juvenile delinquency research topics

132 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best juvenile delinquency topic ideas & essay examples, 💡 interesting topics to write about juvenile delinquency, 📌 simple & easy juvenile delinquency essay titles, 👍 good essay topics on juvenile delinquency, ❓ research questions on juvenile delinquency.

• The Impact of Media on Juvenile Delinquency Besides, the media have been at the forefront of the fight against juvenile-related crimes. In this view, this document aims at critically evaluating the role of various forms of media in escalating juvenile delinquency, and […]
• Social Learning Theory and juvenile delinquency The empirical studies of the Social Learning Theory on juvenile delinquency helps to provide an insight on the past, present as well as the future of criminology i.e.the study sheds light on the future directions […] We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Methodologies Used to Measure Acts of Juvenile Delinquency Before moving into the aspects of measurement of actions of juvenile delinquents, it is necessary to define and know what a juvenile delinquent is, and what actions fall within the ambit of juvenile delinquency.
• Poverty Areas and Effects on Juvenile Delinquency The desire to live a better life contributes to the youths engaging in crimes, thus the increase in cases of juvenile delinquencies amid low-income families. The studies indicate that the fear of poverty is the […]
• The Issue of Juvenile Delinquency At the onset of the industrial revolution, public awareness concerning the fair and ethical treatment of children in workplaces emerged. The role of supervising and guiding children is left to other children, grandparents, or hired […]
• Juvenile Delinquency in Ancient and Modern Times The only policy related to juvenile delinquency existing in ancient Greece was the law that prohibited the youth in ancient Greece from beating their parents.
• The Broken Homes and Juvenile Delinquency The level of measurement in this study will be to assess the frequency of involvement in crime by the children from the broken homes as well as those from the two parent families.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Intervention The role of the family and parents cannot be discounted in the causes of juvenile delinquency. The courts and the lawyers are involved in the trial and sentencing of juvenile offenders.
• The Problem of Juvenile Delinquency The addition of family context to the existing perception of adolescent crimes could be used to explore the core reasons for the crimes and to define possible methods for the prevention of juvenile crimes. The […]
• The Cognitive Theory in Juvenile Delinquency At this stage, a child can perform certain actions repeatedly and also be able to differentiate the means of doing actions.
• Single Parenthood and Juvenile Delinquency in Modern Society The proposal seeks to establish the relationship between single parenthood and the increase in juvenile delinquency. I propose addressing child delinquency from the perspective of social and family background to understand the risks associated with […]
• Developing Solutions to the Juvenile Delinquency Problem These include the creation of a creative activity center, the mandatory introduction of art classes in schools, and the implementation of urban sports programs.
• Problems of Juvenile Delinquency The main aim of writing this paper is to carry out an examination of a juvenile delinquent in order to understand what pushes them into doing the act and applicable solutions which can be applied […]
• The Relationship Between Parental Influence and Juvenile Delinquency Parents that do not allow their children to play with their neighbors, or discourage their children from associating with particular families lead to the children developing a negative attitude towards the families.
• Juvenile Delinquency The defenders of the system on the other hand appreciate the marked role of juvenile justice system in rehabilitating juvenile delinquents and are advocating for the conservation of the system and reforming critical structures that […]
• Juvenile Delinquency and Affecting Factors The information gathered, synthesized, and analyzed in the research with the help of the proposed question has future value as it identifies factors that can be impacted by the society representatives.
• The Concepts of Nature and Nurture in Modern Psychologist to Explain Juvenile Delinquency Hence any behavior exhibited by a juvenile that is in total contrast with the value demands of the larger society can be termed as Juvenile Delinquency. On the one hand, it is believed that Juvenile […]
• Juvenile Delinquency: Social Disorganization Theory Hence, according to Lopez and Gillespie, tenets of the social disorganization theory have been resourceful in the present-day juvenile delinquency system.
• Juvenile Delinquency is a Product of Nurture These criminals have been exposed to unfavorable conditions in their lives such as violence and poverty and turn to criminal behavior as a coping mechanism.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Impact of Collective Efficacy and Mental Illnesses The perception of collective efficacy can be defined as the consideration that the people in a neighborhood are trustable and can do their part to partake in social control to benefit a specific community.
• Juvenile Delinquency: a Case Analysis The tracking of the juvenile from juvenile court to adult court and then through the system is shown in the outline below: Arrest.
• Implementing an Arts Program to Help Curb Juvenile Delinquency and Reduce Recidivism Therefore, the pieces of art will be customized to rhyme with society needs of the targeted children and the adolescents. Some of the enrollees to this program will be delinquents.
• Role of Family in Reducing Juvenile Delinquency Players in the criminal justice system recognize the contribution of family and familial factors to the development of criminal and delinquent tendencies and their potential to minimize minors’ engagement in illegal and socially unacceptable behaviors.
• Gangs and Juvenile Delinquency Hallsworth and Silverstone argues that although there have been a lot of violence, the main source is not quite clear and people live by speculations that the violence is linked to the emergence of a […]
• Juvenile Delinquency: Three Levels of Prevention It is made up of programs and ideals which are effective in treatment of the offender, reintegrating them in the society and limiting them from committing similar offenses. In conclusion, though most prevention programs are […]
• Day Treatment Centers and Juvenile Delinquency One of the core aspects that should not be disregarded is that such programs may be used as a particular assessment tool that would help to identify needs of a juvenile, and this approach may […]
• Court Unification and Juvenile Delinquency Speaking about the given issue, it is important to give the clear definition of this category and determine who could be judged by the juvenile court.
• Prevent Juvenile Delinquency in the USA Due to this fact, it is possible to describe the existing problem as the increase in the number of crimes that children commit.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Risk Assessment The investigatory processes to know the individual’s character and personality involve the use of complex and simple approaches, and these serve to provide organizations or institutions dealing with child welfare with important information that would […]
• Life Without Parole and Juvenile Delinquency The United States is one of the few countries which recognize the necessity of sentencing juveniles to life without parole. This is the main and only advantage of this approach.
• Juvenile Delinquency and Reasons That Lead to It Irrespective of the cause of juvenile delinquency, juvenile drug abuse is certainly most commonly related directly to either an increase or a decrease in any form of juvenile delinquency. This correlates to the increase in […]
• Drugs Influence on Juvenile Delinquency Additionally, parents are the ones who know the strengths and weaknesses of the children since they spend most of their time together, their suggestions and views towards the crime committed should be handled with a […]
• Theories of Juvenile Delinquency Research showed individuals’ attitudes toward crime may herald their criminal behavior, in agreement with criminological theories such as control theory, learning theory and psychological theories like the theory of reasoned action.
• Criminology Theories and Juvenile Delinquency From the point of view of labeling theory, the initial drinking and the first fight at the party is John’s primary deviance.
• Juvenile Delinquency in the United States According to Pennsylvania laws, children at the age of 10 and above can be trialed as adults for first- and second-degree murders.
• Juvenile Delinquency and the Importance of Socialization At the time of the incident, according to the authors of the article, twenty students out of a total of thirty had arrived for the lecture.
• Theories and Suggestions on Juvenile Delinquency The other factor is that the norms that governed relationships in the different family and societal set-ups such as in the school and the workplace are being challenged.
• The Phenomenon of Juvenile Delinquency They are very important in the proceedings and even have additional authority to propose a waiver of the subject. The judges are the other officials in a juvenile court system.
• The Juvenile Delinquency Rate In order to reduce the rate of crime committed by young people in my community, there is a need to educate the youth in matters of drug and substance abuse.
• Juvenile Delinquency Recidivism Prevention Many studies have been carried out to examine the rates of recidivism among juveniles and the ineffectiveness of the juvenile prison.
• Juvenile Delinquency: The Columbine Shootings This paper seeks to discuss and analyze the casual theory of juvenile delinquency by describing an instance of juvenile delinquency as highlighted in the mass media, by describing the casual theory of juvenile delinquency with […]
• Juvenile Delinquency Theories in the United States School and family are extremely important to juveniles regarding their worldview, and the failure of those communities to guide them may result in turning to questionable ideals and morals.
• Adolescent Diversion Project in Juvenile Delinquency Treatment in Michigan The focus of the program is to prevent future delinquency by creating social attachments to family and other prosocial youth by providing community resources and keeping individuals away from the juvenile justice system which can […]
• Crime Prevention and Juvenile Delinquency As a specific jurisdiction that will serve as the basis for assessing and implementing the provisions of the crime prevention program, the District of Florida will be considered.
• Adolescent Psychology and Juvenile Delinquency I will also promote the idea that when it comes to identifying the factors that contribute to the development of delinquency in youth, one must be willing to consider the effects of the combination of […]
• Juvenile Delinquency, Its Factors and Theories Under the individual risk factors, it is prudent to note that a lack of proper education coupled with lower intelligence might pose a serious risk to a minor in terms of engaging in criminal activities […]
• Factors Associated With Juvenile Delinquency Further, the authors propose that the family should be the main focus of prevention and clinical interventions and that establishment of social policy and programs should be directed to the family.
• Combating Juvenile Delinquency: Projects Management In order to prevent and reduce juvenile violence, the City of Hampton develops and implements various activities that were mentioned above, promoting the importance of moral standards.
• The Issue of Juvenile Delinquency: Recent Trends Violence and other criminal actions attract the attention of the government and the general public, as they affect the life of the society adversely.
• Juvenile Delinquency Investigation The social learning theory that is a part of it suggests that children observe the behavior of others and replicate it.
• Juvenile Delinquency’ Causes and Possible Treatments They investigated the issue in different perspectives but came up to the decision that the best way to treat young offenders is to utilize multisystemic therapy.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Criminological Theories These include the broken windows theory, the culture of the gang theory and the social disorganization theory. Cohen developed the culture of the gang theory to explain the origin of juvenile delinquency.
• Juvenile Delinquency and Criminal Gangs The proliferation of criminal gangs in my area of jurisdiction, as director of the county juvenile court, represents a nationwide problem. In the 1990s, the rate of crime rose in most parts of the world.
• Juvenile Delinquency, Treatment, and Interventions The performance of the child in school is one of the individual factors that are likely to cause the child to get involved in violent behaviors.
• Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency in the United States
• Roles of Family, School, and Church in Juvenile Delinquency
• Understanding Juvenile Delinquency and the Different Ways to Stop the Problem in Our Society
• Juvenile Delinquency and Crime as an Integral Part of the American Society
• Impact of Television Violence In Relation To Juvenile Delinquency
• The Vicious Circle of Child Abuse, Juvenile Delinquency, and Future Abuse
• Juvenile Delinquency, Domestic Violence, and the Effects of Substance Abuse
• The Explorers Program as a Preventative Measure in Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency, Youth Culture, and Renegade Kids, Suburban Outlaws by Wooden
• The Alarming Rate of Juvenile Delinquency and Cases of Teenage Suicides in the U.S
• The Line Between Juvenile Delinquency And Adult Penalties
• Home Social Environment and Juvenile Delinquency
• The Effects of Neighborhood Crime on the Level of Juvenile Delinquency
• Interpersonal Learning Theory Plus Juvenile Delinquency
• How to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency in the U.S
• Relationship Between Juvenile Delinquency and Learning Disabilities
• The Impact of Television Violence and Its Relation to Juvenile Delinquency
• The Lack of Strong Parental Figures Causes Juvenile Delinquency
• Theories of Juvenile Delinquency: Why Young Individuals Commit Crimes
• Using Drugs and Juvenile Delinquency
• Theory of Social Disorganization and Juvenile Delinquency
• What Is the Best Way to Combat Juvenile Delinquency?
• The Marxist Crime Perspective On Juvenile Delinquency Of African Americans
• The Failures of the Act of Juvenile Delinquency in the United States
• Juvenile Delinquency And Its Effects On The Adult Justice System
• Juvenile Delinquency Contributing Factors Current Research and Intervention
• Impact Of Single Parents On Juvenile Delinquency Rates
• Video Game Violence Leading to Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency: Exploring Factors of Gender and Family
• The Psychological Aspect of Juvenile Delinquency
• The Antisocial Behavior Leading to Juvenile Delinquency
• Lead and Juvenile Delinquency: New Evidence from Linked Birth, School and Juvenile Detention Records
• The Role of Family in Preventing Juvenile Delinquency and Behavioural Patterns of Children
• The Relationship Between Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency
• The Importance of Family in the Behavior of Children and in Preventing Juvenile Delinquency
• Preventing and Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency
• How Family Structures Can Play a Role in Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and A Child’s Emotional Needs
• Family Structural Changes and Juvenile Delinquency
• The Causes of the Problem of Juvenile Delinquency in the United States
• Juvenile Delinquency And The Juvenile Justice System
• The Curfew: Issues On Juvenile Delinquency And Constitutional Rights
• The Socioeconomic Triggers of Juvenile Delinquency: Analysis of “The Outsiders”
• Exploring the Root Causes of the Problem of Juvenile Delinquency
• The Rise of Juvenile Delinquency and the Flaws of the Juvenile Justice System
• The Causes And Possible Solutions Of Juvenile Delinquency
• The History of the Juvenile Delinquency and the Process of the Juvenile Justice System in Malaysia
• The Issue of Juvenile Delinquency Among Girls in the United States
• What Is the Importance of Studying Juvenile Delinquency?
• Does Authoritative Parenting Impact Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are the Factors of Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are Juvenile Delinquency Causes and Solutions?
• What Type of Problem Is Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Can Family Structures Play a Role in Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Concept of Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Do You Explain Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Does Poverty and the Environment Cause or Contribute to Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are the Leading Causes of Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Does Family Contribute to Juvenile Delinquency?
• How the Juvenile Delinquency Impact Society?
• Why Is Juvenile Delinquency a Problem?
• What Factors Cause Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are the Types of Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is an Example of a Juvenile Delinquent?
• How Can We Prevent Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Does Juvenile Delinquency Affect the Community?
• How Does Juvenile Delinquency Affect Education?
• Why Is Juvenile Delinquency a Problem in Our Society?
• How Does Juvenile Delinquency Affect the Individual?
• What Is Another Name for Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Causes Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Does Birth Order Affect Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Main Problem in Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Difference Between Crime and Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are Some Effects of Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Does Juvenile Delinquency Affect Social Life?
• What Is the Nature of Juvenile Delinquency?
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IvyPanda . "132 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." November 9, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/juvenile-delinquency-essay-topics/.

