Basis for Violent Crimes Committed by Teenage Offenders Research Proposal

Basis for Violent Crimes Committed by Teenage Offenders - Research Proposal Example Applicable Sources Peak (2012), in his book, Justice Administration: Police, Courts, and Corrections Management, has shown that when teenagers turn to criminal actions, this suggests a number of issues are at the heart of why this is happening, such as the environment of the child with non-existent adult supervision, friends who are in gangs, and failure within the school system in classwork achievements. There are also not enough regular after-school programs that young people can get involved in and, with a weakened economy, what community programs are in place, are having their public funding reduced or cut altogether. Violent video games are also seen as being part of the creation of violent behaviors in those without the ability to separate fiction from reality. In this respect, and in alignment with friends who aside from playing violent video games and who also engage in gang activities, this type of environment applies to the social learning theory, whereby what others do, is considered cool or normal (Peak 2012). Teenagers, who have not learned yet to analyze new media literacy, meaning the truth of what is seen, rather than what the message implies, learn that what they encounter, is (to them) what life really is as a standard level of living. While other teenagers head home to read their school books and do homework, at-risk teenagers go to hang out with their friends who engage in criminal activities instead. Therefore, reinforcement of negative influences by friends and through media viewpoints (violent video games, violent movies), will condition an at-risk teenager towards a life of crime. Juvenile justice systems encounter many at-risk teenagers,... Basis for Violent Crimes Committed by Teenage Offenders Juvenile offenders, aged 18 and under, are committing more violent crimes such as murders of old people and babies and, in order to find a solution to why this is happening, the background and environments of these offenders must be examined further to determine what is setting off these crimes. There is speculation that a lack of adult parenting or supervision is one cause. Another suspected cause is that teenagers play too many violent video games and perhaps, the theory of social learning should be applied here during research. It would also appear that current judgments and punishments made against young offenders, do not deter them enough so that they would move away from the environment that assists or encourages them to commit these crimes. Communities are also stressed because rehabilitative services operate on limited budgets and, with an overload of cases, care and attention will also be limited. In the community itself, people are more afraid because, with youthful offenders, one cannot always protect oneself against younger criminals because laws also protect the young against abuse. Therefore, it is imperative to find the solutions to both problems in offender social environments and also in the sentencing laws for juvenile offenders. The plan is to submit immediately to the Institutional Review Board for permission to conduct this study. The research requires a great amount of work, first in vetting the studies for inclusion into the database, and second, for reviewing enough research studies, books and case studies for inclusion into the literature review.