SSG500 Week 4

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Jan 9, 2024

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1 Criminal Activities: Individualism with Adolescents and The Involvement in Criminal Activities American Public University

2 Abstract The purpose of this study is to identify the different variables that influence adolescents to become involved in criminal activities. The study provides information on the research question, how does society portray the need for adolescents to be involved in criminal activities. With the variables identified we will be able to utilize the information and determine the impact an adolescent to become tangled up in criminal situations.

3 Dating back centuries ago we can see how criminal activities have been a known thing in all societies. Criminal activities were not hidden around the communities, nor was it overlooked. As the decades pass by, we can see an increase and decrease when it comes to personnel committing crimes. Decades even centuries ago criminal activity began in more of a mischievous way. Robbers were on horses riding into the sunset or cold-blooded murder with no evidence to show who committed the crime. According to Moehling and Piehl, crime rates peaked in the early 1900s due to a population increase of immigrants and native involvement pertaining to criminal activities. There were other factors of this peak however, it was stated that young adolescents’ participation started to increase as well. It isn’t a secret when criminal activities occur, and it may tend to happen continuously depending on where you live. There are five domains that any person may be affected to more criminal acts. They are described in the Crime and Violence article from Health.gov in which one’s economic stability, educational quality access, health care options, community environment and social context have a lot of influence of whether a person may or may not commit a crime. Each person may not experience the same life growing up. Some may possibly undergo mandatory criminal activities in their life. Whether it is something short term or long term the negative effects criminal activities may have on someone is detrimental. Not to mention when adolescents observe or participate in criminal activities this could lead to poor choices later in life. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 11.4 percent on the United States population lived below the poverty level in 2020. In 1986, the poverty level was noted to be around 6 percent for people who have worked 27 weeks. Whereas in 2020, the poverty level averaged at 4.1 percent in the United States allocated in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Demographically speaking the average poverty level fell amongst Hispanics and Blacks versus Whites and Asians.

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4 Also, to consider that families with children under the age of 18 years old had an average poverty level of 7.9 percent. Family households were twice as likely to become in a poverty status than those who did not have children. Over the years we may have noticed communities struggling when criminal activities are present. Depending on where you live may determine what adolescents are exposed to. Gardner and Brooks-Gunn proposed that neighborhood and youth group organization involvements assisted adolescents to be positively proactive within their community. When adolescents are deterred from the “street” level organizations it is stated that adolescents are less likely to link themselves in criminal based groups. Gardner and Brooks-Gunn noted a study from 1990 based in Chicago that had about 343 neighborhood clusters. Neighborhood clusters is where specific geographies of populations had boundaries. The study from 1990 introduced that neighborhood crime rates influenced adolescents by association. The relation between communities and adolescents were controlled by adults’ guidance. This study will detail research into how adolescents have been influenced in potential criminal activities from their environments. We will examine not only the negative impacts there might be but the positive influences to prevent adolescents’ involvement in criminal activities. Review of Literature Commonness of Adolescents Involvement As stated above, criminal activities are not uncommon situations that communities have had to deal with. Our world is not always a safe place and what a person does effects everyone around them. In any negative situation that involves criminal activity starts at the beginning with adolescents. We have all been younger in our life and have learned the fundamentals to survive

5 in society. Kim and Fletcher research that adolescent influence was linked to peer-to-peer interactions. The study mentioned how behavioral and cognitive learning theories emphasized the importance of friendships for adolescents. The social interactions between adolescents connect one another to their actions not only within the school environment but outside schools as well. According to Kim and Fletcher we assume that an adolescent’s exposure to criminality lies within the behaviors of their peers. The conclusions draw that the assumptions have major factors in which adolescents produce a sense of comfort with their peers. It isn’t always about what they are doing but what others around them are doing. This leads us to explore how the behavior of an adolescent may vary depending on their situation. The question remains on how their environment dictates their future involvement in criminal activities. We can’t determine how each adolescent may act but factors do have a role in their decision-making process to act. The average adolescent’s behavior. Understanding adolescents, we must look deeper into how adolescent average behavior consists of. Albert, Chein and Steinberg noted adolescents are prone to reward-sensitive motivation. This increases their want over their needs in a lot of scenarios. Even in risky type of scenarios involving criminal acts was proposed that short-term benefits were a safe alternative for adolescents. The demonstration of certain behaviors showed the underlying value of what they wanted to have at that moment. Considering we work to make money to buy items, adolescents may not see the long-term goal of making money to buy something and revert to such actions to get something right away. Albert et al quoted an adolescents stated of “if I’m by myself and I didn’t know anybody then I wouldn’t do it. That’s no fun.” That statement acknowledges that adolescents do not like being alone. They like the company of others rather silence.