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130 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topics & Research Questions

Are you looking for good titles for juvenile justice essays? On this page, you’ll find engaging and controversial juvenile delinquency topics and questions for your project, debate, or research paper on young offenders’ issues. Read on to get inspired!

🏆 Best Essay Topics on Juvenile Delinquency

👍 good juvenile delinquency research topics & essay examples, 🎓 most interesting juvenile delinquency research titles, 💡 simple juvenile delinquency research topics, ❓ research questions about juvenile delinquency, ⚖️ juvenile justice research topics, 👩‍⚖️ juvenile justice topics for essays, 🔎 juvenile delinquency research paper topics.

• Juvenile Delinquency Causes and Effects
• Theories for Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency as Social Problem Within Education Institutions
• The Nature of Juvenile Delinquency
• Correlation Between Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency
• How Social Learning Theories Impact Juvenile Delinquency and Crime
• Social Problems Assignment: Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Situational Action Theory This paper focuses on crime among minors; there a number of social challenges that they face, which lead them to juvenile courts for justice and case determination.
• Educational Institutions’ Social Problems: Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile delinquency is the problem that profoundly affects educational institutions as its representatives are people involved in education the most.
• Strain Theory Explaining Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile delinquency is a sensitive topic, and the strain theory perfectly explains the cause of crimes amongst the youngest members of society.
• Family’s Role in Juvenile Delinquency Policy Change The given exploratory paper is devoted to the policy change regarding families and the role they play in the juvenile delinquency sphere.
• Social Inequality and Juvenile Delinquency There is a high crime rate among adolescents. At the same time, as it is commonly believed, young people are considered to be the future of the country.
• Social Media Promotion of Juvenile Delinquency Mass media is a great instrument for shaping public opinion, and it has a significant influence on people’s minds.
• System and Theory Evaluation for Juvenile Delinquency Criminologists have for centuries attempted to find a sole cause or to attain a consensus to justify juvenile delinquency but they have failed miserably.
• Juvenile Delinquency Project: Trends and Theories The paper discusses the historical, contemporary and emerging theories of juvenile delinquency, addresses the effectiveness of trying juveniles as adults in the criminal justice system.
• The Problem of Juvenile Delinquency: Definition and Analysis Due to its complex nature, the problem of juvenile delinquency needs to be addressed from several perspectives, the social one being the critical component of a comprehensive analysis.
• Juvenile Delinquency in U.S. In the United States, concepts and ages of juveniles vary according to the rules of each state. In some states the age is set at 14 while in others the maximum age is set as 21 years.
• Intervention Plans in Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile delinquency was difficult for behavioral specialists to handle. This paper will look at some of the intervention mechanisms that may address juvenile delinquency.
• Juvenile Delinquency Prevention in Our Community Children are not born delinquent nor do they choose to commit crimes: they learn from society by socially interacting with their peers and adults.
• Juvenile Delinquency and Punishment The given paper is devoted to the investigation of the topical theme of juvenile delinquency and punishments provided to young offenders.
• Familias Unidas: Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Familias Unidas pursues the mission of preventing criminogenic behaviors, ranging from substance abuse to behavioral disorders, in Hispanic students aged 12-17.
• Crime and Juvenile Delinquency Impact on Justice The contemporary issue of crime and juvenile delinquency has a negative impact on the field of criminal justice since it contributes to disorganization and anomie.
• Researching of Juvenile Delinquency The given exploratory paper is devoted to the analysis of the role families play regarding juvenile delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Control Coming into winter 2021, the designers have presented new trends for the upcoming season in the recent fashion weeks that not only amaze with their uniqueness.
• Why Does Juvenile Delinquency Occur This discussion is about the justifications for and against juvenile crimes and how they should be handled in general.
• Juvenile Delinquency – Causes & Prevention Juvenile delinquency refers to the breaking of the law by people aged below what is legally considered to be adulthood in a given country.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Practical Example In this article, the author examines the problem faced by the parents of a teenage girl using a practical example and tries to find a way to solve it.
• Juvenile Delinquency: The Marginalized Youths For the delinquency programs and policies to work, the government must give priority to the marginalized youths. It should emphasize matters concerning the youth.
• The Problem of Juvenile Delinquency The adult generation is always concerned with impropriate behavior of the youth and gives different explanations for the increased rate of juvenile crimes.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Taking Actions to Curb It The objective of the police`s strategy of preventing juvenile delinquency should be that no crime, remains undetected and no problematic young person is overlooked.
• Juvenile Delinquency as Social Problem of Vulnerable Populations The theme of this paper is such a problem of vulnerable populations as juvenile delinquency, its interconnection with other social problems, and possible ways of its solution.
• Supportive School Discipline Initiative: Addressing the Problem of High Juvenile Delinquency Rates The juvenile justice system has paid much attention to developing evidence-based prevention and intervention initiatives to address the problem of high juvenile delinquency rates.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Main Theories There are various factors which contribute to crime in communities. For example low income levels, high unemployment, and a great number of single parent households.
• Mentoring Dad on Call: Juvenile Delinquency The concept of MD is in keeping with the true spirit of being a mentor for all and a dad for many as introduced by the Advocates for Students, School Administrators and Parents.
• Juvenile Delinquency in Minority Groups This paper reviews the case of juvenile delinquency, which is revealed in the behavior of the 13-year old Hispanic boy who comes from a poor and abuse-oriented family.
• Canada, Victimization, and Juvenile Delinquency
• Video Game Violence Leading to Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Modern Society
• The Link Between Ineffective Parenting and Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Parenting Styles
• The Antisocial Behavior Leading to Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Reform Schools
• Functional and Behavioral Approaches to Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Labeling Theory
• Factors Influencing Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Its Effects on the Adult Justice System
• Adolescent Conflict, Peer Groups, and Juvenile Delinquency
• Divorce and Juvenile Delinquency
• Japan and Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Conflict Theory
• The General Strain Theory and Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and the Juvenile Justice System
• Relationship Between Juvenile Delinquency and Mental Illness
• Child Physical Abuse and Juvenile Delinquency
• Biological Factors and Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency and Mental Health Issues
• Deviant Subcultures: Juvenile Delinquency and the Causes and Effects
• Cyber Bullying, Its Forms, Impact, and Relationship to Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency Contributing Factors Current
• Child Abuse and Neglect Cause Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency Promotes Senseless Killings
• The Relationship Between Race and Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency Theories Choice and Criminal Atavism
• Gangs and Juvenile Delinquency in the Hispanic Culture
• Dealing With the Issue of Juvenile Delinquency in Criminal Justice
• Family Structure and Juvenile Delinquency
• The Rock and Roll and Juvenile Delinquency
• Social Identity Theory Relating to Juvenile Delinquency
• Relationship Between Juvenile Delinquency and Learning Disabilities
• Drug Use and Juvenile Delinquency
• Traumatic Brain Injury and Juvenile Delinquency
• Juvenile Delinquency, Rebel Without a Cause, and Sociology
• National Juvenile Delinquency Justice Action Plan
• Juvenile Delinquency and Its Effect on Schools
• Attachment Theory and Juvenile Delinquency
• How Birth Order Affects Juvenile Delinquency?
• How Does the Juvenile Delinquency Impact Society?
• What Are the Functional and Behavioral Approaches to Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Link Between Ineffective Parenting and Juvenile Delinquency?
• Can Video Games Violence Lead to Juvenile Delinquency?
• Where Does the Line Between Juvenile Delinquency and Adult Penalties Lie?
• What Is the Neuropsychology of Juvenile Delinquency?
• How To Proceed Early Developmental Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Theories Into the Cause of Juvenile Delinquency Are There?
• What Are Some Misconceptions About the Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are the Effects of Socioeconomic Context on Reaction to Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Theory Best Explains Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Importance of Studying Juvenile Delinquency?
• Which Is the Most Important Factor That Affects the Development of Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are the Characteristics of Juvenile Delinquency in the USA?
• Why Is Juvenile Delinquency a Social Problem?
• How Does Juvenile Delinquency Affect Social Life?
• How Does Juvenile Delinquency Affect Parents and Other Family Members?
• What Patterns of Juvenile Delinquency Are There?
• What Are the Main Types of Juvenile Delinquency?
• Why Does the Antisocial Behavior Leading to Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Are the Factors Influencing Youth Crime and Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Relationship Between Employment and Juvenile Delinquency?
• Are Broken Homes a Causative Factor in Juvenile Delinquency?
• What Is the Moral Judgment of Juvenile Delinquency?
• Comparing the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs for juvenile offenders.
• The impact of family dynamics on juvenile delinquency.
• The effects of mental health interventions on young offenders’ recidivism rates.
• Causes of racial disparities in the juvenile justice system.
• The link between substance abuse and juvenile delinquency.
• The influence of peer pressure on youth’s criminal behaviors.
• Psychological and emotional effects of juvenile solitary confinement.
• The impact of socioeconomic status on juvenile justice outcomes.
• The role of schools in preventing youth crime.
• The long-term effects of transferring juveniles to adult courts.
• Effective strategies for preventing juvenile delinquency.
• Rehabilitation vs. punishment: which is best for young offenders?
• How to address overcrowding and recidivism in the juvenile justice system?
• The disproportionate impact of the school-to-prison pipeline on minority youth.
• Pros and cons of raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction.
• Differences in treating male and female young offenders in the juvenile justice system.
• Addressing trauma in the juvenile justice setting.
• How does social media contribute to adolescents’ criminal behaviors?
• Examining the evolution of juvenile justice in the US.
• Juvenile justice policies: balancing minors’ rights protection and accountability.
• The influence of early childhood experiences on juvenile criminal behavior.
• The connection between juvenile delinquency and academic performance.
• Does family structure allow for predicting adolescents’ criminal behaviors?
• The role of the neighborhood in developing criminal intentions in youth.
• The link between mental health disorders and youth crime.
• The relationship between economic inequality and youth crime rates in cities.
• Youth’s gang involvement: Identifying risk factors and interventions.
• The effects of mentoring programs on reducing juvenile delinquency.
• The impact of parenting styles on the development of criminal behaviors in teens.
• The connection between adolescents’ immigration status and criminal behavior.

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StudyCorgi. (2022, May 10). 130 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topics & Research Questions. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/juvenile-delinquency-essay-topics/

"130 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topics & Research Questions." StudyCorgi , 10 May 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/juvenile-delinquency-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) '130 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topics & Research Questions'. 10 May.

1. StudyCorgi . "130 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topics & Research Questions." May 10, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/juvenile-delinquency-essay-topics/.

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StudyCorgi . "130 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topics & Research Questions." May 10, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/juvenile-delinquency-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "130 Juvenile Delinquency Essay Topics & Research Questions." May 10, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/juvenile-delinquency-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Juvenile Delinquency were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 27, 2023 .

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It’s F**ing Chaos: COVID-19’s Impact on Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice

• Published: 23 June 2020
• Volume 45 , pages 578–600, ( 2020 )

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• Molly Buchanan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8565-5449 1 ,
• Erin D. Castro 2 ,
• Mackenzie Kushner   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1382-4925 3 &
• Marvin D. Krohn 3  

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An early examination of the impact of COVID-19 on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice in America, this review provides initial scholarship to rapidly evolving areas of research. Our appraisals of these topics are made after nearly 2 months of national COVID-19 mitigation measures, like social distancing and limited “non-essential” movement outside the home but also as states are gradually lifting stricter directives and reopening economic sectors. We consider the impact of these pandemic-related changes on twenty-first century youths, their behaviors, and their separate justice system. To forecast the immediate future, we draw from decades of research on juvenile delinquency and the justice system, as well as from reported patterns of reactions and responses to an unprecedented and ongoing situation. As post-pandemic studies on juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice proliferate, we urge careful consideration as to how they might influence societal and the system responses to youths’ delinquency. Additional practical implications are discussed.

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Introduction

This paper reflects on the topics and patterns of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice within an unprecedented context of a global public health crisis. The COVID-19 outbreak reached pandemic status on March 11, 2020 and, as of the drafting of this manuscript, was deemed a “rapidly evolving situation” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC, 2020 ]. Around the same mid-March timeframe, responses began rolling out coast-to-coast, first at a crawling pace that soon felt like a sprint; the catchphrase “social distancing” morphed from a trending sound bite into increasingly specific protocols, stay-at-home orders, and closures of entire economic and social sectors. This paper considers the impact of these events on youths, their behaviors, and how we, as a system and society, respond to juvenile delinquency.

While no crystal ball exists for such matters, increasingly sophisticated research and theories across multiple disciplines have expanded our knowledge and understanding of risks and protective factors for delinquency. Subsequent results provide a growing evidence base as to how (and how not) to prevent or respond to juvenile deviance. It is with this evidence in mind that we forecast and forewarn about the impact of COVID-19 on juvenile delinquency and justice in America.

Our forecasts begin with an examination of the impact of measures taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on the prevalence and incidence of delinquent behavior. As many states begin phased reopening strategies and lift stay-at-home restrictions, speculation surrounding the effects of such changes on juvenile delinquency is increasing. During the height of the pandemic, for instance, strict stay-at-home orders limited individual movement to only that which was deemed “essential.” Such restrictions to individual movements have widespread consequences for youths and their potential engagement in delinquency. In lieu of more tangible, “real time” data estimating these impacts, we base our predictions on empirical knowledge and theories of juvenile delinquency. Our theoretical arguments integrate components and findings based in opportunity theories and changes to youths’ routine activities and time use, as well as aspects of youths’ peer associations and informal social control agents (e.g., caregiver monitoring, adult supervision).

It is imperative to also consider the impact of COVID-19 on the juvenile justice system, as contagious disease control should be the guiding factor in officials’ decision-making. Thus, we pivot our discussion towards the effects of the pandemic on the juvenile justice system, the youths it serves, and the essential employees who are tasked with its functioning. Knowing that juvenile justice system sizes, processes, and practices vary widely across localities (National Research Council, 2013 ), we anticipate jurisdictional variations in responses to COVID-19. To help us draw better-informed conclusions, we approach this topic from a “justice by geography” angle (Feld, 1991 ) and report findings from a basic state-by-state web search of agency responses. While jurisdictional nuances exist, our findings reveal key similarities in the fears and challenges brought about by COVID-19 and trends in protocols put into place since the outbreak. To summarize these changes and overall impact of COVID-19 in the words of an essential employee from the Northeast United States [U.S.], “It’s f***ing chaos” (M.B., personal communications, May 13, 2020).

