مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - The Effect of Socio-Cultural and Physical Environments on Children’s Gravitation Towards Crime and Juvenile Delinquency Based on the Example of the City of Van

Abstract :

The increase in juvenile delinquency in recent years has brought juvenile crimes and their causes into public attention. The multitude of the causes of committing a crime or inclination to crime has led to a multitude of theories on the causes of crime. This study has attempted to evaluate the causes of juvenile crime and the inclination to crime from the point of view of the sociological theory. For this reason the objective of the study; “to identify the opinions of managers and children of the causes of socio-cultural and physical environments on children’s gravitation towards crime and juveline delinquency” and offer solutions. The questionnaire which comprise 28 likert type items and one open-ended question was applied to 127 people, 84 of whom children and 43 managers The managers were from public offices working in the city of Van in 2011 and the children were ascertained by law to have committed crimes or under the risk of gravitation towards crime.Percentage, frequency, arithmetical mean and t test were used to analyse the data and the results obtained from the open-ended question was subjected to frequence and content analysis. According to the results, while children see poverty as the cause of delinquency and gravitation towards crime(X=4.6786), managers think that “neglect and abuse of children by families” is the cause (X=4,5349). While children see sexual abuse as the least likely cause(X=3,1429), managers think that it is “the way security personnel treat local people”(X=2,1395). There was significant difference between the chidren’s and the managers’ opinions regarding the items of the questionnaire about the causes of children’s gravitation towards crime and juveline delinquency. This was interpreted as an indication of the managers’ alienation from the children’s problems and the distance between them was considerable. Without creating suitable socio-cultural and physical environments in accordance with children’s development, juvenile delinquence and children’s gravitation towards crime cannot be prevented with so-called measures. Everybody is responsible for raising children as healthy individuals for the benefit of the country. Therefore, wellorganized measures throughout the country and locally must be taken and people from all walks of life must participate in the process.