| For years the causes of juvenile delinquency have drawn a lot of attention from the scientific community and have become a widely studied concept in research literature. Causes of juvenile delinquency have become an important aspect of criminological study because with the knowledge of what contributes to delinquency, the scientific community can possibly slow down the continuous act of offending, also known as continuity, through implementation of prevention strategies. Criminological theory is used to define and help understand why certain contributors are the foundation for juvenile delinquency, along with the continuity of crime for an adolescent but also what factors contribute to a decrease in criminal activity, known as desistance. Some predictors of juvenile delinquency that researchers have focused on are the individual characteristics such as peer influence, family environment, parenting styles, school environment, and community structure (Shreck, Fisher, & Miller, 2004). |