From our analysis of what has occurred with juveniles and the justice system since COVID-19, we cautiously explicate ensuing predictions of what is likely to occur as sectors gradually reopen and additional social restrictions are lifted. Our appraisal and forewarning of how the system might respond after COVID-19 is informed by a long history of ideological to and fro that shapes (and reshapes) the juvenile justice system. Historically, we have seen how crises and moral panics (Cohen, 2002 ) can fuel public buy-in to views of juveniles as the enemy (e.g., superpredators (DiIulio, 1995 )). Even in times of declining delinquency rates, the mere confluence of crisis, conservative rhetoric, political climate, and media hype can entirely trump deep-rooted paternalistic approaches to youths (e.g., Get Tough era) (Bernard, 1992 ).

Lastly, through varied pursuits undertaken in the name of “child saving,” today’s juvenile justice system has the delicate task of balancing perceptions of public safety with trends towards prevention and intervention, all while not looking (or being) too soft on delinquency. In this paper, we consider how the current public health crisis may affect this balance. We culminate our review with evidence-based, theoretically-oriented recommendations that are couched in the belief that “most Americans will agree that our children are our greatest national resource” (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [OJJDP], 2016 , p.1). Our intention is for the system and society to keep these points in mind after the current pandemic crisis has passed.

Pre-Pandemic: A System and Population in Decline

Making predictions about COVID-19’s current and future impact warrants a brief look at the patterns of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice before the outbreak. Importantly, even before the pandemic, juvenile crime trends had dropped to historic lows (Feld, 2017 ). Overhauls of state-based juvenile justice systems are reflected in decreasing official estimates, which show system-wide reductions in the number of juveniles at all stages of the system (Hockenberry, 2018 ). Efforts include decreasing out-of-home placements while providing more community-based services and diversion programs (Lane, 2018 ), ensuring a larger percentage of youths receive alternative, community-based sanctions (Hockenberry, 2018 ).

Policing and Processing Juveniles: Opportunities for Diversion

Law enforcement, as the gatekeepers of an interconnected system, has the discretion to help shape youths’ futures and avoid further entrenchment in the juvenile system (Development Services Group Inc., 2018 ; Wilson & Hoge, 2013 ). Evidence reflects a steady reduction in juvenile arrest, down 74% from rates just two decades ago (OJJDP, 2019a ). Often as a last resort, law enforcement officers arrest youths and refer them to juvenile courts, yet, there are opportunities for informal warnings or for diversion into community-based services.

Similar to law enforcement, courts’ decisions to handle cases informally or formally can also impact youths’ entrenchment in the justice system. As of 2018, juvenile courts diverted 43% of cases to community-based services rather than more formally involving youths in adjudication processes (OJJDP, 2020a ). There is also a growing percentage of petitioned yet non -adjudicated cases that may require youths to meet certain conditions, such as drug counseling or community service, prior to full case dismissal (OJJDP, 2020a ). The trend in informal juvenile case processing parallels substantial revisions to the settings and services provided by juvenile diversion programs. These programs progressively reflect wider varieties of interventions, evidence-based practices, and models (e.g., risk/need/responsivity models [RNR], see Andrews, Bonta, & Hoge, 1990 ) and are increasingly offered in community-based, as opposed to institutional, settings (Hockenberry, 2018 ).

Confining and Releasing Juveniles

Progressive reductions in juvenile arrests has subsequently reduced the number of cases handled by juvenile courts, which were lower in 2018 than any other year for which these data are reported (OJJDP, 2020b ). Correspondingly, the number of detained youths dropped 42% since 2010 (OJJDP, 2019b ). Nevertheless, on any given day in 2018 nearly 195,000 youths were still detained in facilities across the U.S. (OJJDP, 2020b ). Relatedly, although probation remains the most common disposition for arrested juveniles, approximately one third (≈28%) of adjudicated youths receive out-of-home commitments (OJJDP, 2020a ). As of last report in 2017, there were approximately 43,500 juveniles institutionalized throughout the country (OJJDP, 2019b ). Across all offense levels, the median commitment length was 4 months; for youths committed as a result of technical violations (e.g., violating conditions of probation), the median length of confinement was about 2.5 months (Puzzanchera & Hockenberry, 2019 ).

Regardless of commitment length, youths’ success upon release depends on the quality of aftercare services and resources. The most successful practices for youths returning from facilities often entail collaborative, wraparound-style services. These services engage juveniles, their families, educators, community organizations and stakeholders, plus an extensive aftercare team. Teams may include probation or parole officers, as well as social service and/or local non-profit caseworkers. Evidence shows that the more comprehensive and higher-quality aftercare plan, the greater the reduction in longer-term juvenile correctional costs (Altschuler & Armstrong, 1994 ; OJJDP, 2020c ).

Altogether, juvenile justice reform efforts reflect the initial guiding principles of a separate juvenile system, which deemed youths as, a) fundamentally different from adults; b) resilient; and, c) amenable to treatment. Ongoing modifications of justice system responses to juveniles further illustrate a growing reach of scientific evidence on psychosocial development during adolescence and emerging adulthood (e.g., see Scott & Steinberg, 2008 ). For instance, we know that most youths still engage in some delinquency; with that knowledge, our system’s understanding of and reaction to those behaviors has evolved. This brings us to our next section in which we surmise the status of juvenile delinquency as a result of measures taken to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Mid-Pandemic: Juvenile Delinquency in the Time of COVID-19

Efforts to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 diagnoses resulted in ordinances that largely affected everyone’s day-to-day routines. Overnight, out-of-home activities deemed “non-essential” came to a halt; school campuses closed indefinitely and most classrooms went virtual. We predict that these pandemic-related ordinances, like stay-at-home and social distancing orders, have led to a decline in rates of delinquency. COVID-19 safety measures simultaneously reduced contact with peers and opportunities for crime while increasing surveillance via caregivers’ monitoring and supervision; each of these factors is empirically supported as impacting the likelihood of delinquency and is rooted in mainstream theories like routine activities (Cohen & Felson, 1979 ) and social control (Hirschi, 1969 ).

Perhaps the most anticipated changes to adolescent risk are the social connections and opportunities for delinquent behavior during COVID-19. Juvenile delinquency is often committed by small groups of like-minded individuals (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990 ; Haynie & Osgood, 2005 ; Reiss Jr., 1988 ; Warr, 2002 ), making delinquent peer exposure a main risk factor (Pratt et al., 2010 ). Whether youths seek out delinquent friendships or become delinquent as a result of those friendships is less important than the concept that delinquency is a social activity. For adolescents, simply being in the company of peers makes deviance easier and more rewarding (Osgood, Wilson, O'Malley, Bachman, & Johnston, 1996 ). Nationwide school closures for primary and secondary education have directly impacted the amount of time and exposure youths have with one another. Similarly, stay-at-home orders have further restricted many juveniles from interacting with those of proximal closeness in their own neighborhoods. Denial of these in-person contacts in either structured (e.g., school) or unstructured (e.g., leisure) time spent with peers (Hawdon, 1996 ; Haynie & Osgood, 2005 ; Hoeben, Meldrum, Walker, & Young, 2016 ) is likely to decrease individual proclivity for delinquency. Without peers to engage in activities with, the situational motivation and perhaps opportunity to engage in antisocial behavior is limited (Hawdon, 1996 , 1999 ).

Beyond the impact of these social limitations and time spent with peers, business closures, particularly of retail establishments, plus fewer pedestrians, serve to limit opportunities for crimes like robbery, burglary, and larceny. Routine activities theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979 ) would suggest that without available victims in public spaces, even a motivated offender may find it challenging to find the opportunity to offend. Similarly, the lack of movement in public spaces and increased presence of capable guardians through stay-at-home orders may make neighborhood prowling behavior more conspicuous, perhaps especially for juveniles given the concern over youths being asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19. With simply fewer opportunities for low-level street crimes that youths often engage in, we predict youths’ delinquency may additionally decline. Already, official reports suggest that home confinement in response to the COVID-19 outbreak brought about dramatic declines in person-to-person level crimes (Dazio, Briceno, & Tarm, 2020 ).

Lastly, social control theories (e.g., see Hirschi, 1969 ) suggest that parental supervision and monitoring are key protective factors against juvenile delinquency (Liu & Miller, 2020 ). School shutdowns, coupled with caregivers who may be working from home, furloughed, or recently unemployed as a result of COVID-19, implies that youths are under more adult supervision. Just like youths, many caregivers are confined to areas in or near their homes. Even employed essential workers are subject to the same local or state ordinances during the time outside of work. Such stay-at-home mandates further increase the likelihood that caregivers are aware of youths’ movements and activities. Even less attached caregivers are likely to know the whereabouts and activities of juveniles in their homes.

In sum, Osgood, Anderson, and Shaffer ( 2005 ) found that the confluence of peer presence, lax supervision, and unrestricted use of time was most conducive to increased likelihoods of delinquency. COVID-19 mitigation measures have impacted each of these factors, as well as decreased opportunities and increased guardianship; combined, the restrictions for opportunity and increases in surveillance during the height of the pandemic have likely contributed to major declines in official crime statistics (e.g., see Dazio et al., 2020 ).

Risks Compounded by COVID-19

As data become available they will be informative as to how the predicted declines trend across different demographics, including by race, socioeconomic status, or even geographically. In assessing the impact of COVID-19 on juveniles who are at risk for or involved in delinquency, we need to remain cognizant of sociodemographic factors that are directly relevant to both delinquency and disease. Again, we know that most youths engage in delinquent behavior (National Research Council, 2013 ); however, evidence repeatedly shows that certain youths are more likely to come in contact with the juvenile justice system (Lane, 2018 ; Peck, 2016 ).

Among the constellation of correlates known to influence youths’ risk and likelihood of system involvement, many circle back to concentrated poverty and disadvantage (Sampson, 2011 ; Shonkoff et al., 2012 ). Viewing juveniles and the justice system through the lens of the current public health crisis casts even more light on systemic social inequities and disparities in the privilege to avoid not only justice system contact (Peck, 2016 ) but also COVID-19 (Ahmed, Ahmed, Pissarides, & Stiglitz, 2020 ; Wright, Sonin, Driscoll, & Wilson, 2020 ). The epidemiological risk factors for justice system involvement are nearly identical to well-known social determinants of health; for instance, poverty, race, neighborhood characteristics, and access to adequate educational and preventive health resources (Owen, Wallace,, and Committee on Adolescence, 2020 ).

In short, we may all be battling the same COVID-19 storm but are not all sharing the same boat. This adage similarly applies to youths who are justice-system involved and find themselves under community supervision, detained, or committed amid the pandemic. System-involved youths tend to be a higher-risk population, often battling many storms; COVID-19 and its impact on daily life surely compounds these risks. In the next section, our attention turns towards this population and the impact of COVID-19 on the juvenile justice system, its practices and protocols, as well as the essential employees ensuring the system’s continued operation during the pandemic.

Mid-Pandemic: COVID-19 and the Juvenile Justice System

To explore common protocols and/or practices that emerged in response to COVID-19, we undertook an abbreviated web search for official reports by local and state agencies from geographic distributions across the U.S. Footnote 1 We also reviewed local or national media coverage and solicited anecdotal insights from personal communications with essential employees working in policing or other juvenile justice arenas. Footnote 2 While this research design may undermine generalizability, all trends and patterns discussed herein were reported across two or more sources or modes of communication; several jurisdictions reported similar protocols, changes, or innovations in response to COVID-19.

Reducing Confinement

Among the most frequently cited reactions to the pandemic was the critical need to reduce the number of youths confined to facilities. States and agencies accomplished this by simultaneously bottlenecking paths for new intakes (e.g., fewer arrests, technical violations) and clearing the way for avenues that facilitated earlier releases and increased use of alternatives to confinement. While we describe jurisdictional variations in the development and implementation of protocols in response to the pandemic, we also highlight commonalities observed across what are typically widely varying juvenile justice systems. To be sure, COVID-19 continues to present unprecedented challenges for all juvenile justice systems.

Confined Population Is Higher Risk

Juveniles, in general, are considered less vulnerable to symptoms of COVID-19 infection. Nevertheless, in order to promote proper social distancing and help “flatten the curve”, most settings where youths congregate closed indefinitely by late March (e.g., school campuses, childcare facilities). Yet, tens of thousands of juveniles remain confined and detained in facilities staffed 24/7 by rotations of essential employees. For these youths, the privilege of proper social distancing is virtually nonexistent. Worth noting, research shows that youths who are justice system-involved tend to be in poorer health and at higher risk for infection than youths who are not justice system-involved (Owen et al., 2020 ). For instance, a nationally representative study of youths revealed that juveniles who reported system contact in the year prior (e.g., from probation to commitment) were significantly more likely to report asthma or hypertension diagnoses than youths reporting no justice system involvement (Winkelman, Frank, Binswanger, & Pinals, 2017 ).

For reasons like these, juvenile advocates and justice-focused thinktanks (e.g., American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU]; The Sentencing Project) work to underscore the valid fears and concerns surrounding continued confinement of youths during a pandemic. For instance, reporting for The Sentencing Project, Rovner ( 2020 ) tracks daily fluctuations in numbers of COVID-19 testing and infections across the nation’s juvenile justice systems. As of May 15th, an estimated 415 confined juveniles and 477 employees were positive for COVID-19; similarly dated graphs of these data show infections were still on the rise (Rovner, 2020 ).

With many states not testing youths nor reporting diagnoses-related statistics, tracking efforts like the Sentencing Project’s highlight a consistent gap in the juvenile field: the lack of a state-by-state, national database on juvenile justice processing (Lane, 2018 ). Even for states with tech-savvy models that show much promise for more transparent reporting of juvenile justice data (e.g., see Florida Department of Juvenile Justice [FDJJ, 2020 ]), availability of new data is often lagged by months, thus, hampering attempts to report data in “real time”. Such numbers are especially relevant given the interwoven nature of the juvenile justice system, wherein changes and trends in one component (e.g., arrest numbers) will affect the others (e.g., detention numbers). As for the avenues taken for reducing confined populations, we begin with the changes to gatekeepers’ everyday practices.

