Legal Definition Of Juvenile Delinquency

There is no precise definition for Juvenile Delinquency. The main hurdle in defining the term is that of making a choice between legal definition and a social definition. According to various sociologists the legal definition of juvenile delinquency would not hold good as it does not define the true nature of the term. To understand who juvenile offenders are, why they commit crime, arrest and conviction of a child may depend on various fortuitous circumstances. Another problem posed by them in legal definitions is that the legal definition differ from place to place, time to time and hence are not suitable for scientific studies as they would not be conclusive. Legal definition of Juvenile Delinquency would be an obvious one i.e. any act which …show more content…
Due to such practices classical thinking had emerged in response to the cruel forms of punishment that dominated the times in which the approach was towards punishment and crime . Bentham was an English philosopher who as a believer of utilitarianism felt that people had the right to happiness and thus on the basis of this he believed that punishment should be in proportionate to the crime committed. According to him, people are rational creatures who will seek pleasure in order to avoid pain thus the punishment given to such people should be such which would outweigh the pleasure gained by them in committing the crime. He further states that the law makers should not make laws in which the punishment is so harsh and severe that it reduces the greatest happiness. The law should not regulate morality but it should only regulate those acts which are harmful to the society and would reduce the happiness of the …show more content…
This theory involves intentionally committing an act because the reward gained from that act will be greater than the risk associated with it. At the heart of the rational choice perspective lies the assumption that criminal and the delinquent offenders are goal-oriented and seek to exhibit a measure of rationality and thus on some level they consider the potential costs and benefits of a crime and thus act accordingly. This theory rules out such factors such as biological, psychological or environmental factors that might compel someone to commit a crime but it states that the criminals makes a choice to commit a crime after weighing the costs. The rational choice offender is rational and self-interested and chooses to commit the crime on the basis of his assessment that it would be rewarding and that it would satisfy some need better than a non-criminal