FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR JUVENILE DELINQUENCE IN UGANDA MWEBESA JOSEPH ISRAEL 06/U/BGD /6321/PD A proposal submitted in partial fulfillment of the award of a Bachelors degree of Guidance and Counseling of Kyambogo University 2010 Contents CHAPTER ONE1 Background1 Statement of the problem3 Purpose of the study3 Objectives of the study3 Research questions3 Significance of the study:4 Scope of the study:4 Limitations of the study4 CHAPTER TWO5 Introduction:5 Definition of juvenile delinquency5 Causative factors for juvenile delinquency5 Suggested remedies for juvenile delinquency8 Conclusion11
CHAPTER THREE12 Introduction12 Research Design12 Measuring Instruments13 Population and Sampling13 Data Sources13 CHAPTER FOUR14 Introduction14 Responses from juvenile offenders15 Table 115 Table 2:15 Table 3:16 Table 4:17 Table 5. 17 Table 6. 18 Table 7:18 Table 8:19 Responses obtained from parents. 19 Table 9:19 Table 10:20 Table 1120 Table 12. 21 Table 13. 21 Table 14:22 Table 15:22 Table 16:23 Responses obtained from the police. 23 Table 17:23 Table 17:24 Table 18:24 Table 19:25 Table 20:25 Table 21:26 Table 22:26 Table 23:27 Conclusion27 CHAPTER FIVE28 Introduction28 Discussion of findings28
Conclusion30 Recommendations30 REFFERENCES32 APPENDIX I34 Questionnaire for juvenile offenders34 SECTION A34 SECTION B35 SECTION C36 SECTION D37 APPENDIX II39 Questionnaire for parents39 SECTION A39 SECTION B41 SECTION C42 SECTION D43 APPENDIX III44 Questionnaire for police officers44 SECTION A44 SECTION B46 SECTION C47 SECTION D48 CHAPTER ONE Background Juvenile delinquency means disobedience by the juveniles or any crimes committed by the juveniles or adolescents. (Chintamanikar, 1992). A juvenile is regarded as a young person or a child who is below the age as specified by the law for the time being.
Paul H. Mussen et. al (1979) also defined a juvenile delinquent as a person generally under the age of 18 who engages in behavior that is punishable by law. To sum it all the term juvenile delinquency is used to refer to when the actions of young people or children and their behaviors offend the entire population. The journal, the Social Background of Juvenile Delinquency in Uganda in (2002) reported that the rate at which delinquent acts in Uganda are occurring in Uganda has persistently increased given the fact that there are only three remand homes in Uganda i. e. ne in Kampala (Naguru), one in Fort-Portal and one in Mbale. However the measures being put to prevent juvenile delinquency are still insufficient as compared to the threat it is posing. The journal also reported that there are still prevailing cases of juvenile delinquency which still needs to be seriously addressed among many young people in Uganda. Some of the delinquent activities or crimes that adolescents indulge in include bullying, stealing / theft, drug abuse, sexual abuses like rape and sexual harassments, defiance to authority like parents and civil leaders among other things.
Stephen Moore (2002) supported the above statement that Most of the delinquent behavior is caused by four main situations which include poor socialization into social values, the formation of subgroups / sub cultures by the youth deviant from the normal ones, status frustration when their expectations are not met, and anomie where by youths simply fail to adopt to the generally accepted way of doing things in society. According to Stephen, the above things in society explain the cause of strikes in school, disobedience to parents and other authorities and many other undesirable behaviors.
It is even worse when there are no strategic measures put to prevent the spread of such behaviors in the society. The teachers’ resource book; Guidance and counseling for post primary institution (2007) acknowledged the gravity of the problem of juvenile delinquency in post primary institutions. It however suggests that appropriate guidance and counseling services as the basic tool to fight the problem of delinquency in schools, in order to groom youths who are known to be the pillars of tomorrow’s society.
The formation of remand homes in Uganda was initially aimed at preventing juvenile delinquency and rehabilitating the juvenile offenders who indulge in such dubious acts. However, the journal; Social Background of Juvenile Delinquency in Uganda (2003) reported that the effectiveness of this goal to be reached is questionable. In the first place the juvenile offenders are not adequately rehabilitated which has prevented behavioral change among them.