Arrests & the Alternatives

Since COVID-19, officers in multiple jurisdictions confirm superiors ordering arrest be used only “as a last resort”, not only with juveniles but in all lower-level, non-felonious encounters (M.B., personal communications, May 15, 2020). A memo by the Youth Correctional Leaders for Justice [YCLJ] echoes this recommendation, requesting officers save arrest for “all but the most serious and violent charges” (YCLJ, 2020 ). As an example of the impact of such orders, a Massachusetts advocacy group, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, indicated in early April that juvenile arrests and calls to law enforcement about juveniles were “way down” (Fadel, 2020 ). Similar arrest trends were reflected across other state websites and media reports. This trend, however, is not necessarily new to law enforcement’s playbook for handling juveniles. Many law enforcement agencies, for instance, progressively expanded their use of informal diversion and reduced arrest with juveniles (outside of felony incidents) well before the COVID-19 outbreak. This sentiment was reiterated in personal communications with police officers from the Northeastern U.S. region (M.B., personal communications, May 13, 2020) and was further evidenced by the nationwide arrest reductions described earlier in this paper (e.g., see OJJDP, 2019a ). As such, declines in arrest during COVID-19 will reflect, at least in part, continued momentum from reform efforts deployed before the pandemic.

Until more data are recorded and made available, the national picture remains blurry. Still, based on patterns before COVID-19, along with mid-pandemic communications and reports, we predict that the data will reveal steeper rates of decline in juvenile arrest. The most recent civil citation data provided by FDJJ ( 2020 ) support this notion. Footnote 3 Exploration of these data reveal that, from February to March 2020, law enforcement’s community-based encounters dropped nearly 9% (see Appendix Fig. 2 ); when law enforcement’s school-based encounters with youths are included, this same month-to-month decline was near 30% (see Appendix Fig. 4 ). Footnote 4 Focusing on the February to March interval over the past 4 years, such declines in community-based encounters appear somewhat unprecedented; since 2016, on average, eligible youth contacts in March were 15.1% greater than February contacts (see Appendix Fig. 1 ). As numbers become available from late spring, summer, and fall 2020, and when secondary educational settings reconvene post-COVID-19, these data will be especially informative if they reveal similar declining patterns.

From Confinement to the Community

With fewer arrests comes fewer youths being admitted to detention facilities. In many states, administrators and agencies have ramped up efforts to process juveniles swiftly and to divert them away from confinement. To the extent that public safety permits, the goal is to maintain youths in the community and to not detain or commit them. Advocates have similarly called on prosecutors to facilitate release rather than detaining youths (YCLJ, 2020 ), along with calls on probation and parole to limit (or entirely end) revocations for technical violations and further reduce the number of confined juveniles. Such options are being explored nationwide by various agencies in response to COVID-19 (National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2020 ). The North Carolina Juvenile Justice Division, for example, promoted using alternatives to detention for youths with minor technical violations, in aims to further reduce the number of youths confined across their state (Kees, 2020 ). As alternatives, diverted youths might be placed on electric monitoring or house arrest or even have detainment deferred until after the pandemic crisis has passed (Kees, 2020 ).

Unprecedented Reduction Rates

Preliminary data suggests that advocates’ and experts’ call for expedited reductions in the numbers of youths confined have not gone unheard. From our web search, we found several states and agencies reporting new protocols permitting more expeditious release of confined youths. Reports of percentages of youths released over the one to two-month timeframe since the COVID-19 outbreak ranged from 25% (e.g., North Carolina and Illinois), to 30% (e.g., Maryland), to nearly 40% (e.g., Maine). Results from a recent survey of a subset of agencies active in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s [AECF] Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative showed significant drops in the number of detained youths across 30 reporting states. Over a month’s time, these reductions grew out of a confluence of fewer new admissions/intakes, plus a rise in the rates at which states were releasing youths from secure facilities (AECF, 2020 ). In a single month , these efforts produced a 24% drop in the surveyed sample’s detained population. Prior to COVID-19, it took 7 years (i.e., 2010–2017) to achieve the same reduction in number of detained youths (AECF, 2020 ).

To be sure, releasing youths to the community after confinement involves a certain infrastructure that is relevant to all agencies; however, the implementation of even barebones protocols must be scaled to meet the needs of very differently sized juvenile populations. Consider, for instance, the release of roughly 20 juveniles in Maine, which marked a 38% reduction in the state’s confined population, while a 30% reduction to Maryland’s confined population requires managing roughly 200 newly released juveniles across the state. Footnote 5 The impact of release numbers like these, while warranted and in the best interest of “flattening the curve” across the justice system, will surely reverberate through agency workloads and budgets, revealing needs that are not likely addressed for the coming fiscal year. Also, as agencies release unprecedented portions of their populations at a rapid pace, this begs the question, who decides who stays and who goes? This question segues to the next topics of jurisdictional differences in a) which agencies or stakeholders actually hold the authority to release youths and b) how hurried decisions to release youths (or not) are made. These topics naturally dovetail into the related areas of juvenile case processing and juvenile courts during COVID-19.

Authority and Protocols to Release

In states such as Illinois, the authority to release youths belongs to the juvenile justice agencies themselves, meaning release decisions require no direct coordination or formal involvement with juvenile courts. This targeted authority likely hastened implementation of COVID-19-related protocols for expediting early releases. Alternatively, in Colorado, statutory authority for release decisions typically lies with the parole board. However, recognizing potential delays due to COVID-19 closures and social distancing, temporary authority was granted to the Colorado Department of Human Services [CDHS]. The executive order further requires that CDHS review all non-violent youths’ cases and release all youths deemed eligible for early discharge (e.g., see Colorado Executive Order D 2020 034, 2020). Thirdly, in other states, like Maryland and North Carolina for example, youths cannot be released without formal juvenile court involvement. Since the COVID-19 outbreak forced court closures for all but emergency hearings, this bifurcated authority has likely delayed implementation of protocols to expedite releasing juveniles from confined settings. While court dockets have largely been suspended, hearings that must occur are most often held virtually. Footnote 6 Using North Carolina and Massachusetts as examples, local departments and agencies are using tablets for virtual proceedings with “on call judges” via videoconference. To expedite releases, staff in North Carolina are reviewing and flagging cases of youths “who might be appropriate for release” before bringing the cases for judicial approval (Kees, 2020 ).

Regardless of jurisdictional nuances in release authority, the factors considered in determining eligibility for early or emergency release due to COVID-19 appear relatively similar across agencies. Logically, youths not adhering to their treatment plans and/or progressing programmatically prior to COVID-19 were considered less eligible for early release. Along these same lines, youths showing progress and with release plans already in place were often the first discharged. As an example, Massachusetts’ Department of Youth Services revised their protocols so that all youths were considered for early release if their projected release to community supervision fell within a 3.5-month (i.e., 100 day) timeframe. Prior to COVID-19, it was standard practice in Massachusetts that youths within 1 month (i.e., 30 days) of their projected release were considered for early discharge (Fadel, 2020 ). Similar “fast tracked” discharges target lower risk, nonviolent youths, with decisions most often based off of youths’ progress, risks, needs, and the system’s ability to meet those needs in the community.

During such unprecedented times, it is even more integral for decision-makers to ensure a certain level of continuity and proper aftercare services. This entails confirming that supports are not only in place but also actually available and accessible with continuing operations during the pandemic. For instance, youths should have approved living situations that are safe and appropriate for placement. A continuum of care from social service agencies and caseworkers to educational supports and reunification-reintegration services should, at a minimum, be considered prior to release.

Redistributing Versus Reducing

This is where differences in the scale of wraparound services across different states becomes glaringly distinct; providing a continuum of care for 20 versus 200 youths released in the past month requires very different levels of attention (and funding). This point also serves to underscore the fact that reductions in confined populations are not absolute reductions across the juvenile system. Rather, fast-tracked releases to community supervision simply shift the load of system-involved youths from one end to another, albeit softer, end of the system. As such, recently released youths are likely finding themselves added to already overworked community-service and probationary caseloads. Existent caseloads (e.g., probation, parole) and their supervising officers are also adjusting to changes in practices and protocols. For example, technologies allowing virtual check-ins have become integral to managing community-based workloads and an influx of new community-based clients during COVID-19.

Much like the decision-making processes for eligibility for release from confinement, similar risk-needs assessments and procedures are guiding probation and parole decisions on who and where officers/caseworkers should focus limited resources and energies (National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2020 ). For example, as a result of the redistributed workload stemming from reductions in confinement during COVID-19, youths making adequate progress and nearing the end of probation/parole may be phased out earlier than expected. Additional lower risk clients who are identified as having adequate alternative supports (e.g., family supervision) may find themselves with fewer probation/parole conditions to meet. As an example, in some cases, caseworkers have reduced or entirely suspended official check-ins, home visits, or drug testing for clients classified as having fewer immediate risks or needs. Such classifications of youths’ risks and needs frees up staff and resources for clients with greater risk and needs (e.g., youths recently released). This is a key consideration for agency and state administrators, as managing caseloads on the front and backends of the system entails effectively allocating resources. Such resources include active employees who are essential to public safety as well as effective rehabilitation and care of system-involved youths, but who are also equally at risk of contracting COVID-19.

It’s F***ing Chaos

To be sure, the trending push to reduce facility populations as low as possible is aimed at reducing risk for youths who remain confined in congregate settings. For those youths, and the employees who supervise them, the designs of such settings make following health guidelines and social distancing measures nearly impossible. Confined youths in some states will fare better than others, as protocols prior to COVID-19 required separate sleeping quarters (e.g., no bunking) and private bathing routines (e.g., no “gang showers”). For youths in other states, however, who are perhaps confined to facilities with more residents or run by agencies without clear continuous-operation protocols, the spread of COVID-19, once present, becomes even more inevitable.

Fatigue and Disruption

Frontline, direct care staff working with juveniles report amplified fatigue among themselves and their juvenile clientele. The astounding disruption to daily routines, schedules, or milieus is intensified by fears of contracting COVID-19; these disruptions and fears affect everyone . As such stressors become amplified by ever-changing protocols, any seasoned system administrator, staff, and even longer-term resident can foresee the impending storm of disarray. To demonstrate this point, as the numbers of staff and residents diagnosed with COVID-19 rose across Louisiana juvenile facilities, residents responded in riots and plotted (briefly successful) escapes; several involved youths were later transferred (physically moved) to other facilities throughout Louisiana (Mason & McDowell, 2020 ).

To be sure, juvenile facilities are most often housing youths with extensive histories of trauma and related mental health issues (e.g., anxiety and depression); thus, in order to quell the storm, a semblance of structure and continuity must be reintroduced as quickly as protocol allows. The utility of highly structured, staff-regulated milieus in congregate justice-related settings is not only directed at safety and control. Such routines, consistency in programming, and scheduled therapeutic recreational activities also serve to reduce anxieties. They provide a sense of order in what is often an otherwise off-putting and (re)traumatizing, out-of-norm setting. Unfortunately, COVID-19 continues to affect all sectors of these settings.

Compounding Trauma

One particular concern is the increasing number of confined youths who show symptoms or are diagnosed with COVID-19. There are limited options for quarantining without mimicking conditions of solitary confinement; such isolation is known to have long-lasting deleterious effects on anyone, especially higher-risk youths (YCLJ, 2020 ). As such, many states have suspended accepting any new intakes (admissions) or allowing any transfers between facilities (e.g., California). In states still permitting emergency intakes, however, arriving youths must remain isolated for 14 days after admission. While we realize the necessity to reduce the spread of COVID-19 between residents and staff, such an experience for almost anyone, never mind a child, is surely nothing short of traumatizing.

Avoiding Staffing Crisis

A related concern, especially for administrators, continues to be if and when essential employees become ill (or quit) at rates that leave facilities understaffed. Many states implemented measures to mitigate these concerns early on. For instance, pursuant the COVID-19 outbreak, state and local non-profit agencies relaxed hiring protocols (e.g., fast-tracking background checks), reallocated budgets, and even altered shift and schedule styles (e.g., “firefighter-style” shifts of 48 h on/5 days off). Footnote 7 Again, in congregate settings, especially with juveniles, staff consistency and patience are key elements to maintaining the milieu. Shift mandates that are in the best interest of preserving employees’ stamina, patience, and general mental health are part and parcel of this balance; thus, implementing innovative scheduling structures is certainly preferable to covering absences with untrained, temporary, or ill-fitting replacement personnel.

Impacts on Education and Visitation

This “fit” is also pertinent to academic services for youths who are confined in facilities where access to teachers and formal learning opportunities were suspended indefinitely. Many agencies lack the technologies (or necessary budgets) that have rapidly emerged as the preferred alternative to face-to-face instruction. Instead, unqualified personnel are left to instruct and/or meet the very diverse educational needs of a higher-risk student population. Using New York as an example, staff were not equipped with the systems needed for remote/distance learning; thus, youths are provided with traditional paper folders and worksheets that are collected, corrected, and updated with new sheets on a rotating basis (Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators [CJJA], 2020a , 2020b ). Program staff report that the substitutes for “school” are not going over smoothly and both staff and youths are growing increasingly frustrated with the changes (CJJA, 2020a ). Unfortunately, outside volunteers who may specialize in instructional needs for youths with learning differences are also not permitted in facilities due to COVID-19 protocols.

Along with not allowing volunteers, we found nearly all states have also suspended visitation with family, loved ones, mentors, and advocates. Such visitation protocols are understandable given a pandemic; however, they were likely met with deep disappointment from both youths and their loved ones. Theories like social bond and general strain note the maintenance of social ties, especially family supports, as an integral element for treatment success, facilitating smoother reintegration post-confinement, and reducing recidivism (Altschuler & Armstrong, 1994 ). As such, if such changes were not met with alternative options like video chats or increased opportunities for email or phone use, the loss of in-person visitation almost certainly sparked fear and anxiety among residents. They are just as worried for their loved ones as everyone else. In sum, maintaining youths’ connections with the outside world is key.

Unfortunately, perhaps due to budgetary constraints or longstanding, outdated protocols, not all jurisdictions are equally accommodating at maintaining such ties. Using information from Ohio as an example, documents posted by the Department of Youth Services [ODYS] report that, in lieu of in-person visits with family during COVID-19, youths were permitted “two free , 5 minute” calls every 7 days over a 30-day period (ODYS, 2020a ). A few days later a revised document was shared with families, explaining policies permitting free video chats via the Zoom platform; however, the document underscored that free “Zoom video visitation will only occur during the COVID-19 emergency response” (ODYS, 2020b ). Days later, yet another letter to families announced that ODYS was “rolling out” video visitation through a private telecommunications provider, which would allow 20-min paid video visits (ODYS, 2020c ).

