The Relationship Between Mental Illness and Juvenile Delinquency

This study examined the relationship between mental illness and juvenile delinquency. Numerous youths that are in the juvenile courts in Ohio frequently suffer from mental illnesses that result in juvenile delinquent behaviors and undertakings. This study involved a sample size of 100 juveniles in Ohio; the U.S. A random sampling technique was utilized to draw the sample from the target population. A number of mental health disorders, including depression, post-traumatic stress, bipolar disorder, attention deficit, and hyperactivity disorder, together with other factors influencing juvenile delinquency, such as substance abuse, were examined in this study. Analysis of the data involved using statistical software with regard to Pearson's correlation to show a significant relationship between the variables. The findings of this study displayed that there is a strong link between mental illness and juvenile delinquency. There is a need to conduct early treatment of mental health problems to minimize juvenile delinquency.

Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency, Mental Illness, Depression, Substance Abuse, Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress

Mental illness refers to the health conditions that involve changes in an individual's emotions, thinking, and behaviour. It is connected to distress and glitches in functioning in the family, workplace, and social activities. It is caused by depression, infections, brain defects, poor nutrition, and substance abuse. The number of youths who are involved with the system of juvenile justice has been on the rise over the past decade. The majority of the youth have problems with mental health connected to depression, substance abuse, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (Grisso, 2008). Mental health disorders are prevalent amongst the youth that are in the juvenile justice system and necessitate immediate responses for identification and early treatment of the disorders. Social problems, psychological hitches, peer influence, parenting style, and economic glitches in a family cause juvenile delinquency.

Theoretical Framework

This study is based on structural-functional theory, which considers delinquent conduct as the result of strains and breakdowns in the social process within society, which generates conformity amongst different individuals (Rice, 2013). The structural and functional theories lay emphasis on the institutions within the society including the school and family, that always socialize different individuals in order to conform their conduct to the standards and values of the society that surround them. It also focuses on the manner in which the institutions may be unsuccessful in carrying out the task of socializing individuals within the society.

The theory mainly focuses on the organization of society and the association amongst the extensive units, particularly the institutions. It permits key institutions, such as religion, education, the economy, and the family, to be regarded as the groups that mould the behaviour of individuals in society (Rice, 2013). It illuminates the reason for which the society functions in the manner it does by emphasizing the associations between numerous social institutions from the entire society. Structural functionalism views the whole society as incessantly making efforts to be in an equilibrium state, which implies that there exists an instinctive drive within the individuals in the society to unite and stick together.

Literature Review

According to Siegel and Welsh (2014), juvenile delinquency refers to antisocial conduct that is against the law carried out constantly by young individuals and may not be handled by the guardian or parent, nonetheless necessitates the assistance of the agencies of law enforcement since the act may threaten the societal well-being. There are numerous factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency. The physical condition of a child influences his or her behaviour in many ways that can ultimately translate to delinquent conduct. The physical concerns, for example, drug abuse, malnutrition, and disabilities, greatly contribute to the manner in which the child responds to some situations. The physical condition that directly triggers delinquency and the nature of the body's condition can lead to an abundance of energy that can find an outlet in the behaviour pertaining to delinquency (Siegel and Welsh, 2014).

Heilbrun, Lee, and Cottle (2005) state that there is increasing evidence that mental illness is associated with juvenile delinquency and later with offending acts, even though the association can be direct or result in extra glitches. Juvenile delinquency and depressive disorders in childhood are connected to stealing and physical aggression. Aggressive conduct before age thirteen has been discovered to be prognostic of juvenile delinquency. The attention and hyperactivity hitches seem to be associated with later violent offending behaviour and risk-taking.

According to Grisso (2008), research studies have provided considerable proof that youth who have disruptive conduct disorders show more physically aggressive conduct. Moreover, the comorbidity of attention-deficit as well as hyperactivity and conduct disorders has been associated with chronic and repeat offending throughout adolescence (Grisso, 2008). There is considerable evidence of the connection between juvenile delinquency and drug use disorders, in addition to the persistent aggression into adulthood for youths who are involved in substance abuse. Co-morbidity, or the existence of one of the mental illnesses, is very common amongst adolescents who have mental disorders, and roughly two-thirds of the youth offenders meet the decisive factor for two or more illnesses.

Grisso (1999) makes a report on three research findings from the U.S., which proposes that though delineated, juvenile delinquents have an occurrence rate of mental health issues, approximately forty to fifty per cent mark with girls having a higher disturbance rate as compared to boys. He states that in comparison to the overall population of adolescents, youth delinquents are four times more likely to be diagnosed with conduct disorders, ten times more probable to have disorders related to abuse of substances and three times more likely to be diagnosed with affective disorder, nonetheless, have an anxiety disorder at the similar rate as the entire population of the adolescents (Grisso, 2008).

Many extensive studies have displayed that there are some kinds of mental illnesses that are common amongst juvenile offenders, and a significant number of the symptoms augment the youth's risks of involving in aggressive conduct. The risk of aggression is augmented for numerous comorbid disorders and particular disorders since the emotional symptoms, such as anger and self-regulatory symptoms, for instance, impulsivity, have the tendency to increase the risk. The mental health disorders amongst the youth offenders comprise psychotic disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, disruptive behaviour disorders, and disorders related to substance use. The anxiety disorder includes separation anxiety, panic, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Siegel and Welsh, 2014).

