The School factors

Part of a broader social process for behaviour influence is the school. It is said that the

school is an extension of the home having the strategic position to control crime and

delinquency. It exercises authority over every child as a constituent.

The teachers are considered second parents having the responsibility to mould the

child to become productive members of the community by devoting energies to study

the child behaviour using all available scientific means and devices in an attempt to

provide each kind and amount of education they need.

The school takes the responsibility of preventing the feeling of insecurity and rejection

of the child, which can contribute directly to maladjustment and to criminality by setting

up objectives of developing the child into a well-integrated and useful law-abiding

citizen.

The school has also the role of working closely with the parents and neighbourhood,

and other community agencies and organizations to direct the child in the most effective

constructive way.

Schools are the principal institutions for developing young people to the goals and

values of society. The failure of the school in character development of the children is

one of the instances that the school will contribute to juvenile delinquency. In addition,

the use of methods that create the conditions of failure or frustrations on the part of the

students, truancy and lack of facilities for curricular and extra-curricular activities

are also some of the instances that caused juvenile delinquency.

Truancy is the action of staying away from school without good reason; absenteeism. It

is in the stage of school age child or adolescent. Truancy is not a crime. It is a status

offense and involves law enforcement and the court system. Youth who are on

probation and become truant could go to jail. In some cases, parents can be charged for

allowing a child to become truant. Law enforcement agencies are often involved in

youth truancy cases because truancy can be a precursor to delinquent behaviours and

low-level crimes. It can also indicate family problems.

The youth also has a responsibility to show up at school, help create a positive

environment, and follow instructions from staff, teachers, and other adults. Some youth-

related causes for truancy are: giving in to peer pressure to skip school, pregnancy,

bullying, mental health issues, boredom, and lack of ambition, poor grades (especially

being held back a grade), being behind on schoolwork, low self-esteem, drug and

alcohol use, participation in gang activity, having no friends or social involvement at

school.

The effects in truancy are youth who routinely miss school have an increased risk of:

falling behind in school, not graduating, and becoming socially isolated, engaging in

delinquent behaviours, substance abuse, unstable relationships, unemployment, mental

health issues, violence, breaking the law. Chronic truancy can lead to dropping out of

school, which is related to low wages, high unemployment, living in poverty, and

criminal behaviours.
Media Exposure Factors

The impact of media exposure could results to violence, research has associated

exposure to media violence with a variety of physical and mental health problems for

children and adolescents, including aggressive and violent behaviour, bullying,

desensitization to violence, fear, depression, nightmares, and sleep disturbances.

According to the research (Anderson, et.al) violent television and films, video games,

and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of

aggressive and violent behaviour in both immediate and long-term contexts. Many

children and youth spend an inordinate amount of time consuming violent media.

Although it is clear that reducing exposure to media violence will reduce aggression and

violence, it is less clear what sorts of interventions will produce a reduction in exposure.

Cases

The 2 teenage boys who murdered 12 schoolmates and a teacher and injured 21 others

at Columbine High School in Colorado before killing themselves, he said, lived in a

pathological environment. “Their lives centred around violent video games.”

After the 1999 Columbine tragedy, the FBI and its team of psychiatrists and

psychologists concluded that both perpetrators were mentally ill—Eric Harris was a

psychopath and Dylan Klebold was depressive and suicidal. Other analysts have
argued that a possible causal factor may relate to the young killers’ obsessions with

violent imagery in video games and movies that led them to depersonalize their victims.