We recognize that using mainstream platforms like Zoom or FaceTime for anything justice-related or having to do with juveniles presents data security and privacy concerns (National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2020 ; NJDC, 2020 ). However, ensuring connections to supports like family and loved ones, regardless of a pandemic, is an integral resource for youths’ development, rehabilitation, and treatment. For a state agency to ignore decades of empirical evidence of a key element for improving youths’ success is alarming. Agencies should remove as many barriers as possible in the interest of maintaining interpersonal connections; requiring payment for calls and/or video visitation, especially during a pandemic, is clearly such a barrier.

Post-Pandemic: What to Anticipate as the Dust Settles

Given all of the changes brought about by COVID-19 protocols, we turn our attention to what we might expect for the system and for juvenile delinquency as things return to a new normal. As of this writing, social distancing practices are still recommended, yet certain sectors across states are gradually reopening. For instance, several states have reopened retail businesses, restaurants, and bars. Some states are gearing up for a controlled return of tourism by increasingly permitting hotel and rental reservations for the coming summer months. Many furloughed workers and employees who were operating remotely find themselves back at their workplaces and no longer at home. Yet, most school systems remain closed and the fate of summer camps and other structured time use for youths remains undecided. Furthermore, given the effect that the pandemic is having on the economy, there is the likelihood that some youths who would ordinarily be occupied by summer employment will be unable to find work. Some businesses, particularly in the service arena where youths commonly secure summer employment, have failed because of the pandemic (Kochhar & Barroso, 2020 ). Given such developments, along with theoretical supports further explicated below, as COVID-19 stay-at-home and social distancing restrictions gradually loosen, we anticipate that rates of juvenile delinquent behavior will increase compared to rates when stricter COVID-19 mitigation measures were in effect.

Expect Brief Delinquency Increase

First and foremost, from a routine activities perspective (Cohen & Felson, 1979 ), as stay-at-home orders are lifted, movement of suitable targets will slowly increase, thereby creating opportunities. Compared to the higher-than-usual guardianship levels during strict COVID-19 ordinances, guardianship levels are likely to decline as citizens gradually leave their homes and return to work. Relaxing restrictions will also facilitate movement among motivated offenders whose abilities to be in places where crime, particularly property crime, could occur were previously limited. Altogether, once businesses open back up and juveniles are permitted to move more freely throughout their communities, it is likely that the prevalence and incidence of delinquent behavior would rise.

Secondly, reducing COVID-19 restrictions will simultaneously decrease levels of adolescent supervision and increase opportunities for peer interactions. As caregivers return to work but other prosocial institutions, such as school and extra-curricular activities are still unauthorized, youths will be left with considerable amounts of unstructured and unsupervised time. As social restrictions are lifted and small group gatherings become permissible, such “free time” may increasingly be spent associating with peers. Osgood and Anderson ( 2004 ) and Osgood et al. ( 2005 ) suggest that it is the opportunity for unstructured time with small groups of friends that creates an environment where youths are most likely to engage in deviant activity. Thus, the confluence of reconnection with delinquent friends and the ennui of life devoid of prosocial opportunities, further suggest a rise in juvenile delinquency in comparison to behaviors observed mid-pandemic.

Lastly, we must also consider the anticipated negative impact on families’ financial situations, particularly for families with greater concentrations of disadvantage prior to COVID-19. As with most crises, the pandemic will most impact the families that can least afford it, thereby exacerbating already tenuous situations. Youths’ reactions to strain that stems from worsening family economic conditions may also affect their proclivity to engage in delinquency (Agnew, 2001 ; Sampson & Laub, 1994 ). For instance, past research has found an association between “rapidly increasing unemployment rates” after the Great Recession and youths’ externalizing behaviors (see Schneider, Waldfogel, & Brooks-Gunn, 2016 ). Based on reasons like these, we predict an initial spike in delinquency rates that reach similar or perhaps surpass levels observed prior to the pandemic.

Still, two important things must be considered. First, official reports of delinquency prior to the pandemic were showing the lowest arrest rates since such data were tracked. Even if we do observe an uptick in rates of delinquency soon after COVID-19, these rates would likely still be relatively low. Also, if law enforcement continues to arrest juveniles only as a “last resort,” official report data may not even reflect meaningful increases. Second, at some point schools will reopen and youths will again find themselves with less unsupervised time and in fewer unsupervised situations. Likewise, the economy will eventually right itself and employment opportunities for both adolescents and their families should return.

Thus, assuming the pandemic is no longer affecting closures and that the economy recovers, we would not anticipate any spike in delinquency to be long lasting. This latter consideration is paramount for how we move forward if and when delinquency rates increase. We must keep in mind that the near century of evidence overwhelmingly shows that there is no panacea or quick fix to juvenile delinquency.

Learn from the Past

As we all recover from a whirlwind of reprioritizing in response to COVID-19, for guidance as to how the system should (or could) respond to juvenile delinquency, we turn to observations made after the financial collapse of 2008. The ‘Great Recession’ placed severe constraints on state budgets, including those related to the juvenile justice system (Green, 2015 ). Cash-strapped officials and institutions were forced to rethink protocols, practices, and policies, especially if reforms promised more cost-effective results. Greater promotion of evidence-based practices materialized (Lane, 2018 ; National Research Council, 2013 ), partly as a result of similarly-timed collective shifts toward more restorative and rehabilitative ideals, especially as applied to juveniles (Ahlin, Gibbs, Kavanaugh, & Lee, 2017 ; Green, 2015 ). Such practices were also economically attractive, with far lower costs for community-based alternatives (e.g., $75 per day, on average) compared to confinement (e.g., $407.58 per day, on average; see Justice Policy Institute, 2014 ). As such, despite the 2008 financial crisis, juvenile arrests, court cases, and commitments continued patterns of decline started in 2005 (Puzzanchera & Hockenberry, 2019 ; OJJDP, 2019a ).

As a post-COVID-19 society emerges, the global and national pictures may be temporarily bleak. Nevertheless, we must avoid losing sight of everything we know about how to meet the developmental needs of youths at risk for delinquency, especially youths we know are greater risk for system involvement. We have seen ongoing implementation of evidence-based practices and reforms bring about the lowest numbers in decades for juvenile arrest and entrenchment in the juvenile justice system. It is both very possible and desirable that these efforts continue despite any impact of COVID-19. To successfully do so, however, we must avoid being swayed by potential moral panics or conservative rhetoric that may surface as a result of anticipated increases in delinquency. We must remind policy and decision-makers that we know less punitive, more rehabilitative, trauma-informed approaches work ; after getting through COVID-19, such practices will be ever more necessary for tomorrow’s youths.

COVID-19 as a Seminal Event for Ongoing Reform

Community-based diversionary practices show to be more cost-effective and safer for youths’ health. We hope to see even greater implementation of evidence-based practices that account for youths’ risks and needs by responding accordingly with proper services and resources in the community. We also recommend that we learn from the lived experiences of juvenile justice-involved youths, staff, and other essential personnel. By directly asking their insights on an unprecedented situation and lessons learned for the future, we can better support our juvenile populations and essential employees.

Secondly, we hope agencies and states increasingly recognize the harm that comes from fines, fees, and costs associated with maintaining connections with community supports and/or probation conditions. This has always been a concern for the most fragile families but is even more applicable during a time of such widespread unemployment (e.g., near 14.7% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020 )). Detaining youths on technical violations for nonpayment of fines or fees and/or charging for virtual visitation with family are just two examples of seemingly counterproductive practices.

Third, tracking the impact of ongoing reforms and related outcomes is integral. Thus, we echo prior recommendations (e.g., see Lane, 2018 ) and suggest broadened national efforts in recording and presenting juvenile justice-related data. Applying the deliverables coming out of the Model Data Project (Deal, 2018 ) would be a great start to making such data available to the public in a more timely and transparent manner.

On both a micro and macro-level, we face uncharted territory as we transition toward what remains, has changed, and will come after COVID-19. Just weeks prior to the pandemic outbreak, The Urban Institute released a report on lessons learned in closing youth prisons (see Harvell, Warnberg, Matei, & Mensing, 2020 ). In that report the authors note how seminal events can be catalysts for continued reforms (Harvell et al., 2020 ), bringing to mind the old adage: strike while the iron’s hot.

We view states’ varied responses to COVID-19 and the unprecedented speeds at which many agencies reduced confined populations and restructured community services as such seminal events. The timing is right for accelerating reforms that continue to be in the best interest of youths. These reforms include further reducing system-involved populations, closing less therapeutic facilities, and expanding implementation of evidence-based approaches in community settings. If nothing else, this pandemic has revealed how quickly decisions can be made and things can move when they really need to; we find no reason for such momentum to end simply as a result of the COVID-19 curve flattening.

Regions and states included Northeastern: Massachusetts (MA), Maine (ME), New York (NY); Southern: Florida (FL), Maryland (MD), North Carolina (NC); Midwestern: Illinois (IL), Ohio (OH); and Western: California (CA), Colorado (CO).

Personal communications were predominately with essential employees in the Northeast or Southern regions. To protect privacy, no contact and employer/agency names or identifying information are reported.

Civil citation (alternative to arrest) diversionary practices with Florida juveniles are tracked across the state and made publicly available (e.g., see FDJJ, 2020 ).

The near 9% decline in reported community-based contact is a difference of 742 youths versus 679 youths in February and March 2020, respectively. When compared to community-based contacts from February and March for the four prior years, February to March 2020 was the first time a decline is evident. When school-based encounters are included, the reported contacts declined from 1384 youths in February to 982 youths in March 2020. See Appendix for graphical representation of these reported data patterns.

The number of youths confined varies significantly across states, which all have differently sized juvenile populations, different ages of juvenile jurisdiction (e.g., 16 or 17), plus different reform efforts prior to COVID-19. For instance, the state of Maine’s entire population of youths aged 0–17 was just over 250,000 in 2018; Maryland, on the other hand, had a general juvenile population of over 1.5 million. Both Maine and Maryland confine youths at rates below the estimated national average (i.e., 138 per 100,000 juveniles; OJJDP, 2019b ); yet, these two states have starkly different numbers of youths confined, comparing 90 to 500 respectively (OJJDP, 2020b ).

The National Juvenile Defender Center [NJDC] weighed in on this emerging practice, underscoring that remote proceedings should be used only when “targeted at increasing youths’ liberty”. They also list valid concerns about using remote hearings for juvenile cases, such as issues with due process considerations and general barriers to attorney effectiveness in their juvenile clients’ cases (NJDC, 2020 ).

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice responded to COVID-19-related staffing concerns with an even more innovative approach by implementing rotating “teams” of staff who work together in direct care for 14 days (i.e., 2 weeks on) and then work remotely from home the following two weeks (i.e., 2 weeks “off”). This two-week timeframe was intentional to permit each “team” member time to quarantine should symptoms arise (CJJA, 2020a , 2020b ).

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FDJJ reported cases of eligible youth for civil citation 2016–2020; all months, community-based cases only

FDJJ reported cases of eligible youth for civil citation 2016–2020; January–April only, community-based cases only

FDJJ reported cases of eligible youth for civil citation 2016–2020; all months, all cases

FDJJ reported cases of eligible youth for civil citation 2016–2020; January–April only, all cases

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Buchanan, M., Castro, E.D., Kushner, M. et al. It’s F**ing Chaos: COVID-19’s Impact on Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice. Am J Crim Just 45 , 578–600 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09549-x

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Article contents

Juvenile delinquency in an international context.

• Katharina Neissl Katharina Neissl School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northeastern University
•  and  Simon S. Singer Simon S. Singer School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northeastern University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.567
• Published online: 30 June 2020

Juvenile delinquency is a global phenomenon, and interest in comparative studies of juvenile offending and society’s reaction to it has been steadily growing, despite the inherent difficulties of comparing juvenile justice processes across different regions. Both adolescence and the concept of juvenile delinquency are social constructs that vary by time and place. To know what constitutes a juvenile, or a delinquent act, requires detailed knowledge of a jurisdiction’s social, political, cultural, and legal history. International data in the form of officially recorded contact of juveniles with formal institutions are scarce, and they are often limited in their use for direct comparisons, due to divergent definitions and recording practices, or coverage of geographical regions. The United Nations Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) have the widest geographical reach, but lack transparency of definitions or verification. The World Prison Brief by the Institute for Policy Research at Birkbeck University of London provides prison trends around the globe, but only offers one indicator of juvenile imprisonment. The Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (SPACE) and the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics collect data on a range of custodial and non-custodial measures, and include detailed notes on national definitions, but are limited to Europe. The largest self-report study of youth is the International Self-Report Delinquency (ISRD) study, which is currently in its third wave that includes 40 countries across the globe.

Since 1990 the United Nations has developed international conventions, rules, and guidelines that govern the rights of children, particularly as they relate to juvenile justice, and these guidelines have shaped, and continue to shape, juvenile justice processes across the globe. Almost all regions in the world have provisions to treat juveniles violating the law differently from adults, but they do so in a multitude of ways. Not all countries have separate systems for juveniles and adults, and in some regions of the world informal reactions to juvenile law-breaking dominate, or coexist with formal juvenile justice institutions. Juvenile justice systems are often categorized according to their founding philosophies, between the poles of a welfare and protection approach on one extreme, and a crime control and justice approach on the other. However, such classifications mask important differences between countries, and can only be seen as broad generalizations. In order to capture the intricacies of existing systems, and compare them between jurisdictions, a localized approach to juvenile justice is needed. It is not sufficient to describe which legal orientations or traditions inform a system, but rather it is necessary to examine how these traditions (as well as global trends and pressures) are interpreted by local juvenile justice administrators. Comparative juvenile justice research that can contribute to public debates and to achieving better outcomes for juveniles across the globe needs to be localized, pay special attention to the specific cultural, legal, and historical context of the jurisdiction studied, and differentiate between the law in theory and the law in practice.

