The cause, prevention and punishment of juvenile offenders has become the number one concern in America. The public perception that juvenile crime is out of control and becoming more violent is growing throughout the country. Unfortunately, statistics from the FBI and Justice Department agree with the public perception. Youth crime is on the increase and becoming more violent. The number of youths arrested for murder and weapons' violations has almost doubled over the last 10 years.
Criminologists, psychologists, and other behavioral scientists have studied juvenile delinquency extensively, and a number of theories have been developed. One theory suggests that children from the poorest part of society lack opportunities to develop in socially acceptable ways. This lack creates a predilection to delinquency. Another theory is that delinquency is learned behavior, acquired by associating with people who have little respect for the law or societal conventions. A third explanation suggests that juveniles who are caught and labeled delinquent by the legal authorities are more likely to continue to break the law because that label makes being law-abiding harder for them. Still other theories stress psychological and biological causes such as mental illness (Albanese, 1985, chs. 1-5).
Traditional researchers have attributed delinquency to a number of psychological and behavioral theories. The focus of these theories has been the reaction of the delinquent to outside factors. In motivational theory, the person has legitimate desires but cannot satisfy them. This inability forces the person into deviant behavior. Control or bonding theories postulate that, since the person's conventional ties have been broken, the person feels free to commit delinquent acts. Another traditional theory is cultural deviance, in which the delinquent conforms to a set of standards not accepted by a large or more powerful society (Hirschi,...