Moral value despondency and social deprivation among juvenile delinquents

by Lolitha John

A. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Deviant behaviour has existed and will continue to exist as long as man is dependent on his peers for survival. Even though deviance is usually associated with the social outcast and the criminal offender, at one time or another, almost everyone has acted in a deviant maimer. When there is a breakdown of rules or norms that govern behaviour and when the society becomes so complex that communities no longer control their own actions or influence the behaviour of their members, there is a norm breakdown which often results in a high incidence of crime and delinquency. The severity of the norm conflict and the norm breakdown or both, would frequently be a determining factor in the seriousness of the ensuing delinquent or deviant behaviour. Hence, norm breakdown and norm conflict can contribute to criminality and delinquency. The history of a type of adolescent delinquent is of illegitimacy or rejection at an early stage, for reasons followed by a very deprived first few years in life involving statutory child care, frequent fostering placement in children's homes etc. with an increasing rejection by the adult commuruty, as the child gets older. The