• juvenile justice
• juvenile delinquency
• comparative criminology
• globalization
• international criminology

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date: 17 April 2024

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Juvenile Delinquency Research Paper Topics

Juvenile delinquency is an unlawful conduct by a minor or a person whose age is below the statutory age of the majority. As the rate of juvenile delinquency keeps rising globally, more people are making efforts to find out the causes of juvenile delinquency, its impacts on society, and how it can be stopped. Students are also expected to find out a few things about juvenile delinquency since it affects them also. Although the concept of juvenile delinquency may not be interesting to students, they still have to research it in order to find out some possible solutions to it. We know quite well that students need assistance with juvenile delinquency research, and we have decided to help them with the most challenging part. We noticed that the most challenging part for students is the part where they have to select a topic for their research, so we have decided to help them with that part. We took our time to gather the best juvenile delinquency research paper topics, and we have listed all these topics below. We implore students to use these topics for their juvenile delinquency research papers. All the topics that we listed here are easy enough for students to research. Students who use these topics won’t need to do excessive research before they know what to write about their research papers.

• How to prevent juvenile delinquency
• How juvenile court should handle juvenile delinquency
• The primary cause of juvenile delinquency
• How government should handle the problem of juvenile delinquency
• Reasons why adolescents are more willing to commit crimes in the 21st century
• The role of juvenile sentencing
• What parents can do to solve the problem of juvenile delinquency
• How the environment can support juvenile delinquency
• Reasons why juvenile offenders need rehabilitation
• Reasons why juvenile offenders don’t need prosecution
• How peer pressure can force adolescents to commit crimes
• How poverty can worsen the problem of juvenile delinquency within a society
• How to reduce the rate of juvenile delinquency in the United States
• How can religious doctrines discourage adolescents from committing crimes?
• Juvenile delinquency among females
• How a bad family setup can increasing rate of juvenile delinquency
• The average academic performance of juvenile delinquents
• The connections between juvenile delinquency and mental illness
• How juvenile delinquents reintegrate with society after serving their time
• Circumstances that should warrant a severe punishment for a juvenile offender
• How to discourage kids from committing crimes
• How can celebrities discourage juvenile delinquency?
• The traits of a juvenile offender
• Can child abuse turn innocent kids into juvenile delinquents?
• The probability that juvenile offenders will re-offend as adults
• The connection between physical abuse and juvenile delinquency
• The effects of child delinquency on society
• The causes of juvenile delinquency
• How poor parenting can cause juvenile delinquency
• The relationship between juvenile delinquency learning disabilities
• How a bad family structure can cause juvenile delinquency
• How adolescents can avoid bad influences
• Female juvenile delinquency
• Delinquency prevention among adolescents
• Reasons why the rate of juvenile delinquency is rising globally
• The best way to put an end to juvenile crime
• Why juvenile offenders Should be tried in court
• Why juvenile offenders should go to juvenile prisons
• How to discourage adolescents from committing crimes
• The importance of delinquency prevention programs
• Juvenile correctional centers
• How juvenile services department can reduce the rate of juvenile delinquency
• Risk factors for juvenile offending
• Rights of juvenile delinquency
• The relationship between juvenile delinquency and family
• How the criminal justice system should address the problem of juvenile delinquency
• Why juvenile sentencing is important
• The juvenile justice system
• The link between adult penalties and juvenile delinquency
• The connection between juvenile delinquency and ineffective parenting
• The rate of juvenile delinquency
• The connection between single parenting and juvenile delinquency
• How violent video games can make adolescents commit crimes
• The connection between violent movies and juvenile delinquency
• How the government can discourage kids from committing crimes
• The connection between juvenile delinquency and home training
• What parents should do to stop their children from committing crimes
• How kids get the motivations to commit crimes
• Why the problem of juvenile delinquency should be taken seriously
• Why proper counseling can discourage many adolescents from committing crimes
• How should society respond to juvenile delinquency?

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Juvenile Delinquency: Prevention, assessment, and intervention

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Juvenile offending and anti-social behaviour are enormous societal concerns. This broad-reaching volume summarizes the current evidence on prevention, diversion, causes, and rates of delinquency, as well as assessment of risk and intervention needs. A distinguished cast of contributors from law, psychology, and psychiatry describe what we know about interventions in school, community, and residential contexts, focusing particularly on interventions that are risk reducing and cost effective. Equally important, each chapter comments on what is not well supported through research, distinguishing aspects of current practice that are likely to be effective from those that are not and mapping new directions for research, policy, and practice. Finally, the volume provides a description of a model curriculum for training legal and mental health professionals on conducting relevant assessments of adolescents for the courts.

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Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Continuum of Care for Communities

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's "Continuum of Care for Communities" describes a framework for youth justice services—and the dynamic and evolving nature of youth involvement in this continuum. This framework has been shown to improve youth outcomes and reduce reoffending, thereby advancing public safety. The graphic reflects the process for providing services to youth impacted at each stage. In an effective continuum of care, the majority of youth would be served through prevention and early/low intervention services. The number of youth served should decrease at each stage in the continuum.

Additional Details

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• The Associations of Maternal Warmth and Hostility With Prosocial and Antisocial Outcomes in Justice-Involved Adolescents
• An Assessment of Juvenile Justice Reform in Ohio: Impact on Youth Placement and Recidivism From 2008 to 2015

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Statutory Rights to Appeal Orders in Delinquency Matters: What, When, Who, and Impact on Juvenile Court

The right to appeal an order in a delinquency matter is established in G.S. 7B-2602 (Right to appeal) and G.S. 7B-2603 (Right to appeal transfer decision). These statutes do not identify every order that is entered in a delinquency action. Instead, there is a right to appeal after entry of specified final orders and any order transferring jurisdiction to superior court for trial as an adult. This post explains when there is a statutory right to appeal an order in a delinquency matter, who has the right to appeal, and restrictions on juvenile court jurisdiction while an appeal is pending.

The Right to Appeal a Final Order

Final orders in delinquency cases are appealable to the court of appeals. G.S. 7B-2602. Final orders are defined by G.S. 7B-2602 as orders that:

(1) find an absence of jurisdiction;

(2) in effect determine the action and prevent a judgment from which appeal might be taken;

(3) are orders of disposition after an adjudication that a juvenile is delinquent or

undisciplined; or

(4) modify custodial rights.

Appellate courts have acknowledged the right to appeal a dispositional order entered after a motion for review on a probation violation ( In re E.M. , 263 N.C.App. 476 (2019) , In re K.N.H. , 278 N.C.App. 27 (2021) ) and a dispositional order entered following a motion for review and extension of probation supervision ( In re H.D.H. , 269 N.C.App. 409 (2020) ). These orders of disposition, entered after the initial order of disposition in the matter, therefore constitute final orders that invoke the right to appeal.

Appealing the Adjudication Order

An adjudication order must be entered before a dispositional order can be entered. Generally, the adjudication order cannot be appealed before an order of disposition is entered because an adjudication order is not a final order under the statutory language. Matter of Taylor , 57 N.C.App. 213 (1982) .

There is one exception to this rule. An appeal of an order may be filed when disposition is not made within 60 days of entry of that order. According to G.S. 7B-2602, there is a right to file written notice of appeal of the order after 60 days have passed without disposition and within 70 days of entry of the order. This timeline is measured from the entry of the order that is being appealed. In re M.L.T.H. , 200 N.C. App. 476, 481 (2009) (interpreting G.S. 7B-2602). That means an appeal can be filed on days 61 through 70 after entry of the adjudication order when a disposition has not occurred.

Although this exception applies to any order, the court of appeals has acknowledged its legitimacy specifically in cases in which a dispositional order was not issued within 60 days of entry of the adjudication order and the appeal was timely filed within 70 days of entry of the adjudication order. In re Rikard , 161 N.C.App. 150 (2003) ,   In re J.F. , 237 N.C.App. 218 (2014) , In re D.A.H. , 277 N.C.App. 16 (2021).

Separate from this exception, appellate courts have routinely allowed and ruled on grounds for appeal of an adjudication order in the context of an appeal that was timely filed following entry of a dispositional order in the case. E.g. , In re A.O. , 285 N.C.App. 565 (2022) (vacating an adjudication order for failure to advise the juvenile of his privilege against self-incrimination before he testified at his adjudication hearing), In re J.U. , 384 N.C. 618 (2023) (holding that the petition met the statutory pleading guidelines and there was no jurisdictional defect), and In re W.M.C.M. , 277 N.C.App. 66 (2021) (holding that the colloquy between the court and the juvenile prior to the juvenile’s admission, the adjudication order, and the dispositional order were all sufficient).

Right to Appeal Orders Modifying Custodial Rights

There is no appellate law regarding the right to appeal an order modifying custodial rights in a delinquency case. It is not clear if the statutory language applies to modification of physical or legal custodial rights. The Juvenile Code defines a custodian in the context of a delinquency matter as “[t]he person or agency that has been awarded legal custody of a juvenile by a court.” G.S. 7B-1501(6) . This suggests that modification of custodial rights may apply only to legal custody.

At the same time, while the Juvenile Code uses that same definition of custodian in the context of abuse, neglect, and dependency matters ( G.S. 7B-101(8) ), the right to appeal custody decisions in those cases expressly excludes nonsecure custody orders and is limited to orders that change legal custody of a juvenile. G.S. 7B-1001(a)(4) . The absence of similar language limiting the right to appeal orders that modify custodial rights in delinquency matters suggests that the right to appeal in delinquency matters may apply more broadly to any order that modifies physical or legal custody. If that is the intent of the statute, the right to appeal any order modifying physical or legal custody would apply to secure and nonsecure custody orders (which are not otherwise final orders under the statutory language).

Entering Notice of Appeal

Notice of appeal of a final order must be given 1) in open court at the time of the hearing or 2) in writing within 10 days after entry of the order. G.S. 7B-2602. Notice in open court at the time of the dispositional hearing is only timely if the order issued by the court at that hearing is a final order.

Determining whether an order issued at disposition is a final order involves assessing whether the court addressed all the issues and recommendations for disposition at the conclusion of the hearing. The court of appeals examined this issue in In re D.K.L. , 201 N.C.App. 443 (2009) . In that case, the juvenile court only ruled on the conditions for the juvenile’s release from detention at the dispositional hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the juvenile’s attorney provided verbal notice of appeal. Later, a written order of disposition that entered a Level 2 disposition with placement in a wilderness program, restitution, and a term of probation was entered. No notice of appeal of that order was made. The court of appeals held that the order issued at the dispositional hearing was not a final order because it did not address all the matters included in the written order. Because the notice of appeal in open court was made before the court issued a final order, it was not timely, and the appeal was dismissed.

Limited Jurisidction while Appeal Is Pending

The juvenile court loses jurisdiction over the orders in the matter while an appeal is pending. The court regains jurisdiction to modify or alter any such order “[u]pon the affirmation of the order of adjudication or disposition of the court by the Court of Appeals or by the Supreme Court in the event of an appeal.” G.S. 7B-2606 .  Therefore, disposition hearings cannot be held while an appeal is pending.   J.F. , 237 N.C.App. 218 (applying to dispositional hearing when appeal of adjudication order pending). In addition, changes cannot be made to an order while an appeal of that order is pending. Rikard , 161 N.C.App. 150 (applying to adjudication order when appeal of that order is pending).

While the court cannot enter a disposition or modify existing orders while an appeal is pending, there is a limited ability for the court to enter a temporary order affecting the custody or placement of a juvenile pending resolution of an appeal. Under G.S. 7B-2605 , the release of the juvenile, with or without conditions, should generally issue in every case while the appeal is pending. However, if there are compelling reasons that are stated in writing, the juvenile court is allowed to enter a temporary order related to the custody or placement of the juvenile. This kind of temporary order can be entered on a finding that it is in the best interests of the juvenile or the State. The court therefore has the limited ability to issue a temporary custody or placement order while an appeal is pending.

The Right to Appeal a Transfer Order

The Juvenile Code provides authority for one kind of interlocutory appeal. Under G.S. 7B-2603(a), juveniles have a right to appeal any orders transferring jurisdiction of their juvenile matters to the superior court. A juvenile has ten days from entry of the order of transfer in district court to give notice of appeal. If notice is not given within ten days, the case proceeds as a superior court matter. If notice is given, the clerk must place the matter on the superior court docket, and the superior court must review the record of the transfer hearing within a reasonable time.

This interlocutory appeal must be pursued to preserve any issue related to transfer for appeal to the court of appeals following a conviction in criminal court. According to G.S. 7B-2603(d), “[t]he superior court order shall be an interlocutory order, and the issue of transfer may be appealed to the Court of Appeals only after the juvenile has been convicted in superior court.” In State v. Wilson, 151 N.C. App. 219, 226 (2002) , the court of appeals held that this means that issues arising from a transfer order must first be appealed to the superior court.

Who Has the Right to Appeal?

The proper parties for appeal are delineated in G.S. 7B-2604 . Appeals may be taken by 1) the juvenile, 2) the juvenile’s parent, guardian, or custodian, 3) a county, or 4) the State. The ability of the county and the State to appeal is limited under the statute.

The county may only appeal “orders in which the county has been ordered to pay for medical, surgical, psychiatric, psychological, or other evaluation or treatment of a juvenile pursuant to G.S. 7B‑2502, or other medical, psychiatric, psychological, or other evaluation or treatment of a parent pursuant to G.S. 7B‑2702.” G.S. 7B-2604(c).

The State may only appeal 1) an order finding a state statute to be unconstitutional and 2) an order terminating prosecution of a petition by upholding the defense of double jeopardy, holding that a cause of action is not stated under a statute, or granting a motion to suppress.  G.S. 7B-2604(b).

Other Avenues for Appeal

This post describes when there is a statutory right to appeal an order in a delinquency case. It is possible to appeal when such a statutory right does not exist. Rule 21 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure provides that appellate courts may issue writs of certiorari to allow review of trial court orders when no right of appeal from an interlocutory order exists. Rule 21 also provides that a writ of certiorari may be issued to allow review of a trial court order when the right to appeal has been lost by failure to take timely action. However, whether a petition for writ of certiorari is granted is discretionary with the appellate court and is based on a two-factor test: (1) the petitioner can show merit or that error was probably committed in the trial court and (2) extraordinary circumstances justify the granting of the writ. Cryan v. Nat’l Council of YMCAs of U.S ., 384 N.C. 569 (2023).

The court of appeals has exercised its discretion to issue writs of certiorari in delinquency cases. E.g. , In re J.V.J. , 209 N.C.App. 737 (2011) (certiorari granted when there was no right to appeal an interlocutory order), In re Z.T.W. , 238 N.C.App. 365 (2014) (certiorari granted when the right to appeal was lost by failure to take timely action), In re E.A. , 267 N.C.App. 396 (2019) (treating an untimely appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari), and In re J.G. , 280 N.C.App. 321 (2021) (certiorari granted when notice of appeal not properly given).

