Juvenile delinquency refers to antisocial or criminal acts performed by juveniles. It is an important social issue because juveniles are capable of committing serious crimes, but most legal systems prescribe specific procedures and punishments for dealing with such crimes.



Approaches to the problem generally fall into two camps: the public health solution, and the law enforcement solution. Advocates of the public health approach tend to see juveniles today as victims of an anti-youth culture. The problem is not just parents failing children, but a whole attitude among adult society that is increasingly hostile, angry, and punishing toward youth.

A "delinquent" is defined as under the age of majority who has been convicted in juvenile court of something that would be classified as a crime in adult court.

It's also not just poverty, per se, among children, but the relative deprivation of living in a society of affluence in which self-esteem is tied to achieving affluence. People are only hosts, not causes, of social problems, according to the public health model.

Most of the broken home literature, for example, shows only weak or trivial effects, like skipping school or home delinquency. Another area, the desistance literature, shows only that children from two-parent families age-out of crime earlier. In fact, there is more evidence supportive of the hypothesis that a stepparent in the home increases delinquency, or that abuse and neglect in fully-intact families lead to a cycle of violence.

Mentally ill teens are often arrested, placed on probation, or held in juvenile correctional facilities. When become involved with the juvenile justice system, they provide new challenges for those who work with them.

Studies show more than half of juveniles in custody suffer from mental health problems. Nearly a third have attempted suicide and one in 13 take psychotropic medication, yet these troubled youths rarely get the treatment they need. In California, many juvenile halls have become de facto mental health wards without the proper facilities or trained staff.

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They are user-friendly guide for professionals who supervise, manage, teach, or treat teenagers who get into trouble.

The material applies to juvenile justice, education, and treatment settings?residential or community-based. The focus is on effective ?identification? and ?management? of troubled teens who have mental health disorders.