The Concept of Delinquency (Essay Sample)

The Concept of Delinquency
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The Concept of Delinquency
Status offenses are actions prohibited in particular classes of people. They are often applied to misdemeanors committed by kids. Common examples of status offenses include truancy, violating curfews, consumption of alcohol, running away, underage use, and possession of tobacco. Over the years, many children have been incarcerated for committing status offenses. According to Rizer (2018), roughly one million kids are incarcerated yearly across the US. Of these, thousands are separated from their families, removed from schools, and put into detention facilities for committing various status offenses like truancy. In my opinion, status offenses should be abolished and other professional interventions adopted since common misdemeanors are mostly non-criminal and are merely indicators of underlying issues such as mental health or a history of trauma.
The majority of kids involved in status offenses and the overall juvenile court system tend to have inadequately met emotional and psychological needs (Rizer, 2018). Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety disorder, and others can result in status offenses. Thus, incarcerating minors for common delinquencies may have far-reaching detrimental ramifications. According to Rizer (2018), invasive supervision and considerably harsh conditions in detention centers aggravate mental health symptoms. Additionally, meaningful relationships formed during the brief detention are abruptly disrupted upon release and thus leaving the minors more emotionally vulnerable. In other words, detention and other punishments by the criminal justice system may not serve the intended purpose of reform.