The Qualitative Analysis of Psychosocial Profile of Juvenile Offenders and Exploration of Their Perception towards Delinquent Behaviors

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency or juvenile offending generally means the failure of children to meet certain obligations expected of them by the society. The study aimed for qualitative analysis of psychosocial factors which played a crucial role in exhibiting the delinquent behavior of juveniles and also explored the perception towards their offences. Cross sectional research design was used and thirty juveniles within the age range of 10-17 years involved in delinquent activities were selected by the use of purposive sampling method. Out of 30 juveniles, fifteen of them had committed heinous crimes like rape and murder and the remaining fifteen juveniles had committed non-heinous offenses like burglary, theft, kidnapping, physical assault and cybercrime. The qualitative analysis found many factors like poor tolerance level, anger management and school performance, media influence, low socio-economic status, presence of illness in the family and crime in neighborhood as risks for juvenile delinquency. It was also noticed that juvenile offenders had poor sense of responsibility, understanding or comprehension and awareness related to the delinquent act. Majority of them attributed their delinquent act to the external factors and denied having any positive feelings towards the victim. The exploration of risk factors and offenders understanding and perception toward crime would help in prevention and intervention programs. Implication and limitations of the study were discussed.