6 School grades with more influence. Schools have been the focus in most studies due to the impact adolescents receive during that point in their lives. During this timeframe adolescents are known as students. Students are required to go to school, get good grades and continue pursing their goals. Most of the time parents just want the best for their children to include exceling in school. The educational experience children have played a vital role in a child’s life. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and students fall into bad influences from their peers. On average grade levels 8 th , 9 th , and 10 th grades are more likely to fall into criminal activities versus 7 th graders (Kim and Fletcher, 2017). This is not always the case; however, gender also has a factor in the matter of adolescents being involved in criminal activities. Male individuals were more likely in early high school to fall victims towards acting out (Kim and Fletcher, 2017). That is just a baseline and can deter based on outside factors. Parental influences with adolescents. As we review the studies involving adolescents, we must consider a main factor when it comes down to influences. Parental influences have a role when adolescents act out. The responsibility of a parent is to cloth, feed, house and most importantly keep children safe. Generally, early childhood experiences highlight adolescents’ behavior later. Parents present learning and coping skills upon their children to guide them. Wright mentioned that children who are rejected by their parents or grow up in unfunctional homes are more at risk to commit crimes. Positive parenting in the early years of a child’s life could prevent future delinquent behaviors to avoid unacceptable habits. It was also noted that conflicts between parents expose children to an increase of risks of violence (Wright, 1993). Research and studies involving parents are also influenced by community support. Other factors that could negatively affect children are single parent homes. It isn’t about how many parents are

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7 in the home, but it does play a role in a child’s life on how they are raised. Surprisingly, parental practices have developed over the years to help parents adapt to each generation. All forms of abuse. Whether it is at home or at school adolescents may fall victim to one of the worst negative forms, abuse. When you consider the word abuse it isn’t just physical. Abuse can be in different forms to include substance or physical. Substance abuse may be personal or within the home. Adolescents endure a lot of pressure at an early age to meet certain standards required from them. Due to the number of possible stressors some adolescents may fall victim to substance abuse (General, 2001). This is one of the reasons some adolescents act out or may commit crimes to feed their drug or alcohol use. Another substance abuse may fall within the home. In 2001 General allocated that a factor most do not consider is substance abuse within an adolescent’s home pertaining to their parental figures feeding their addiction. The crimes committed may be the source to assist their parental figures to get them drugs or items that might be needed for the home. Unfortunately, substance abuse is not the only abuse adolescents may experience. Physical abuse may have become a major factor as to why an adolescent may act out. It is unusual for their parental figures to not provide everything they need. Although in the worst of cases it is shown that adolescents may undergo types of physical abuse. Studies have shown ages 15 to 18 years old are more prone to violence (General, 2001). Criminal activities are never the answer for homes not being completely functional. This is a serious predictor for an adolescent’s behavior. Adolescents Involved in Criminal Activities We began by indicating in the literature review the effects of outside influences pertaining to adolescents. Let’s focus on the future effects that adolescents may experience if they fall victim to being involved in criminal activities. Not every adolescent fall to criminal

8 activities but unfortunately some do. According to the Juvenile Justice Statistics, 1 in 14 juveniles are arrested for criminal activities (Puzzanchera, 2022). The trends for adolescents committing crimes have shown to have affected 424,300 getting arrested in 2019 (Puzzanchera, 2022). Considering the large number of adolescents arrests the effects are detrimental for them later in life. One decision led to another decision which leads to the path that someone will take in life. Types of crimes. When such criminal activities are committed, we must consider the types of crimes that are chosen. In 2020, the adolescents arrested included carjacking, aggravated assault and robbery that were reported according to Puzzanchera. The adolescents under the age of 18 years old robbery had the highest percentage of crimes being committed. Although, other crimes are committed we must look deeper into why robbery has the highest reported arrests. Adolescents stated that they wore a disguise during a robbery and were under the influence of alcohol or drug related substances (Erickson, 2003). It was also noted that the adolescents lived close to the robbery site but did not consider themselves are professional in the matter (Erickson, 2003). Adolescents are young and with that comes the want for anything new. Seeing new things on television and affording anything they could ever want. Adolescents have felt the need to take matters into their own fate. How Adolescents Survive. When adolescents commit a crime, they are put into a category of being violent. Whether their crime was violent or not the stigma of criminal offenses in our society has made it known to be a negative. Jafarian stated in Understanding adolescents the term offense allocates a kid that has committed a crime. As children grow in age, they go through life experiencing delinquent moments. Children are supposed to act up and disobey their parents (Jafarian, 2018). Without adolescents misbehaving, they wouldn’t learn the mistakes