Methodology

Primary data in this study were collected from 100 juveniles in the systems of juvenile justice in Ohio. The collection of the data also involved the use of existing case records related to every youth in this study. Secondary data also involved the use of academic journals, textbooks, and publications that relate to the connection between mental illness and juvenile delinquency. The influence of anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, conduct disorder, post-traumatic stress, oppositional defiant and attention deficit, and hyperactivity disorder on juvenile delinquency was measured in this study. The data analysis involved the use of the Pearson correlation, in which a p-value less than 0.01 indicated a significant association between mental illness and juvenile delinquency.

Results and Findings

A study was carried out on the connection between mental illness and juvenile delinquency in Ohio, the U.S. The data utilized in this study were gathered from 100 juveniles in the juvenile justice systems in Ohio. It also involved using the case records linked to each youth in the study sample. The state's juvenile court provided the files with the official juvenile court records and the assessments of the mental health of the sample that was selected. The respondents were the youths who had committed some juvenile acts in the last six months before the study.

The study revealed that mental health disorders were highly linked to the juvenile acts. The mental health disorders included anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, conduct disorder, post-traumatic stress, oppositional defiant and, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. The result indicates that the majority of the youths who were involved in juvenile delinquency had a mental illness. Numerous juvenile delinquency cases were associated with depression, post-traumatic disorders, bipolar disorder, anxiety and attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder. On the other hand, few juvenile delinquency cases were related to substance abuse, oppositional defiant, and conduct disorders. This displays that there is a strong positive association between mental illnesses and juvenile delinquency. Therefore, anxiety, depression, bipolar, post-traumatic stress, attention deficit, and hyperactivity disorders greatly influence juvenile delinquency.

Discussion

The symptoms of bipolar disorder are considerably greater in youth as compared to adults. The personalities of the youth are vulnerable to peer pressure, more impulsive, and less responsible for making decisions (Grisso, 2008). There exist distinctions in brain development between adults and juveniles, which makes dealing with the symptoms very difficult and can partly clarify why the youths commit personal crimes. This behavior can be decreased through early detection and the implementation of preventive measures.

Educational failure and attendant impulsivity relate to juvenile delinquent conduct. Biological susceptibility, for example, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder intersect with ecological vicissitudes, causing a diathesis that sensitizes the youth to carry out maladaptive behaviors (Heilbrun et al., 2005).

Young individuals are subject to trauma through discreet acts, for instance, accidents and assaults, nonetheless also a function of child abuse and poor practices of parenting. According to Ruchkin et al. (2002), post-traumatic stress is common amongst adjudicated youth delinquents. Both anxiety and trauma can be specifically implicated in juvenile delinquency through threat evaluation preference and hypervigilance that are linked to the conditions.

Dependency and substance abuse are regarded as behavioral disorders and are frequently connected to the criminal and delinquency acts. The youths have the possibility of experiencing mood, conduct, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders that put them at risk of delinquent acts and troublesome conduct. The occurrence of emotional disorders happens due to the impairment of the ability of the child to function due to depression and anxiety. The depression occurrence among youth offenders is considerably greater in comparison to other young individuals within the society (Siegel and Welsh, 2014). Post-traumatic stress is prevalent amongst youth offenders, specifically girl children. Disruptive behaviour disorder is very common amongst juveniles in juvenile courts and is approximated to range between thirty and fifty per cent.

Recommendations

There is a need for continuity among the points of contact and placements in the mental health and criminal justice system. It can comprise agreements on information sharing and specialized aftercare planning. The community-centred treatment and diversion should be utilized with all juvenile delinquents and other criminal offenders be possible to deter them from criminal activities. Nevertheless, it can be particularly essential with the mentally ill offender owing to the specifically undesirable impacts of prison and jail on seriously mentally ill juvenile delinquents. There is a necessity for treatment which focuses on the criminogenic needs that have the ability to minimize the risk of imminent criminal conduct within society. It is important to carry on further studies on the connection between juvenile delinquency and mental illness, as few studies have been conducted in this area. The implementation of a validated, gender-responsive, culturally competent mental health screening and apparatus for assessment is essential in curbing juvenile delinquency.

Conclusion

There is a strong positive association between mental illness and juvenile delinquency. It is evident from the study that numerous youths who were involved with the juvenile courts in Ohio, specifically the ones sentenced to incarceration and detention facilities, have a mental illness. There is a need to redefine the roles of education, mental health, the juvenile justice system, and the systems related to child protection to become a collaborative and systematic care unit that can effectively assist in the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents.

References

Grisso, T. (2008). Adolescent offenders with mental disorders. The Future of Children, 18(2), 143-164.

Heilbrun, K., Lee, R., & Cottle, C. C. (2005). Risk factors and intervention outcomes. Juvenile Delinquency: Prevention, Assessment, and Intervention, 111-133.

Rice, K. E. (2013). Structural functionalism. Integrated SocioPhychology, 17, 06-13.

Ruchkin, V. V., Schwab-Stone, M., Koposov, R., Vermeiren, R., & Steiner, H. (2002). Violence exposure, posttraumatic stress, and personality in juvenile delinquents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(3), 322-329.

Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. C. (2014). Juvenile delinquency: Theory, practice, and law. Cengage Learning.