Juice: Movie Analysis

For this juvenile delinquency film assignment, I viewed the movie Juice. I will attempt to highlight some of the delinquencies depicted in the movie in this sociology paper. Juice is about 4 teens growing up in Harlem, New York. They often skip school, and instead spend their days hanging out at their favorite spots while dabbling in petty crimes. They are constantly harassed by police and their rival, a Puerto Rican gang. One day one of their friends gets shot, and the teens decide that they don’t get enough respect (Juice), and decide to get it by going big and commit a violent crime. Subsequently they were able to get a gun and decide to rob a store, but things take an unexpected turn when the owner of the corner store gets shot during the …show more content…
In a study done by University of Michigan (2011), it was concluded that 36.4 percent of youth have reported using marijuana at least once in the past year. Boys tend to have higher rates of illegal substance use and are more frequent users. Similar to adults, most adolescents use drugs and alcohol in celebrations, in rituals, for coping purposes, and for pain relief (Bates & Swan 2014). As in the movie, the teens grew up in a neighborhood where drugs and gangs was part of life, thus making drug use and deviant acts something as normative as going to …show more content…
But there are indirect relations between the two, and youth who use drugs and alcohol are more likely to make impulsive decisions that will satisfy them immediately, but will harm them in the long run. Substance use leads to intoxication which results in bad judgement, spending time with other peers who also use drugs and alcohol, the need for money to support ones substance abuse, and impaired overall functioning. Also in socially disorganized neighborhoods, because of lack of opportunities and jobs, many youth resort to selling drugs as a form of income. This fact was chronicled in the movie on several