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Alienation & Juvenile Offenders

Alienation can be defined as "a state or process in which something is lost by or estranged from the person who originally possessed it." (Harre & Lamb, 1983, p.19). Harre & Lamb (1983) also note that the term juvenile delinquency often refers to antisocial, immoral, or deviant behavior, as well as actually criminal behavior. They further state that juvenile delinquency may occur in up to 30.8% of the adolescent population; that males are up to ten times as likely to be delinquents as females; that the most common occurrences involve stealing; and that "there is a well established connection between delinquency and disturbed home background and family conflict." (p.142).

A great deal of research has been done to establish and clarify the link between dysfunctional family systems and delinquency. Many researchers have hypothesized that family dysfunction leads to a feeling of alienation (i.e. having lost the loving connection with the family) in the adolescent, which in turn contributes to his delinquent behavior by eroding his attachment to and respect for the family in particular and society in general. The theory is, then, that insofar as the adolescent feels he has little or nothing to lose (like the love of his family) and everything to gain (such as adult and peer attention and material goods) by acting in an antisocial manner, he will do so.

In this paper I will examine some of the studies which have explored alienation as a possible causal factor of juvenile delinquency.

In one of the better conceived and executed studies in this genre, Calabrese and Adams (1990) investigated the differences in levels of alienation in 157 incarcerated and 1,318 non-incarcerated adolescents, ages 16-17. The researchers hypothesized that the incarcerated subjects would have significantly higher levels of isolation, powerlessness, normlessness, and total alienation than the non-incarcerated/control subjects.

The results showed that ...

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Alienation & Juvenile Offenders. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 16:35, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1683642.html