids in the formation of a healthy personality, loving, understanding, and supporting family contexts are more likely to encourage obedient and socially responsible behaviour. On the other hand, children who experience parental rejection, anger, or indifference—or, in more extreme circumstances, lack of affection and support—become emotionally unstable and have delays in the development of their personalities, which in turn promotes antisocial or delinquent behaviour. Negative parental attitudes often manifest as scolding and a lack of love.[14]
Authoritarian parenting, which restricts children's freedom of expression by extreme control and the use of firm, uncompromising instructions, is another harmful parenting style. Children who experience lovelessness and the repression of free speech may become disobedient to their parents, cut themselves off from their families, and go on to commit crimes. Children have been shown to experience emotional and social insecurity when their parents engage in negative parenting behaviours, such as withholding information or not answering their questions. This insecurity may worsen and lead to mental health problems or act as a catalyst for criminal activity.
POSITIVE ROLE OF FAMILIES TO PREVENT JUVENILE DELIQUENT BEHAVIOUR:
When a child is born, it is a parent's greatest treasure. However, the greatest gift parents can give their kids is empathy and a nurturing environment, especially while their brains are still developing.
It has been demonstrated by science that a person's prefrontal cortex fully matures in their mid-20s. Teenagers, particularly young boys, may therefore participate in dangerous behaviours that have the potential to have negative consequences, such drug use, reckless driving, or criminal activities. Adolescents require direction and support from their parents and close relatives in order to make wise decisions and abstain from risky behaviour.
Families need to take care of their members' emotional, physical, social, and intellectual needs in order to guarantee that their members have common sense and a moral sense of right and wrong:
1) Make an effort to create a secure and encouraging home environment for your children: Research shows that kids raised in such environments are less prone to participate in delinquent behaviour. By being involved in their children's life, establishing firm rules and boundaries, and cultivating a happy home atmosphere, parents can offer this stability.
2) Set a good example for behaviour: kids copy what they see. As a result, parents and other family members ought to act and make decisions responsibly. Youngsters are more inclined to model good behaviour after themselves when they witness such instances.
3) Open and Honest Communication: Children must feel comfortable sharing their feelings and concerns in a secure and encouraging atmosphere. It helps a lot to stay away from engaging in delinquent behaviour.
4) Observe your Kids' Activities: Parents need to keep an eye out for any indications of delinquent behaviour in their kids' activities. In order to stop delinquent behaviour from developing into a pattern, parents should deal with possible issues as soon as they arise.
5) Ask for assistance: When a child exhibits delinquent behaviour, parents need to ask for assistance and support. It could entail having a conversation with a counsellor, going to therapy, or signing up the kid for a youth programme that encourages good behaviour.
JUVENILE JUSTICE:
It is necessary to comprehend the objectives and background of juvenile courts in order to comprehend the roles that parents play in the juvenile justice system. In the United States, not much was done to distinguish between juvenile offenders and adult offenders until the eighteenth century. Children were subject to the same laws, trial procedures, and punishments as adults. In certain cases, juvenile offenders faced the death penalty and were housed in adult prisons.
Child activists started working to change the law in the eighteenth century so that minors would receive different treatment than adults. This resulted from societal consciousness and worries that children who were neglected and abandoned could not be controlled by family discipline. Reformers believed that juvenile offenders needed their own prisons, which would be more like reform schools than places of punishment, where young people would receive the right guidance, instruction, physical activity, and monitoring. The purpose of Houses of Refuge was to protect kids from the "corrupting influences of adults," and moving kids there was seen to be in the best interests of the kids. Not only did this removal apply to delinquent kids, but it also covered dependent, neglected, or "ungovernable" kids. Children did not have access to due process or other legal rights in these Houses of Refuge." It was believed that since these homes were intended to reform rather than to punish the child, these rights were not required. As a result of their advocacy, the Illinois Juvenile Court Act ("Act") was created in 1899. The first juvenile court in Cook County, Illinois, was established under this Act. The theory of "parens patriae," which holds that the state has an obligation to care for people who are unable to care for themselves, served as the foundation for the Juvenile Court Act. According to this theory, the Act was based on the concepts of prevention and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders rather than the penal approach used with adult criminals." The Juvenile Court was likewise founded on the idea that a judge's job was not just to determine whether a kid was guilty or innocent, but also to look at the full life of each child in order to safeguard public safety and help the child grow up to be a responsible member of society.
