Delinquency Prevention

(noun)

Delinquency prevention is the broad term for all efforts aimed at preventing youth from becoming involved in criminal or other antisocial activity. Prevention services may include activities such as substance abuse education and treatment, family counseling, youth mentoring, parenting education, educational support, and youth sheltering. Increasing availability and use of family planning services, including education and contraceptives helps to reduce unintended pregnancy and unwanted births, which are risk factors for delinquency.

Related Terms

Examples of Delinquency Prevention in the following topics:

  • Juvenile Crime

    • Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behaviors by minors.
    • A juvenile delinquent is typically under the age of 18.
    • Delinquency prevention is the broad term for all efforts aimed at preventing youth from becoming involved in criminal or other antisocial activity.
    • Because the development of delinquency in youth is influenced by numerous factors, prevention efforts need to be comprehensive in scope.
    • Describe the factors that influence the development of delinquency in youth and the ways the legal system deals with this delinquency

  • Social Control Theory

    • Toby argued that individuals engaged in non-delinquent community activities felt as thought they had too much to lose by joining delinquent groups and, hence, had a "stake in conformity."
    • Toby argued that individuals engaged in non-delinquent community activities felt as thought they had too much to lose by joining delinquent groups and, hence, had a "stake in conformity."
    • Ivan Nye's book Family Relationships and Delinquent Behavior.
    • Nye carried on the tradition of studying juvenile delinquency as a means of theorizing about deviance and social control.
    • Youth may be directly controlled through constraints imposed by parents, through limits on the opportunity for delinquency, or through parental rewards and punishments.

  • Religion and Social Support

    • These same studies revealed a positive correlation between religious involvement and lower levels of hypertension, depression, and clinical delinquency.

  • Illegitimate Opportunity Structures: Social Class and Crime

    • Merton's social strain theory to directly address juvenile delinquency and social class.
    • In 1960, Cowan and Ohlin published Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of Delinquent Gangs.
    • Cowan and Ohlin used juvenile delinquency as a case study to explore this theory of illegitimate opportunity structures.

  • Differential Association Theory

    • A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law.
    • One very unique aspect of this theory is that it works to explain more than just juvenile delinquency and crime committed by lower class individuals.

  • Control Theory

    • While control theory gives an adequate explanation of non-serious forms of youthful delinquency, it fails to explain adult criminal behavior and serious instances of youth crime.

  • Social Correlates of Religion

    • For instance, of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals, a large majority showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being and self-esteem and lower levels of hypertension, depression and clinical delinquency.
    • An analysis of over 200 social studies contends that "high religiousness predicts a lower risk of depression and drug abuse and fewer suicide attempts, and more reports of satisfaction with sex life and a sense of well-being. " A review of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals concluded that a large majority of them showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being and self-esteem and lower levels of hypertension, depression, and clinical delinquency.

  • Preventing Illness

    • Preventive medicine, or preventive care, refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms.
    • HPV vaccines prevent certain cancers, and the influenza vaccine prevents influenza.
    • Preventive medicine, or preventive care, refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms.
    • Simple examples of preventive medicine include hand washing, breastfeeding, and immunizations.
    • Explain the purpose of preventive medicine and how insurance companies can influence the types of preventive medicine chosen

  • Strain Theory: How Social Values Produce Deviance

    • Critics point to the fact that there is an ample amount of crime/delinquent behavior that is "non-utilitarian, malicious, and negativistic" (O'Grady, 2011), which highlights that not all crimes are explicable using Merton's theory.

  • Police

    • In most Western police forces, perhaps the most significant division is between preventive police and detectives.
    • Preventive police designates the police that patrol and respond to emergencies and other incidents, as opposed to detective services.
    • As the name "uniformed" suggests, preventive police wear uniforms and perform functions that require an immediate recognition of an officer's legal authority, such as traffic control, stopping and detaining motorists, and more active crime response and prevention.
    • Explain the relationship between the police and the state, differentiating between preventive police and police detectives