In this case there were a number of factors that prevented the change among the offenders where by they come from worse families worse than the remand homes where thy are remanded and once they are sent back to where they came from, the environment cannot permit change easily. So there is also need to deal with the family as an institution and society as a whole. In Kampala such delinquent cases are so rampant in areas especially where there is poor housing such as slums and generally all areas with low standards of living. Such areas therefore have acted as braiding grounds for juvenile delinquency.
The solution to juvenile delinquency may not be found in remanding or punishing the juvenile offenders in some sort but in a number of various things. Stephen Moore (2001) in his book Sociology Alive wrote that the idea of some people being made scapegoat or branded bad was taken up by a number of sociologists who render it so negative. Once a person has been labeled bad that may render them more deviant or perform more crimes recklessly. This is because blaming them in such away alienates them and denies them chance to re- enter the society live with others normally without condemnation.
The above therefore is a basis to suggest other methods to deal with juvenile offenders rather that remanding or punishing them. As already noted earlier, the remand homes are few ( only three) in Uganda and have registered plenty of loopholes in solving the problem of juvenile delinquency as reported by the journal; the Social Background of Juvenile Delinquency in Uganda (2002). It is therefore needful to conduct a study about the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda, the process which will suggest appropriate ways of preventing it and treating the offenders more effectively.
Statement of the problem The increased rate of juvenile delinquency in Uganda has affected the moral life of many youths in Uganda, yet there are few measures being put in place to prevent it. This is more alarming mainly in urban centers like Kampala whose population is high especially of the young people like any other urban centers as sited by Kenneth McLean and Norman Thomson (2004). This poses a high threat to the moral life of the future population. Purpose of the study The study will examine the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda – Kampala being the case study. Objectives of the study 1.
To find out the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda a case study of Kampala. 2. To identify behaviors or activities that juveniles / adolescents do that are unacceptable in society. 3. To find out their coping strategies for survival. 4. To find out the challenges faced by institutions and remand homes for juveniles in the fight against juvenile delinquency. Research questions 1. What are the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency? 2. What kind of behavior do juvenile offenders normally portray? 3. What can be done to reduce juvenile delinquency in Uganda? 4. What challenges are faced by nstitutions or remand homes in fighting juvenile delinquency? Significance of the study: The study will benefit parents and care givers of juveniles / adolescents in identifying ways to prevent delinquency and ways of helping delinquent children. Scope of the study: The study was carried out in Kampala city. It was found suitable to carry out the study from there due to the frequent reports about cases of juvenile delinquency among the young people. Also being populated with many young people from almost all over Uganda, various tribes and cultures of people are represented hence it can yield more valid and reliable findings.
Limitations of the study During the conduction of the research the researcher encountered the following limitations: 1. Sources of information were indeed challenging and beaurocratic when it came to visiting the remand home, seeking permission from the ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development in order to carry out the research among the juvenile offender. Also it was tiresome and time consuming to distribute and retrieve all the questionnaires from among the police and parents who responded to some questionnaires. 2. It was also not easy to collect necessary and relevant literature amidst the scarcity of books in libraries around.
CHAPTER TWO Introduction: This chapter is comprised of variety of secondary data about juvenile delinquency that the researcher got about the topic as found out by other various scholars. It brings out what has been known and discovered about the topic, what has been done, solutions to the problems as well as the comparisons of the findings of different scholars. It also consists of three parts in which the literature is presented i. e. the definition of juvenile delinquency, the discussion of causative factors and remedies to the problem and then the conclusion. Definition of juvenile delinquency Paul H.
Musen (1979) defined juvenile delinquency as the engagement of a young person / a minor in behavior punishable by law. Chintamanikar (1992) suggested a number of things which may mean juvenile delinquency; escape from a tight or tense situation which is un pleasant, obtain social recognition by the juveniles, to provide excitement and thrill in performing a certain behavior, take revenge against parents, a way of denying dependence upon others among others. Juvenile delinquency can also be defined in terms of various activities that young people do that are socially unacceptable. (Stephen Moore, 997).
He gave a list of examples such as stealing, disobeying the law, fighting in public (affray), disobeying parents, refusing to do domestic work, abusing people, rape, defilement, vandalism, permissiveness, refusal to attend school, possessing ammunitions, destruction of property, gambling among many other. Causative factors for juvenile delinquency The changes and challenges of adolescents most times instigate their sporadic behavior which when not fully controlled through effective parental guidance or merely meeting a good conducive atmosphere for growth and change can turn into delinquency. Robert P. Archer, 1987). He takes a more biological approach to explain the cause of delinquent behavior where by the endocrinal, biochemical and physiological process that occur in adolescents in that stage lead to increased production of hormones by the thyroid, adrenal and other glands. That eventually leads to sexual maturation, aggression and other drives that often times if not controlled lead to delinquent behavior especially among males. Adolescents are often not regarded as children and also not as adults; they are on the bridge between the two categories of people.