Nothing is new on earth, or "Nil Novi Spectrum," as it is fittingly phrased in the Indian juvenile justice system. There has always been a global perception that youth should be given greater freedom because it is generally believed that they become aggressive when they are angry. The Latin word "juvenis," which meaning "young," is where the word "juvenile" first appeared. Generally speaking, a "child" is an individual who is under the age of eighteen and does not have the capacity to properly comprehend right from wrong. The legal systems of many nations are based on the idea of "Doli Incapax," which holds that a minor cannot develop the criminal intent to commit an offence. One statute that is part of India's juvenile justice system is the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015. To address the issue of juvenile delinquency, India, like other nations, has enacted legal provisions that expressly address the rights and protection of juvenile offenders. Three fundamental presumptions form the basis of the Indian juvenile justice system:
Instead of bringing young offenders before traditional courts, it is better to use numerous methods to guide and reform them.
Instead than being punished by the courts, juvenile offenders ought to be given the chance to turn their lives around and reintegrate into society.
Children in legal trouble should go through a trial procedure that emphasises non-penal therapy and makes use of community-based social control organisations like Special Homes and Observation Homes.
These ideas, which place more emphasis on rehabilitation and reintegration than on harsh punishment for young offenders, serve as the cornerstone of the Indian juvenile justice system.
CONCLUSION:
The purpose of this essay was to evaluate how the family influences juvenile criminality. The study indicates that the family has a significant influence in deciding whether a child engages in delinquent or antisocial behaviour after analysing the concept of family, juvenile delinquency, and child development. Families are extremely important in helping children develop their values, abilities, and sense of self because of how important they are in their life. Thus, a child's development has a significant impact on their character development and chance of committing crimes in the future. Last but not least, it is critical to support public policies that uphold the family as a qualitative space for affective relationships and communication. In light of all of this, it is urgently necessary to develop appropriate child protection strategies, with a focus on preventing child abuse and neglect, among other things, which in some cases have extended to gang recruitment and the acquisition of small arms, leading to juvenile delinquency.
The author is Aron Jobi John, a third-year BALLB student at Christ (deemed to be) University, Banglore.
[1] Gordon, L., Families: Basic Concepts, (2003)
[2] Enrique, J., Howk, H. and Huitt, W., An Overview of Family Development. Educational Psychology Interactive, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA, (2007)
[3] UNESCO, The Changing Family in Asia: Bangladesh, India, Japan, Philippines and Thailand, (1992)
[4] Suzanne, K. and Karen, F.S., Traditional and Emerging Families: A Typologr Based on Structures and Functions, Family Science Review,(1998)
[5] Mitton, B.L. and Harris, D.B., The Development of Responsibility in Children. The Elementary School Journal, 54, 268-277, (1954)
[6] Henning,
[7] Wardle, L.D., Children and the Future of Marriage, Regent University Law Review, 17, 279-310, (2004)
[8] Waite, L.J., Does Marriage Matter? Demography, 483, 497-498, (1995)
[9] Mwangangi, R.K., The Role of Family in Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency, Open Journal of Social Sciences, 7, 52-63, (2019)
[10] Burt, S.A., et al., Parental Divorce and Adolescent Delinquency: Eliminating the Influence of Shared Genes, Developmental Psychology, 44, 1668-1677, (2008)
[11] Van de Weijer, S.G.A., et al. The Effects of Parental Divorce on the Intergenerational transmission of Crime, Societies, 5, 89-108, (2015)
[12] McLanahan, S. and Sandefur, G. Growing up with a Single Parent: What Harms, What Provides Support, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, (1994)
[13] Sarantakos, S. Cohabitation, Marriage and Delinquency: Evaluating the Importance of Family Environment, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 30, 187-199, (1997)
[14] Akinyi, O.D., Effects of Authoritarian Parenting Model on Learner Participation in Early Childhood Education Science Class Kabondo Division, Homabay County, Kenya, (2015)
This article contains the view of the author and the publisher in no way associates with the views or ideologies of the author. All the moral rights vests with the Author(s).