The post Statutory Rights to Appeal Orders in Delinquency Matters: What, When, Who, and Impact on Juvenile Court appeared first on On the Civil Side .

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NIJ FY23 Research on Juvenile Justice Topics

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With this solicitation, NIJ, in collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), seeks proposals for rigorous research and evaluation projects that inform policy and practice in the field of juvenile justice. Specifically, this solicitation seeks proposals for studies that advance knowledge and understanding in the following three categories:

• Providing community-based alternatives to youth incarceration, with a focus on very high need/risk youth who have traditionally been held securely.
• Sealing and expungement of juvenile justice records.
• Reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system.
• Research to assess dual system youth data capacity and service delivery across juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
• Analysis on the use of the valid court order exception.

Number of Awards: 3 Total Amount Awarded: $3,962,281

An Assessment of Dual System Data and Practices Capacity across Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems

Caring connections for youth: evaluation of a countywide pre-arrest diversion initiative to reduce racial/ethnic disparities, pathways to resilience: assessing the impact of juvenile justice reforms in oklahoma, similar opportunities.

• NIJ FY24 Research and Evaluation on Corrections
• NIJ FY24 Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes
• NIJ FY 2023 Invited to Apply - Funding to Support the Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes Program

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Reintegration With Resilience: Helping LGBTQ+ Youth Thrive After Confinement

LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual) youth leaving detention centers and other secure care facilities face a unique set of challenges that reentry programs can help address to increase the likelihood of successful reentry and reintegration. Young people who are LGBTQ+ are disproportionately represented within the juvenile justice system, accounting for 20 percent of all youth in juvenile justice facilities compared with 7 percent to 9 percent of all youth nationwide. Reasons may include higher rates of arrest due to discrimination, higher rates of substance use disorder, family rejection that can lead to homelessness, employment discrimination, and the criminalization of behaviors related to their sexual orientation or gender identity (e.g., survival sex work).

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• Programming for Older Youth in Juvenile Justice Facilities
• PbS Data Snapshot: What We Know about Length of Stay in Secure Facilities
• OJJDP News @ a Glance, January/February 2022

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This article has been retracted.

Psychological characteristics and health behavior for juvenile delinquency groups, fangbin song.

1 School of Design Art&Media, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210094, China

2 School of Law, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 211189, China

3 School of Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, 222005, China

Shenyu Zhang

4 College of Liberal Art, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210000, China

Associated Data

The data used to support the findings of this study are included within the article.

The related literature is studied to explore the psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency groups and implement their psychological characteristics model for the intervention of health behavior. Drawing on the results of current literature research, the Youth Psychological Characteristics Crime Prevention Questionnaire (YPPQ) was compiled, which can be simply referred to as the Crime Prevention Questionnaire. The whole psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency are analyzed by means of a questionnaire. Firstly, the YPPQ scores of different groups were compared, and a structured interview was conducted on the reasons for the crime of the problem youth group. Secondly, data analysis was carried out on the results of questionnaires and interviews, and the psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency were summarized. A “mixed hierarchical intervention model” was proposed to intervene in the mental health behavior of juvenile delinquency groups, and corresponding intervention strategies were also proposed. The results reveal that through the questionnaire survey, the educational background of juvenile subjects was generally distributed in middle school, the number of juveniles with primary school education was less than 30% of the juvenile delinquency groups, the middle school education accounted for more than 60% of the juvenile delinquency groups, and the approximate age was about 18 years old. The largest number in each group were adolescents with secondary school education, indicating the importance of psychological education on crime prevention for adolescents in secondary school. By comparing the YPPQ test scores of different groups, the adolescent group has higher test scores than the juvenile delinquency groups in five of the dimensions. Through the comparative analysis of the YPPQ test results of the juvenile delinquency groups, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group, it is found that the YPPQ has high reliability and validity, so its detection and evaluation are highly feasible. By comparing the odds ratio (OR) of each question in the YPPQ test between the experimental group and the control group, it is found that the psychological characteristics of the experimental group are significantly affected by family, school, and even society. Finally, it proposes a “mixed hierarchical intervention model” for juvenile delinquency to intervene in health behaviors. The purpose is to provide some research ideas for the study of the psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency groups and to put forward some suggestions for the prevention of juvenile delinquency and the intervention of health behavior.

1. Introduction

With the rapid expansion of China's economy and culture, the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency has gradually increased, and the education problems of juveniles have gradually been exposed, which has brought certain unsafe factors to the society, and even caused serious harm [ 1 ]. To prevent juvenile delinquency, the motives and psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency must be understood. Therefore, the construction of the psychological characteristic model of juvenile delinquent groups is extremely important; in addition, it is particularly necessary to intervene in the mental health of the juvenile delinquent groups [ 2 ]. Juvenile delinquency is a behavior that deviates from social norms and moral norms and violates the law, which has aroused the concern of the whole society. Many studies show that the causes of different individuals who commit crimes are different [ 3 ]. Psychological characteristics are the most vital individual difference variables and the area that researchers pay the most attention to. Therefore, the predictive evaluation of the psychological characteristics of juvenile citizens' criminal tendency and the screening of people with psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency is directly related to the stability of China's social order [ 4 ].

The research on the psychological characteristics of traditional juvenile delinquency groups has been difficult to meet the requirements of juvenile health cultivation. Some scholars have done some research on psychological quality testing. Guided by theories of mental health and the quality of Chinese adolescents' mental health, an online mental health assessment has an established system for primary and secondary schools, providing schools, teachers, and parents with a platform to better observe students' mental health. Relatively stable environmental factors influencing adolescent internalization problems are screened. Taking environmental factors as independent variables, the adjustment mechanism of adolescents' psychological traits affecting adolescents' internalization problems is explored, and ultimately, adolescents' psychological traits and the indicators of internalization problems are obtained [ 5 ]. Rodriguez-Ayllon et al. explored the relieving effects of different exercise intervention programs on adolescents' psychological stress and the characteristics of changes over time. Many students were used as subjects, and three kinds of intervention programs lasting 16 weeks were used to test the relieving effect on adolescents' psychological stress [ 6 ]. Lee et al. used a two-factor model to revise and test college students' psychological quality measurement tools [ 7 ]. The research literature found that there are few studies on the detection of adolescents' psychological quality, and the content urgently needs to be improved and supplemented. In the face of the group characteristics of juvenile delinquency, it is undeniable that the current law not only strengthens the protection of juveniles but also strengthens the governance of juvenile delinquency. For example, Amendment to the Criminal Law (11) lowers the age of criminals [ 8 ]. Wang et al. analyzed the motivation of juvenile delinquency from the perspective of juvenile delinquency psychology and theoretical basic knowledge and proposed some preventive measures for juvenile delinquency psychology [ 9 ]. Baglivio et al. studied the importance and value of juvenile delinquency correction and conducted a theoretical analysis of the psychological characteristics and core incentives of juvenile delinquency [ 10 ]. The governance of juvenile delinquency from a legal perspective will undoubtedly help strengthen external governance, but the deep-seated problem is the “internal problems” reflected in juvenile delinquency, such as the types of juvenile delinquency and the psychological characteristics of the criminal groups formed by the types. It still needs to be further explored [ 11 ]. From the point of juvenile delinquency psychology, crime prevention research can not only form a warning effect of prevention but also can timely intervene in the healthy behavior of juveniles through the construction of a criminal psychological characteristic model, to construct crime prevention at the level of juvenile's healthy behavior.

After the literature is fully analyzed and reviewed, the psychological characteristics of the juvenile delinquency groups are studied. First, the questionnaire of YPPQ is compiled according to the standard of questionnaire preparation and referring to the research results of existing literature. Then, comparing the YPPQ scores of different groups and the odds ratios (OR) values of different groups in different dimensions, the correlation between the dimensions of the scale and the interview form is analyzed, and the results of the OR values of the scales in different groups are discussed. The data is analyzed in detail through mathematical statistics, the types and characteristics of juvenile delinquency are clarified, and different criminal psychological characteristics are further excavated and classified, to construct a criminal psychological characteristic model. At last, the health behaviors of the juvenile delinquency groups are intervened in order to effectively prevent juvenile delinquency.

2. Research on Psychological Characteristics of Juvenile Delinquency Groups

2.1. research objects.

The research objects of this study are divided into the experimental group and the control group. The research objects of the experimental group are juvenile offenders from a local juvenile detention center. In addition, the research objects of the experimental group also include adolescents with psychological problems in school psychological tests. The control group are the adolescents of the normal youth group. The number of research objects is 300. The education they receive is from primary school to junior college, and their age is around 18 years old. After the advantages of the experimental group and the control group are analyzed, the juvenile offenders are divided into the recidivism group and the nonrecidivism group.

2.2. Research Methods

The research test is carried out by a combination of the literature research method and questionnaire survey method. The questionnaire survey adopts the procedure of questionnaire preparation, draws on the existing research results, and compiles the YPPQ. The scale has 30 questions, and strict reliability and validity tests are carried out. The test results show that the questionnaire meets the psychometric standards [ 12 ].

The scale is used to test the psychology of the juvenile delinquency groups, in the form of written tests [ 13 ]. The scale covers rebellious society, family problems, school behavior, social cognition, legal concepts, impulsive tendencies, anger, and explicit hostility [ 14 ]. The subscales are symbolized by ANT, FAM, SCH, SOC, DQ, VIO, ANG, and HOS [ 15 ]. In addition, structured interviews are conducted to gain a more specific understanding of the psychological state of the problem youth group. The content of the interview involves 8 dimensions, including the growth environment, the family situation, impulse, antisocial, bad records, informed person evaluation, suicide, and self-evaluation [ 16 ]. Each test item is specifically operated by psychological professionals. Before the test, unified guidance is given to explain the test purpose, meaning, and requirements to the subjects. Finally, the interview results of the problem youth group are input into the computer for coding. The contents of YPPQ are exhibited in Table 1 .

The contents of YPPQ.

2.3. Statistical Survey

In this study, a total of 300 test questionnaires are distributed and 295 are recovered, with an effective recovery rate of 98.33%. Five invalid questionnaires are excluded, and 290 valid questionnaires are finally obtained, with an effective rate of 96.67%. The scores of the valid questionnaire are statistically analyzed, and SPSS25.0 software is used for detailed analysis. In addition, the scores of the interview and the questionnaire of the problem youth group also need descriptive statistical analysis. In this study, the reliability and validity of the YPPQ are tested by using Cronbach's α coefficient to test the reliability of the questionnaire [ 17 ], and it is used to test the consistency of all items or the total scale of each factor in the scale. Cronbach's α coefficient of the questionnaire is 0.93, and the reliability of the questionnaire is very high. For the validity of the scale [ 18 ], Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's test are used. The KMO value is between 0.9 and 1 [ 19 ], indicating that there is a strong correlation between variables, and the variables are suitable for factor analysis. The Bartlett test is significant ( p < 0.05), and the questionnaire is highly valid. The way to test the moderating effect using SPSS software is as follows: first, the observed values of the independent and moderator variables are normalized, and the product term is constructed. The purpose of this is to reduce the multicollinearity problem among the variables in the regression equation. Then, the control variable, independent variable, moderating variable, and product term are put into the multivariate hierarchical regression model and the dependent variable in turn to test the moderating effect.

3. Research Results on Psychological Characteristics of Juvenile Delinquency Groups

3.1. comparison of yppq scores of different groups.

The general statistical results of different groups of adolescents are shown in Figure 1 .

General statistics of different groups of adolescents ((a) education and (b) age).

The subjects of this study are divided into three groups: the juvenile delinquency group, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group. Figure 1(a) shows descriptive statistics on the educational background of the three groups of subjects. Among the juvenile delinquency group, secondary school education accounted for more than 60%, followed by primary school education. The majority of the delinquency among the problem youth group are also middle school students, followed by high school students. High school students have the highest crime rate among the normal youth group, followed by middle school students. Figure 1(b) demonstrates the ages of the three groups of research subjects, the ages are relatively similar, and the approximate age is about 18 years old. Although the age of adolescents is the closest to that of adults, their psychological states are not mature. And there are some differences between their psychological age and physiological age, which leads to insufficient understanding of themselves and easy deviant behaviors of these adolescents.

The scores of the YPPQ test of different groups and the results of the structural interview of problem youths are shown in Figure 2 .

Scores of the YPPQ test of different groups of adolescents and the interview on problem youths ((a) YPPQ test and (b) structural interview results of problem youths).

Figure 2(a) denotes the crime test scores of the three groups of research subjects in different dimension subscale items, and Figure 2(b) refers to the cause statistics of the three groups of psychological disorders for the problem youth group, including roughly eight aspects. Specifically, it covers impulsive personality problems, family environment problems, antisocial personality problems, living conditions problems, bad records problems, self-evaluation, insider evaluation, and suicide. The results of the YPPQ test signify that the juvenile delinquency group and the problem youth group have similar scores in each dimension of the scale, and the problem youth group has higher test scores in five of the dimensions than the juvenile delinquency group. And the scores of the two groups are significantly higher than that of the normal youth group, illustrating that the probability of crime is high. The normal youth group has the lowest scores in each dimension of the scale, with the lowest score of SCH and the highest score of HOS. The lower the score, the lower the probability of committing a crime. To explore the root causes of psychological disorders in the problem youth group, structured interviews are conducted in this study. The interview results show that the proportion of adolescents who have impulsive personality is close to 80%, that the proportion of adolescents who have antisocial personality problems is more than 60%, that the proportion of adolescents who have family environment problems is close to 70%, that the proportion of adolescents who have living situation problems is close to 35%, and that the proportion of adolescents who have bad records is more than 20%. The interview results are compared with the test results, and the comparison shows that this psychological test has a good effect on improving the psychological states of adolescents.

3.2. OR (Odds Ratio) Values of Different Groups in Different Dimensions

The OR values of different groups of adolescents and the normal youths in SCH and FAM scales are shown in Figure 3 .

OR values of different groups of adolescents compared with normal youths in SCH and FAM scales ((a) OR values in SCH scale and (b) OR values in FAM scale).

