juvenile delinquency

Running head : Juvenile Delinquency

CHILD ABUSE AS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

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ABSTRACT

In ancient history , the significance of a child was never recognized It was only in the 20th century that the child was given paramount respect . As time passed , children have become an essential part of the society and have been endowed with rights like the adults have . They have been granted special treatment . However , many children have lost their way and have resorted to various forms of violence

. In this regard , this will discuss juvenile delinquency and child abuse and the reasons behind children ending up as juvenile delinquents

CHILD ABUSE AS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Throughout human history , crime has always been a factor in the societal activity . In the Bible alone , numbers of criminals have been recorded and it started with Cain who betrayed and killed his brother Abel . Most of the criminals were adults . However , as time passed by , it was the children themselves who were found to have committed crimes Children were mostly tried for theft as an effect of their economic status . Eventually , children aged below twenty- one were found guilty of serious crimes associated with property . Today , the same situation can be observed as there are many minors who are involved in serious crimes Though the government have been acting on this problem , the rate of minors being involved in crimes has been increasing . Today , these children who commit crimes are referred to as juvenile delinquents

According to Legal Dictionary , a juvenile delinquent is an under age person (usually below 18 , who is found to have committed a crime in states which have been declared by the law that a minor lacks responsibility and thus may not be sentenced as an adult . Moreover , in ancient times , the court system applied their rules equally among children and adult . Children accused of criminal behavior were tried through conventional processes (America .gov , 2008 . Notably , in 1828 , in the case of State vs . Guild (387 U .S . 81 , 12-year- old James Guild was tried and found guilty in New Jersey for killing Catherine Beakes (387 U .S . 81 . Thereafter , the court sentenced him to death by hanging (387 U .S . 81 . Although this punishment may be considered atrocious , it has its basis from history

In the history of ancient Greeks and Romans , children were used as a sacrificial offering and were indiscriminately killed . Children , then were also considered as property and so their parents logically believed that they have the right to do whatever they wanted on their children In addition , in the 1600 's , Massachusetts has enacted the right of the parents to kill their stubborn children . Moreover in the Bible , children who rebel against their parents are being punished as contained in the Deuteronomy 21 :18-21

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son , which will not obey the voice of his father , or the voice of his mother , and that , when...