Determinants of juvenile delinquent behaviour in the family

Rıga Stradiņš University, Latvia

Abstract

Children and adolescents are one of the most vulnerable social groups in the community. Copenhagen declaration has emphasized the fact that particular efforts should be devoted to children and adolescent protection with an aim for extension of social protection and decrease of easy vulnerability of humans. Children and adolescent behaviour is like a mirror which depicts the processes going on in the society, as well as the existing social and economic controversies. At present one can witness negative tendencies in children and adolescent behaviour in Latvia: they drop school early, lead a vagrant life, get used to drugs, violence grows, especially that of severe crimes. In the Resolution of the European Parliament of June 21, 2007 “On Juvenile Delinquency – Role of Women, Family and Community” it is also written, that children enter the world of crime much earlier. Certain emotional and behavioural peculiarities of children and adolescents can be taken as a norm at a definite age, however, there exist also such behavioural peculiarities, which essentially differ from the accepted norms. Causative factors of delinquent behaviour, as well as its consequences, are at a level of multiple systems. But, the first and the most significant in any person’s life is the family, and, consequently, it is important to learn and analyze what are the factors in the family which determine the formation of delinquent behaviour.