MODULE: JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM

CHAPTER IV

Theories of Delinquency

At the end of this chapter, the student should be able to:

• Discuss and summarize the different theories on

crimes and delinquency
• Differentiate between juvenile delinquency and
criminality

Various theories have been propounded to understand the deviant

behavior of juveniles. They are classified as follows:
A. Early General Theories on the Causes of Delinquency
1. Demonological Theory – This
theory promoted the notion that persons
should not be held responsible for
their action when they do evil things
because their body is possessed by evil
spirits.
2. Classical Theory – This was based
on the assumption that people are
rational, have free will, and therefore
able to choose.

Classicist have four good reasons why delinquent persons

and offenders should be punished:
o General Deterrence – Punishment of delinquents and
criminal offenders will strike fear in the hearts of

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other people, thus making them less likely to commit

acts of delinquency or crimes.
o Specific Deterrence – Punishment will strike fear in the
hearts of wrongdoers, thus making them less likely to
offend others again.
o Incapacitation – The simplest form of jurisdiction;
wrongdoers should be locked up in jail since while
they are imprisoned in an institution, they cannot
commit offense against other people in the outside
world.
o Retribution – This reason objects the idea that anything
good or useful will follow or result from punishing
offenders.

3. Positive or Italian Theory – Positive Theory promoted the idea of

determinism as a way of explaining crime and delinquency.
4. Critical Theory – This theory blames delinquency on the imbalance
of power within the human society.

B. Biological Theories
1. Lombrosian Theory – This theory holds the
following assumptions:
a. Criminals have many stigmata
b. Criminals are atavistic
c. Criminals are classified as epileptic, insane and
inborn.
2. General Inferiority Theory/Hooton’s Theory – This
was proposed by Earnest Hooton.

3. William Sheldon’s Theory

According to Sheldon, body type affects a

person’s entire personality or temperament. People are
classified in three ways:
o Endomorphs – people who tend to be fat, round and soft,
and to have short arms and legs.
o Mesomorphs – people who have athletic and muscular
physique; with active, assertive and aggressive
personality. Delinquency exist because there are
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mesomorphic men or youths who are responsible for

its occurrence.
o Ectomorphs – people who are basically skinny with lean
and fragile bodies.

4. Genetic Theory – DNA, Extra Y Chromosomes.

C. Psychological Theories
1. Psychogene Theories – Psychogenes believe
that it is easier to change a person than
it is to change an environment.
a. Freudan Psychoanalytic Theory –
Freud believe that people develop in
a series of stages. When
abnormalities occur, the person is
more likely experience conflict.

The four elements in Freud’s Theory:

o Human nature is inherently anti-social. Every
child possesses a set of primitive anti-social
instincts that Freud called ID.
o Good behavior comes through effective socialization. the
child learns internal control.
o The life-long features of the human personality
originate in early childhood. By age 5, all the
essential features of the child’s adult personality have
been developed.
o Delinquent behavior is the result of a defective
superego.

The Three Parts of Human Psyche (Personality)

o ID – it is the unconscious portion of personality
dominated by the drive (cravings) for pleasure and by
inborn sexual and aggressive impulses. If I left
unchecked, it may destroy the person.
o Ego – this the rational part of the personality; it
grows from ID. It represents problem solving
dimensions of personality.

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o Super ego – it grows out of ego. It represents the moral

code, norms and values the individual has acquired.
Hence, it is responsible for feeling of guilt and shame.

2. The Low – IQ Theory – This theory claims that:

a. People with low intelligence are easily led into law-breaking
activities by the wiles of more clever people.
b. People with low intelligence are unable to realize that
committing offenses in a certain way often leads to getting
caught and eventual punishment.

3. Attention – Deficit Hyperactivity Theory – This theory claims that:

a. Juvenile delinquency is caused by immaturity and

hyperactivity.
b. Grade schoolers usually experience attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, which is characterized by:
1) Short attention span
2) Day dreaming
3) Sluggishness
4) Preoccupation
5) Impulsiveness

4. Frustration-Aggression Theory – This theory claims that people who

are frustrated will act aggressively and people who engage in
aggression are frustrated first.

