II. Broken Homes and Juvenile Delinquency

In general, high crime rates, limited legitimate business activity and/or employment opportunities and poorly functioning public education systems characterize communities of the urban underclass (Coplon, 1985, p. 124). Nationally, 20 percent of all children in the United States live in families at or below the established federal poverty level (Coplon, 1985, p. 124). In many inner-city neighborhoods this figure approaches 100 percent. In many cases, families in such an environment are broken homes and, even when they are not, the home atmosphere is often negative or destructive (Coplon, 1985, p. 124). Fathers and older brothers may have police records or may beat their wives and live-in girlfriends and the children themselves may be physically or

Thus, Wells & Rankin's study offers support for the theory that juvenile delinquency is a function of a broken home environment. However, it is undoubtedly true that not all juveniles from broken homes become either delinquents or career criminals. Consequently, a broken home in and of itself will never serve as the sole means for explaining delinquency. Nonetheless, it does offer treatment providers one indicator of delinquency. In addition, the disadvantages suffered by a juvenile in a broken home can be exacerbated by other factors that can lead to delinquency. For example, another theory as to the roots of juvenile delinquency asserts that juveniles' self-control levels may not yet be fixed. Thus, crime appears to be attractive because the offenders do not contemplate the inevitable long-term consequences (Tittle & Grasmick, 1997). Particularly in a broken home, a juvenile may see no reasonable alternative to delinquency, particularly given the fact that adolescents are generally more self-absorbed and self-concerned than adults. Thus, as the costly consequences of criminal behavior unfold over time, those who begin with low self-control may gradually learn to defer gratification. Many people may increase their self-control as they age and, consequently, perform less criminal activity (Tittle & Grasmick, 1997). Thus, Tittle & Grasmick concluded that juvenile delinquency is often a function of immaturity.

III. Juvenile Delinquency as Immature Behavior

The strongest arguments for theories of juvenile delinquency are those that take into consideration all the factors in a juveniles' life, including the fact that a juvenile might often choose criminality because of the situation in which he finds himself. Clearly this paper does not address incidences of juvenile delinquency that occur in the absence of broken home environments, but understanding the motivations of such delinquen