Annotated bibliography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Annotated bibliography - Assignment Example In the United States, a juvenile delinquent (offender), for example, is described as one below age 17 who commits a crime that would otherwise be punishable if they were adults. The factors that contribute to juvenile crime (more so underage drinking and illegal purchase of drugs) are extensively mentioned in this book. These factors are broken down into six different categories. Some of the physical factors for juvenile delinquency cited include lack of sleep, sensory defects, endocrine disorders, drug addiction, nervous diseases, weather effects, physical exuberance, deformities, speech defects, malnutrition, and so on, whereas, mental factors discussed include, among others, psychoses, psychoneuroses, suggestibility, contra-suggestibility, sex habits/ experiences, lethargy/ laziness, mental conflicts, mental defects, and superior intelligence. Under home condition factors, there are unsanitary conditions, broken homes, illegitimacy stigma, bad examples, immoral parents, ill treatment at homes, poverty, unemployment, excess in material possessions and material deficiencies. Also, some of the school conditions talked up include poor grades, peer influence, inadequate recreation facilities, poor teaching and bad attitudes towards teachers, while neighborhood conditions cited include loneliness, stimulating entertainment platforms, influence of gangs, and peer influence. Occupational conditions such as truancy, monotony, idleness, occupational misfits, apprenticeship system declines, influence, and irregular occupations (Bradshaw, 2003) are also noted by the author. Jefferson discusses some of the crime theories applicable to juvenile delinquency. Some of the theories emphasized include rational choice theory, social disorganization, strain theory, differential association theory, labeling theory and social control theory. These are discussed in view of achieving better understanding of the causes of juvenile delinquency. As per the labeling theory, for