Social Control Case Study

The previous cases explain why children commit crime from a social control perspective. However, social control focuses more on prevention than it does the aftermath of a child entering the juvenile system, so to utilize this theory, the government and juvenile justice system should focus more on preventing a child from deviance rather than fixing them after the fact. For this, it is important to address each pillar separately. Starting with peer influence, to prevent juvenile deviance, there should be more mentoring programs for children living in “strain neighborhoods;" these neighborhoods would likely be those in economic strain or below the poverty line. These mentors should be people that have grown up the same way that child has in order …show more content…
Morality being how a child is taught right from wrong can change across each of the three pillars mentioned previously. If peers encourage substance abuse and there is a family member who uses drugs or other substances as a copping mechanism than substance abuse would be seeming less deviant to that child. However, if school promotes a drug-free lifestyle there becomes an inconsistency across the pillars which will likely lead to deviant behavior. Depending on the child's social development, peers or family made be more influential than the other or equal, so even if there was no substance abuse in the home there is still a possibility that the child will rely more on the moral standards of peers than family …show more content…
Sixty-three percent of all children living with single parents on or below the poverty line in the United States; this is an important statistic to economic strain theory because children living in single parent homes commit seventy-five percent of all juvenile crimes. Economics relief is offered to single parents through government benefits, but there should be more conditions and requirements to receive benefits than there are currently. From a social control and economic perspective, in order to receive government benefits, parents should be required to take classes that teach parents about their children's four social pillars and the impact they have as well as the social and developmental stages their children will grow through. For example, parents should be made aware of the effects of a child being rejected from their peer group in middle school or high school and the push it can give the child towards delinquency and gang affiliation. This is import for parent to understand these concepts and understand signs of deviance in an attempt to prevent deviance or further deviance. This is a practical way to combat juvenile deviance that society could adapt because it would benefit both families that are receiving government financial aid as well as