Several fundamentals can cause
juveniles to commit crime, one of those fundamentals is acknowledged as the
environmental perspective. The
environmental perspective is closely tied to the social learning theory of
deviance. Juveniles are not only exposed to social factors, which enhances
criminal activity but influences of environmental factors that constitutes to
criminal activity. Our perspective of
“crime” is essentially different from an environmental perspective, which not
only focuses on the elements of the crime, such as biological factors, social
forces and/or development experiences that create an offender (Wortley &
Mazerolle, 2011). These factors are analyzed through the object of interest,
which is crime. “ The offender is just one element of a criminal event, and how
offenders come to be the way they are is of little immediate relevance” (Wortley
& Mazerolle, 2011). We turn the focus from solely rehabilitating the
offender to the dynamics of crime -- where did it happen, when did it happen,
who was involved, why did they do it, and how did they go about it? The aim of
the environmental perspective is to prevent crime, not solely focusing on a
cure to restore offenders (Wortley & Mazerolle, 2011). Understanding why
juveniles commit crimes outside the scope of their institution can be explained
through the three premises of the environmental perspective.
Juveniles are highly influenced by
their immediate environment. The environmental perspective depends upon the
principle that all behavior results from a person-situation interaction (Wortley
& Mazerolle, 2011). The environment does not only play an initiating role
to crime but also in shaping it. Criminogenic individuals that suggest their environment
as a reason to commit the crime influence crime activity. The environment is not only used as a setting
to commit the crime or a destination but a vital tool to influence deviant
behavior. Most juveniles spend more time socially interacting with members of
their society in a form to impose improper behavior; the environment becomes
one of the countless tools in initiating corruption. Some of the on going issues in which the
environment presents itself as a negative factor in the lifestyle of a juvenile
is through, drug use, mental health problems and/or educational, employment or
family problems (Richards, 2011).
A juveniles’ inability to remove themselves
from their surrounding challenges is difficult for a juvenile, and committing
the crime is easier then dealing with their problems. Perhaps this is a
mechanism that is commonly used for juveniles that live in dysfunctional homes
or environments. The effort to get themselves out of the “situation” becomes
challenging and greater than the effort to not get caught by law enforcement. “Youth
violence remains a topic of social concern. Communities characterized by high
rates of family disruption, unemployment, concentrated poverty, and
inaccessibility to economic opportunities appear to be particularly vulnerable
to youth violence” (MacDonald , Bluthenthal & Golinelli , 2009). In certain
circumstances, youth court focuses on restoring the juvenile by negotiating
prevention programs in which the juvenile engages in educational or family
restoration instead of punishment. The environment becomes a person-situation
interaction in which behavior is influenced by the offender to commit the
criminal act because of their daily challenges that become inevitable to
prohibit.
Another observation of the environmental
perspective is the distribution of crime in time and space. Which is considered
to be a non-random factor. Behavior is dependent upon situational and patterned
aspects to the location of criminogenic environments (Wortley & Mazerolle,
2011). When it comes to juvenile crime their time and space is not focused solely
upon risk, but upon crime opportunity and other environmental features that
facilitate criminal activity (Wortley & Mazerolle, 2011). The denotation of
crime changes from the act of committing the crime to illegitimate
opportunities (Cloward & Ohlin, 2004).
Theses opportunities become a learning factor for the juvenile and a form
of systematic procedures that contribute to criminal activity. Opportunity becomes the motive to commit the crime
rather than the purpose. Richard A. Cloward and Lloyd E. Ohlin asserted the theories
of learning and performance structures of juvenile delinquency proclaiming;
“Our use of the term “opportunities,” legitimate or illegitimate, implies
access to both learning and performance structures. That is, the individual
must have access to appropriate environments for the acquisition of the values
and skills associated with the performance of a particular role, and he must be
supported in the performance of the role once he has learned it ” (Cloward
& Ohlin, 2004).
The environmental perspective
declares that the purpose of crime analysis is to identify and describe crime
patterns (Wortley & Mazerolle, 2011). Patterns of crime are highly recognized
throughout specific regions; essentially they are identified through the motion
of learning and performing factors. The environment not only becomes an
instrument to learn and perform deviant behavior, but also promotes patterns of
commonly committed crimes in specific regions that can be used to prevent
future crimes. A study that consisted a system of mapping juvenile crime in a
neighborhood in Chicago established theories that supported specific areas of
youth violence; “Early research by Shaw and McKay (1942) on juvenile
delinquency in Chicago neighborhoods found stable patterns of localized
juvenile offending over time. This research also found a consistent correlation
with aggregate community measures of poverty, residential instability, and the
heterogeneous ethnic composition of neighborhoods” (MacDonald , Bluthenthal
& Golinelli , 2009). The study of Shaw and McKay expanded the factors of
juvenile crime patterns in specific environmental areas. Theses areas were
identified to be high in poverty and high in dysfunctional environments.
“Changing the criminogenic aspects
of the targeted environment can reduce the incidence within urban communities
and the effects on criminal activity and other forms of social disorder” (Wortley
& Mazerolle, 2011). Comprehending the role of the environmental perspective
in which factors such as patterned crimes are identified, the distribution of
crime in time and space, and the influence of immediate environmental aspects
are categorized to constitute deviant behavior in juveniles. Solutions to
prevent crime from environmental influences must be induced by crime prevention
practitioners and interested groups to concentrate resources on particular
crime problems in particular locations (Wortley & Mazerolle, 2011). Prevention
to the crime will assist criminals to withdrawal from criminal activity and
perhaps recognize their deviant acts. When the opportunity to commit the crime
is removed, learning and performing becomes a disadvantage to the criminal
role. It no longer becomes a pattern nor an opportunity of time and space.
Although the focus of juvenile delinquency is to reform and rehabilitate the
offender the focus of the environmental perspective is to prevent crime. This
concept was adapted and accepted by the environmental theorists because recognizing
the location of the crime enables the enforcement of awareness in that specific
location, essentially preventing corruption.
Once the opportunity to commit the
crime is removed social order becomes relevant and the social learning theory
is able to act in accordance with the offender to rehabilitate and restore
skills that will be useful to succeed in society. In general, the theory of “learning”
is either influenced through environmental aspects or social influences, which
becomes the tool in assisting criminal activity. The behavior is reinforced
through deviant performances, which is established through a system of patterns
and social interactions. Juvenile deviance is affected through several exterior
sources and social disorders; the environmental perspective is classified as
one exterior source that promotes deviance in society.
References
Cloward , R. A., & Ohlin , L. E. (2004). Delinquency
and
opportunity . (3rd ed., p. 285). Long Grove, Illinois:
Waveland Press, Inc.
MacDonald , J., Bluthenthal , R., & Golinelli , D.
(2009). Neighborhood effects on crime
and
youth violence . Santa Monica, California : RAND Coporation. Retrieved
from
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR622.pdf
Richards, K. (2011). What makes juvenile offenders different
from adult offenders?.
Australian
Institute of Criminology , Retrieved from
http://www.aic.gov.au/en/publications/current
series/tandi/401-
420/tandi409.aspx
Wortley, R., & Mazerolle, L. (2011). Environmental
criminology and crime analysis.
(p. 2). New
York, New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group Retrieved
from
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crime and environment
&ots=0yYh_pnhZc&sig=OC9VkVFaRrarkO4h8G7YkgogJJ0