9 present to move on. The risks children take is a part of life and their experiences from their risks allow them to learn. Q1: How are the involvements in criminal activities effecting adolescents’ ability to succeed in life being self-sufficient? Method Conducting a study is best conformed by utilizing the quantitative and qualitative methods. The study would be composed of surveys and interviews from a focus group compiled of adolescents. The focus would include why adolescents get involved in criminal activities and how they believe they could be self-sufficient later. As well as how their actions and behaviors may dictate an adolescent’s path as they become an adult. Using this research method, we would be able to pinpoint specific factors in an adolescent’s life to determine the why’s. It is important to look closer at the factors that affect adolescents every day. The quantitative and qualitative methods will allow us to lay out all aspects of indicators that criminal involvement may have to understand the overall impact. Focus Group The focus group would be adolescents in the age range of 12 to 18 years old. Within this age range we would get data from adolescents in middle school and high school. This is vital information as adolescents from early teen years obtain the most influence being self-sufficient. Based on the population in my local area adolescent’s involvement in criminal activities is more probable. Otero County has been experiencing a high volume of criminal activities with younger aged personnel. The focus group from my local area would consist of about 1,000 students. The selection of the focus group would be voluntary to include those who denied wanting to

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10 participate. With the data collected from voluntary responses and those who denied would allow us to generalize how criminal activities and self-sufficiency go hand in hand. Course of Action The study from the focus group would have a survey of about 15 to 20 questions on detailed scenarios from examples of life experiences. For example, sample questions for adolescents may include: “In the past year have you been influenced to be involved in criminal activities?” “At the age you are with the skills you have acquired; how self-sufficient do you believe you are?” The survey will gather data from anonymous adolescents that have wished to take part. Due to the illegal aspect of this survey, we must be sensitive to the questions being asked to get the most accurate but truthful data. We would consider someone’s age, gender, ethnicity and geographic area. The focus groups of middle schoolers and high schoolers would be separated. Keeping school grades separated permits specific data to shows how each grade reacts to their experiences to where they are in life. Criminal activities may dictate how adolescents are being self- sufficient. After the survey data is collected, participates would be offered to partake in group setting interviews. The interviews in a group setting would gather data on adolescents’ behaviors when asked questions face-to-face. The interviews would need parental acknowledgment for their cooperation. After the survey is given and interviews are conducted, the data would be used to properly formulate answers to my question.

11 References Albert, Dustin, Jason Chein and Laurence Steinberg. 2014. Peer Influences on Adolescent Decision Making. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276317/ A profile of the working poor , 2020 : BLS Reports: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . (2022, September 7). https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/working-poor/2020/home.htm#:~:text=In %202020%2C%2037.2%20million%20people,to%20the%20U.S.%20Census %20Bureau.&text=(See%20the%20technical%20notes%20section%20for%20examples %20of%20poverty%20levels Crime and Violence - Healthy People 2030 | Health.gov. (n.d.). https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants- health/literature-summaries/crime-and-violence Erickson, Rosemary J. (2003). Teenage Robbers: How and Why They Rob. Athena Research Corporation . www.athenaresearch.com Gardner, Margo and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (2011). Adolescents Exposure to Community Violence: Are Neighborhood Youth Organizations Proactive? J Community Psychol . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3110745/ General, O. O. T. S. (2001). Chapter 4 -- Risk Factors for Youth Violence . Youth Violence - NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44293/ Kim, Jinho and Jason M. Fletcher. 2017. The Influence of Classmates on Adolescent Criminal Activities in the United States. Deviant Behav. 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5788185/ Moehling, Carolyn and Anne Morrison Piehl (2009). Immigration, Crime, and Incarceration in Early Twentieth-Century America. PMC PubMed Central . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831353/ Puzzanchera, Charles. (2022). Trends in Youth Arrests for Violent Crimes. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/publications/trends-in-youth- arrests.pdf Understanding adolescence, acting out, and calls for help . (2018, August 9). Vera Institute of Justice. https://www.vera.org/when-misbehaving-is-a-crime/what-are-status-offenses Wright, Kevin. (1993). Family Life and Delinquency and Crime: A Policymakers’ Guide to the Literature. U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/140517NCJRS.pdf

SSG500 Week 4

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