DETERRENTS TO DELINQUENCY AS PERCEIVED BY DELINQUENTS AND NON-DELINQUENTS: A STUDY

The problem: The purpose of this study was to identify factors
serving as deterrents to juvenile crime as perceived by
juveniles. An emphasis was placed on the identification
of factors which youth perce ive as:
1) having prevented non-delinquent adolescents
from breaking the law;
2) deterrents which may have prevented delinquent
adolescents from breaking the law.
Questions to be answered and explored in this study
were:
1) How do police and judicial efforts affect juvenile
crime?
2) What can the school do in the area of prevention
of crime? 3) What effect, if any, do the family and/or significant
others have in deterring juvenile crime?
4) How do free time and/or planned activities influence
juveniles in crime involvement or non-involvement? Conclusions and Recommendations: There are three major consequences recommended by the
findings of the juveniles' own stated opinions:
l) monetary compensation to be rendered either by
parents or through parental channels.
2) exposure, or some type of resultant publicity
for juveniles found guilty of crimes.
3) reparation through a program of supervised work.
Related recommendations include:
l) Any act of violence or vandalism should be dealt
with according to previously stated policy so that each
member of the school community may abide by the policy with
previous knowledge of consequences.
2) Whatever policy is promulgated, and however it is
administered, it must be consistently and uniformly applied.