Frustration is a behavior directed at anticipated goals or

expectations.
Aggression is a behavior whose goal is to inflict damage or injury
on some objects or persons.

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D. Social Class Theories

1. Social Disorganization Theory
Disorganized areas cannot exert
social control over acting-out youth;
these areas can be identified by their
relatively high level of change, fear,
instability, incivility, poverty and
deterioration, and these factors have
direct influence on the area’s
delinquency rate.
2. Anomie Theory
Is normlessness produced by rapidly
shifting moral values.

3. Strain Theory
It contends that certain classes are denied legitimate access
to culturally determined goals and opportunities, and the resulting
frustration results in illegitimate activities or rejection of the
society’s goal.
4. Differential Opportunity Theory
Flourish in the lower classes and take particular forms so
that the means for illegitimate success are no more equally
distributed than the means for legitimate success.
Three types of delinquent gangs (Cloward & Ohlin):
✓ The Criminal Gang – this type of gang is stable than
the ones to follow. Older criminals serve as role
models and they teach necessary criminal skills to
the youngster.
✓ The Conflict/Violent Gang – this gang aims to find
reputation for toughness and destructive violence.
✓ The Retreatist Gang – members are known as double
failures, thus retreating into a world of sex, drugs
and alcohol.

5. Class Conflict Theory

Conflict theory is based upon the view that the fundamental
causes of crime are the social and economic forces operating within
the society.
6. Differential Oppression theory

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It contends that much serious juvenile delinquency is a

product of the oppression of children by adults, particularly
within the context of family.

E. Interpersonal Theories
1. Differential Association Theory
This theory asserts that
criminal behavior is learned
primarily within the interpersonal
groups and that youth will become
delinquent if definitions they
have learned favorable to
violating the law exceed definitions
favorable to obeying the law within the
group.
2. Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory suggest that children who grow up in
a home where violence is a way of life may learn to believe that
such behavior is acceptable and rewarding.

F. Situational Theories
Drift Theory (Neutralization Theory)
It proposes that juveniles sense a moral
obligation to be bound by the law. Such a bind between
a person and the law remains in place most of the
time. If not, it will drift.

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G. Societal Reaction Theories

Labeling Theory
Regardless of the cause of
individual’s delinquent behaviors
detected, the offenders will be given a
negative label that can follow them
throughout life.

H. Control Theories
1. Social Control Theory
It states that members in society form bonds with
other members in society or institution in society
such as parents, pro-social friends, churches,
schools, teachers, and sports team.
2. Self-derogation Theory
It states that all motivation to maximize our self-
esteem, motivation to conform will be minimized by
family, school and peer interactions that devalue
our sense of self.

3. Interactional Theory
It states that weakening of a child’s social bond is the
fundamental cause of delinquency.
4. Self-Control Theory
It argues that it is the absence of self-control rather than
the presence of some forces or factors such as poverty, anomie,
opportunities for deviance, delinquent peers, exposure to
definitions favorable to deviance, etc. that leads to deviance.

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I. Other Theories
1. Cultural Deviance Theory
It argues that children learn
deviant behavior socially through
exposure to others and modeling of
others’ action.
2. Structural Function Theory
Juveniles who engage in crimes do
so, according to perspective, as a means
to defy society’s defined goals and
innovate their own goals of delinquent
behavior.
3. Rational Choice Theory
It argues that in many cases, deviance is a result of high
calculation of risks and awards.
4. Routine Activity Theory
It claims that crime is a normal function of the routine
activities of modern living; offenses can be expected by capable
guardians.
5. Learning Theories
This set of theories advances that delinquency is learned
through close relationships with others. It asserts that children
are born “good” and learn to be “bad” from others.

References:

▪ Juvenile Delinquency
Wiseman’s Books Trading Inc.
Armando A. Alviola, Ph.D. – Author
Jannel C. Canaman – Editor

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