Why Young Individuals Commit Crimes? Essay -- juvenile delinquency, juv

Firstly, what does it mean when someone uses the term juvenile delinquency? Juvenile delinquency can also be referred to as juvenile offending is when a young person under the age eighteen who in which has repeatedly committed a crime or offense. In the United States and other countries, juvenile crime is one of the most serious problems. The reason why juveniles commit crimes is sort of complicated and difficult to explain. There have been several disparate theories to better help with understanding juvenile delinquency. All of these theories are categorized and are placed under three different groups: biological, psychological, and sociological theories. Biological theories all are based on the concept that people are prearranged to commit crimes. An Italian criminologist, Cesare Lombroso created Positive Theory or Positivism which is the major biological theory. The positive theory stated that people are born criminals and are not made. The positive theory also explained criminal behavior by centering on the biological and psychological factors. Cesare used the corpse of criminals who were executed to compare physical features to determine were criminals different from non-criminals. His conclusion was that criminals shared facial features. Sheldon a criminalist idea was that people behaved differently because of the different body types. He believed that a physically fit human was more likely to commit a crime than an out of shape or over weight human. XYY theory is another biological theory that has come into consideration. The XYY theory disputes that an abnormal chromosome are found in violent male criminals. This theory states that this abnormality in individuals is associated with criminal activity and aggressivene... ...w up committing crimes. (McDavid and McCandless, 1962) Works Cited "Cesare Lombroso". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014 . Boyd R. McCandles, John McDavid. â€Å"Psychological Theory, Research, and Juvenile Delinquency.† The Journal of Criminal and Police Science 54.1 (1962):1-14. JSTOR. Web. 9 Mar 2014. Champion, D.J. (2004). The Juvenile Justice System: Delinquency, Processing, and the Law. 4th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Inc. Ellwood, Charles A. "Lombroso's Theory of Crime." Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and 2.5 (1912): 716-723. JSTOR. Web. 9 Mar 2014. Siegel, Larry J , and Brandon C Welsh. Juvenile Delinquency, Theory, Practice, And Law. Wadsworth Pub Co, print.