Monday, November 21, 2011

Juvenile Delinquency

I'm doing my service hours at Salt Lake Peer Court and my social issue is juvenile delinquency. I want to discuss Functionalism and Symbolic Interactionism and how they can be applied to juvenile delinquency.

Functionalism deals with social roles and social institutions. Often times at Peer Court, I see that youths tend to act out when they are going through a difficult time at home. Recently, we had a case of a twelve year old being referred for disorderly conduct. He lives with his grandmother because his father is deceased and his mother is an alcoholic. The grandmother says that since his mother stopped coming to get him and his other two siblings on the weekend, he has really been acting out at school and also at home. The absence of his mother in his life is hurting him inside and causing him to behave a certain way. So, family can be one institution that affects certain behaviors. Symbolic Interactionism includes perceptions, meanings, and relationships. I feel that once youths act out or engage in illegal activities, society will perceive them as criminals. So, even if they try to do better, there is already that perception of them being criminals.

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