Statistics show that broken homes, the order of birth, and family size are huge contributors to who may become a juvenile delinquent. In 1950, 40.5 million children were living in families with both a father and a mother while 4.1 million children were living within broken families. In 1970, there were about 7.6 million minors growing up with only one parent or with neither. In 1966, every three marriages ended in divorce and the number of children in broken homes significantly increased. Because of this, children are spending more time alone, thus leaving them with emotional voids that they try to fill by acting out.- The result of this has increased the number of runaways, teenage suicides, teenage parenthood, etc.
- Most girls are arrested for running away, being involved in a gang, and/or sex offenses.
- Most boys are arrested for vandalism, theft, assault, rape, drugs, and some major offenses.
Discipline in the home relating to delinquent behavior:
- When family realtions are disturbed, it is more likely that children will become delinquents. There are three main contributing factors:
- careless or inadequate supervision by the mother;
- erratic or overly strict discipline;
- lack of cohesiveness of the family unit.
- Types of discipline:
- Sound - consistant and firm control but not strict enough to cause fear;
- Fair - control which is indefinate: sometimes strict, somtimes relaxed;
- Unsound - extremely relaxed OR extremely strict which either gives unrestrained acts of freedome or restricts to the point of rebellion.
No comments:
Post a Comment