The juvenile delinquency group is divided into the recidivist group and the nonrecidivist group to make a more detailed analysis of the differences among the juvenile delinquency group, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group. These two groups and the problem youth group form the experimental group. The experimental group is compared with the normal youth group. The test results of the SCH and FAM scales show that the OR values of the experimental groups and the normal youth group on each question in the SCH scale are all greater than 1, which can explain the seriousness of the problems in the experimental group.

Similarly, the OR values of the FAM scale of the recidivist adolescents group, nonrecidivist adolescents group, problem youth group, and normal youth group show that the OR values on many questions are greater than 1. It cannot be ignored that the OR values of the recidivist group on question 9 are less than 1, while the OR values of the nonrecidivist group on questions 1, 5, and 9 are less than 1.

The OR values of different groups and normal group in the VIO and ANT scales are shown in Figure 4 .

OR values of different groups of adolescents in VIO and ANT scales compared with normal youths ((a) OR values in VIO scale and (b) OR values in ANT scale).

Figure 4(a) shows the OR values of different groups of adolescents compared with normal youths in the VIO scale. It shows that most OR values of the recidivist group, nonrecidivist group, problem youth group, and normal youth group are greater than 1 in the VIO scale. However, it is not difficult to see that the OR value of the recidivism group on question 8 is less than 1. Figure 4(b) shows the OR values of different groups of adolescents in the ANT scale compared with normal youths. The OR values of the recidivism adolescents group, the nonrecidivism adolescent group, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group in the VIO scale are greater than 1. Similarly, the OR value of the recidivism group on question 6 is less than 1, and the OR value of the nonrecidivism group on questions 3 and 5 are less than 1.

The OR values of different groups of adolescents and normal youth in DQ and ANG scales are shown in Figure 5 .

OR values of different groups of adolescents in DQ and ANG scales compared with normal youths ((a) OR value in the DQ scale) and (b) OR value in the ANG scale).

Figure 5(a) shows the OR values of different groups of adolescents in the DQ scale compared with normal youths. It can be observed that most OR values of the recidivism adolescents group, the nonrecidivism adolescents group, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group in the VIO scale are greater than 1. However, it can be found that the OR values of the recidivism group on question 3 are less than 1. Figure 5(b) shows the OR values of different groups of adolescents compared with normal youths in the ANG scale. It can be observed that the OR values of the recidivism group, the nonrecidivism group, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group in the VIO scale are all greater than 1. Unfortunately, the OR values on all the questions in the scale are less than 1.

The OR values of different groups of adolescents and the normal youth group in the HOS and SOC scales are shown in Figure 6 .

OR values of different groups of adolescents compared with normal youths in the HOS and SOC scales ((a) OR values in the HOS scale and (b) OR values in the SOC scale).

Figure 6(a) shows the OR values of different groups of adolescents compared with the normal youths in the HOS scale. It can be observed that the OR values of the recidivist adolescents group, the nonrecidivist adolescents group, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group in the VIO scale are greater than 1. There is no question whose OR value is less than 1 in the HOS and SOC scales. Figure 6(b) shows the OR values of different groups of adolescents compared with normal youths in the SOC scale. It can be observed that most OR values of the recidivism adolescents group, the nonrecidivism adolescents group, the problem youth group, and the normal youth group in the VIO scale are greater than 1, and the OR values of the recidivism adolescents group and the non-recidivism adolescents group are less than 1.

3.3. Correlation between the Scale and the Interview

The results of the correlation analysis of each dimension of the scale and the interview are shown in Figure 7 .

Results of correlation analysis of the scale and the interview.

In Figure 7 , SOC stands for Social Cognitive Scale, HOS refers to Overt Hostility Scale, ANG means Anger Out of Control Scale, DQ shows Legal Concept Scale, ANT indicates Antisocial Scale, VIO denotes Impulsive Tendency Scale, FAM illustrates Family Problems Scale, and SCH demonstrates School Behavior Scale. It can be seen from the correlation analysis results of each dimension of the different dimension scale and each dimension of the interview table. The correlation analysis results of each dimension of the different dimension scales and each dimension of the interview form show that the SCH scale has a significant correlation with the two questions of “bad records” and “family atmosphere” in the interview. The FAM scale is significantly correlated with the two questions of “bad records” and “impulse control” in the interview. The VIO scale, the SOC scale, and the ANT scale have no significant correlation with each dimension of the interview. The DQ scale is significantly correlated with the two questions of “impulse control” and “bad records” in the interview. The ANG scale is significantly correlated with the three questions of “family atmosphere,” “antisociety,” and “bad records” in the interview. The HOS scale is significantly correlated with the question of “impulse control” in the interview.

3.4. Discussion on the Results of OR Values of Different Groups in the Scales

The OR value is a commonly used indicator of epidemiology, which reflects the risk of a certain exposure factor for disease [ 20 ]. In this study, it is used to reflect the risk of test questions and measurement content for juvenile delinquency. If the OR values of most test questions in this scale are greater than 1, illustrating the content of the scale has a high correlation, and these test questions can better predict the tendency of juvenile delinquency [ 21 ]. However, there are also some test questions whose OR values are less than 1, indicating the ability of these test questions to predict juvenile delinquency needs to be further improved [ 22 ]. The test questions with fewer advantages are shown in four situations.

First, the ORs of recidivists and problem adolescents are relatively large, while those of nonrecidivists are relatively small. This may be because these test questions have the characteristics of violence or bad behavior habits. A nonrepetitive offender is usually crime of passion. They may not have long-term violent habits. Therefore, the recognition rate of these items is low or there is no significant difference from the normal group. Second, the OR values of the recidivism youth group are smaller. The reason may be that the traits measured by these questions reflect the lighter criminal tendencies. For recidivists, the recognition rate is closer to the normal group. Third, the OR values of the recidivism experimental group are high, and the recognition rate of the problem youth group is low. It could be that these tests reflect a high level of criminal tendencies, which is not suitable for young people with psychological problems. However, these problems are very necessary in psychological tests, which can effectively monitor teenagers with serious criminal tendencies. Fourth, the OR values of the three groups of crime tendency are low, which may be because the content is not suitable, and it needs to be adjusted. In general, in addition to external factors, juvenile delinquency also has some major internal factors, such as lack of self-control, the formation of a bad ego, and the influence of media and social structure, which may constitute juvenile delinquency. Therefore, society, schools, and families must play a full role in preventing crimes.

3.5. Analysis of the Psychological Characteristics of Juvenile Delinquency Groups

3.5.1. analysis of the basic characteristics of juvenile delinquency.

Juvenile delinquency has universal physical and psychological characteristics [ 23 ]. It will be explained from the two aspects of crime subject and crime method. The details are displayed in Figure 8 .

Basic characteristics of juvenile delinquency.

In Figure 8 , from the perspective of criminal subjects, the age of crime is getting younger and younger, and the educational level is generally low. Another large proportion of juvenile delinquency appears in those who enter society prematurely. They are driven by social material desires at the school-appropriate stage, and they skip classes and drop out of school without completing their education. At the same time, adolescents are affected by various factors of information diversification, resulting in psychological and physical precocious puberty. From the perspective of the repetition of the criminal cycle, the same person has two or more criminal experiences, and the most obvious feature is a continuous crime. From the perspective of crime methods, juvenile delinquency is violent and brutal, and it is mostly manifested as intentional homicide, intentional injury, robbery, explosion, and crowd fights. The main reason is that psychology is not yet mature, and then, the irrational violent crime is carried out. More than half of the crimes belong to joint crimes, which are induced by external situations, with simple motives and prominent motives of greed.

3.5.2. Analysis of Psychological Characteristic Model of Juvenile Delinquency

After sorting out, it is divided into the following psychological characteristics models of delinquency.:

• Rebellious psychology of juvenile delinquency groups: in the growth stage, adolescents often have certain rebellious psychology [ 24 ]. Due to the “processing” of various factors such as family, school, and society, their psychology has become distorted, and eventually, they will go on the road of breaking the law and committing crimes. There are major problems in family education, and parents' long-term criticism and accusations make them form bad characters [ 25 ]. In terms of school education, teachers treat them differently according to their grades, which leads to deviations in the education method. It makes students feel pessimistic and misanthropic and develops bad characteristics such as arrogance, self-will, and impulsiveness. As for the students themselves, they are prone to give up on themselves, become depressed, and are easily influenced by the criminal subculture and embark on the road of illegality [ 26 ]
• Weak awareness of the rule of law among juveniles: through the investigation of the social environment of juvenile delinquency, it is found that such people will do anything to resolve conflicts and lack the concept of the rule of law [ 27 ]. It is mainly affected by its growing environment, resulting in a weak legal concept. In the process of educating young people, only moral education is emphasized and the importance of legal education is ignored [ 28 ]
• Teenagers' imitation and curiosity: juvenile delinquency groups are still at the undefined stage in their life. The juvenile delinquent group is in the unsettled stage in all aspects, easily influenced by bad culture, driven by curiosity, tendency, and imitation, which increases the probability of imitating criminal incidents [ 29 ]. In the context of the development of the Internet, teenagers' online morality has not been fully paid attention to by the family, society, and schools, resulting in the lack of online morality. The impact of Internet subculture has adverse effects on adolescents [ 30 ]. Therefore, creating a clean and green Internet environment for teenagers should become one of the directions of the healthy development of the Internet in the future
• Teenagers' comparing psychology: because family and school education have not strengthened the guidance of students' comparison psychology, this kind of psychology has arisen among young people. Driven by it, teenagers will use illegal and criminal means to obtain the things they want [ 31 ]

By sorting out the psychological formation mechanism of the juvenile delinquent group, it is found that the psychological characteristic model is mainly composed of family and school. Families are responsible for educating teenagers. Schools are an important place for them to learn knowledge, as well as moral and legal education. Schools should focus on moral education and enhance the weight of legal education.

4. Intervention on Psychological Health Behavior of Juvenile Delinquency Groups

Through the above types of juvenile delinquency and the psychological characteristics, it can be found that the ultimate cause of juvenile delinquency is the behavior of adolescents, and the intervention mechanism for their behavior can help to construct a “mixed hierarchical intervention model.” Since juvenile delinquency is the result of the combined action of multiple factors, it is not realistic to unilaterally intervene in the development of the health behavior of adolescents. Therefore, the intervention of adolescent health behavior should be intervened through family, school, and society [ 32 ]. The mixed hierarchical intervention model is expressed in Figure 9 .

The mixed hierarchical intervention model.

Firstly, at the family level, parents should communicate with adolescents with a high level of empathy. Since parents and adolescents are in different age groups, there are many differences in their outlook on life, values, and world views. Consequently, to make adolescents have healthy psychology and healthy behavior, parents should act like people who have empathy with teenagers in family education, which enables parents to understand teenagers' behaviors in family education. The education developed from this is an education of communication and cooperation, which enables young people to feel that their parents communicate with them as a kind of friend and form a “virtual peer” identity with their parents. They can communicate with their parents when their hobbies need financial support, conflict with classmates, and have potential psychological comparisons, so as to avoid unhealthy behaviors driven by unhealthy psychology, and eventually embark on the road of crime.

Secondly, special education should be targeted according to the types of schools, such as special education in vocational schools or alternative schools and comprehensive schools. On the one hand, adolescents should have a sense of security in school life and learning, instead of feeling depressed. On the other hand, different types of schools should be targeted at different groups of young students with different educational methods. School education should strengthen moral education and law education, enhancing the legal concept of young students.

Finally, an overall measure conducive to the protection of adolescents should be formed by strengthening the relationship between network governance and community guidance. In terms of network governance, it is necessary to integrate the government network prevention and control office, the network technology platform, and Internet practitioners to strengthen the network ecology, forming the youth network model. In addition, the Internet access of adolescents should be limited, and the network incentives affecting youth crime should be blocked. Community guidance should be strengthened by paying visits and understanding the growth of teenagers so that the mental health of teenagers can be known about and their subhealth behavior can be corrected timely.

In short, the construction of family, school, society, and other multilevel mixed intervention models can predict the psychological health of adolescents and correct their healthy behavior timely. It also promotes and protects the psychological health of adolescents through prevention and treatment and provides the targeted intervention measure of health behavior of adolescents.

5. Conclusion

The objectives are to pay attention to the mental health of juveniles, study the psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency groups, implement their psychological characteristics model on this basis, then propose healthy behavior intervention strategies, and finally effectively help juvenile delinquency groups to improve their mental health problems, so as to achieve the purpose of preventing juvenile delinquency. On the basis of literature analysis, this research firstly compiled the YPPQ, and the structured interview content of the problem youth group was set up. Secondly, the questionnaire results and the interview results were unified for data processing, the correlation was studied, and the psychological characteristics model of juvenile offenders was constructed. Finally, the intervention strategy of healthy behavior was proposed. The survey results manifest that the psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency groups are rebellious and have weak awareness of the rule of law, imitation, curiosity, and comparison. These are all momentous factors that induce juvenile delinquency. The “mixed hierarchical intervention model” is further proposed, which should focus on multilevel, multiangle, and focused interventions on adolescents' health behaviors through families, schools, and society. There are still some deficiencies. Due to the influence of objective factors, the number of research objects is limited, and the generality of the data needs to be strengthened. The development direction of future research is to continue to improve the questionnaire scale, so as to study the psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency more generally and accurately. The advantage of this research lies in that on the basis of predecessors, the YPPQ was compiled to quantitatively analyze the psychological characteristics of juvenile delinquency from different dimensions and further propose the intervention model of healthy behavior.

Data Availability

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Authors' Contributions

Fangbin Song and Ruihua Li are co-first authors.

Buder Center grant to bolster training, support

The  Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies  at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, in collaboration with the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), has received an $880,840, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to bolster training and support systems for Native American communities, with a specific focus on child protection.

The  grant comes from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and will fund the Native Child Advocacy Studies project.

Led by scholars from the Buder Center and UMSL’s Child Advocacy Studies Program, the project seeks to enhance and expand the development of child protection professionals within Native American communities. The project’s goal is to broaden the skill sets of law enforcement, social workers, health professionals and prosecutors through enhanced training and resources.

“By adapting and indigenizing the existing program material, we aim to empower professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate challenging situations with sensitivity and effectiveness,” explained Manasseh Begay , a lecturer at the Brown School, program manager with the Buder Center and co-principal investigator of the project. Dana Klar, former director of the Buder Center and current associate teaching professor at UMSL, serves as co-principal investigator.

Read more on the Brown School website .

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