This exposes them to being over expected to do certain tasks by adults while they can also still do some childish tasks. This at times sparks a conflict between adolescents and adults leading to delinquency. (Robert. P. Archer 1987). The above conflict breads into a role confusion among juveniles on what exactly should be done in regard to other people’s expectations as well as regard to their own expectation. For instance issues about the extent to which they should remain obedient to elders are major concerns here, the degree of self given freedom, the kind of tasks to accomplish in society are all sensitive issues to consider.
Chintamanikar (1992) explains the cause of juvenile delinquency in psychological perspective different from Robert P. Archer’s biological approach. To him, delinquency is caused by catharsis which is a psychoanalytic theory term meaning the release of emotion in some way. He argues that delinquency emerges as a way of an ego defense for the tension caused by various frustrations through experiences juveniles face. To the above cause, the law may not apply much solution but rather psychological solution.
Allyn and Bacon (1985) in Lefton Psychology describe adolescence as an age of transition from childhood to adulthood and maturity which is often difficult. It occurs between the age of 12 – 18 years which is coupled with dramatic intellectual, social, emotional as well as physical changes. All those changes affect the way juveniles perceive the world, judge situations as well as behavior. When combined with socialization which affects or influences which affects or influences the person’s personality, the above changes alter or changes alter or change and affect moral development.
The journal; Social Background of Juvenile delinquency in Uganda published that a bad social environment like poor parenting skills, absence of parents (orphaned children), poor housing like slum areas, poor education levels, redundancy and un employment can easily bread or groom delinquent children. Adolescents growing from such environments are more likely to become delinquent that those who are growing up from healthier families and environments. It has also been found out that delinquent adolescents tend to observe and learn the behavior from their parents. Children with behavioral disorders, August 1997). A test was carried out examining the moral reasoning patterns of violent children with emotional and behavioral disorders and their aggressive parents. Thirty five children were examined and all had committed lethal violence before the age of 10 years and had already attended highly restricted day care treatment centers. Presented with six family and peer violence scenarios followed by a structured in interview, the group results suggested that each group used moral reasoning when discussing the scenarios but they focused on different moral transgressions.
It was more likely that the children adopted such violent behavior from their parent. This brings in the ideas of nature and nurture in explaining the cause of juvenile delinquency. The traits of the person which can be described by their nature and can tell how they were nurtured in life. The journal; Social Background of Juvenile Delinquency in Uganda also reported that the acts in including homicide, rape, violence, of any forms, armed robbery, assault, arson among others are categorized as delinquent and have raised concern about the youth violence and delinquency.
Stephen Moore (2001) explained the four points that must be considered when examining the statistics and occurrence of delinquent behavior. These include age, gender, class and place. Adolescent delinquents mainly commit crime when they are aged between 14 – 20 years, while there are marked difference between the crime rates of males and females, with the male rates being five times higher than those of females. Moore directly linked crime and delinquency in association with social class. Non working class youths have also registered high crime rates eight times higher that that of the middle class working youth.
He therefore recognized that delinquency is high in significant areas for instance in inner cities and less in suburbs or in the country areas. From the above, it can be realized that delinquency is rampant with males that females, some places are more vulnerable than others and that there is a significant link between crime and the class of people, in this case juveniles being more likely to commit crime. The youth is a period known as an age when there is stress on excitement and having fun, being energetic, curious and explorative and many other growth and development changes in an individual. Paul. B. Horton et. al 1998). The above characteristics are regarded to be the main cause of vulnerability of juvenile delinquency among youths (14 – 20). While exercising their freedom, adolescents tend to go beyond what is socially acceptable hence indulging in delinquent behavior. Horton et. al also observed that the search for a “good time” often lead to a clash with the law. It’s also true that youth is a period when social control is weak. The suggested that the weakness of social control and coupled with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm can lead to a drift into juvenile delinquency.
The various transitions that occur during adolescence prompt juveniles to think so highly of themselves as adults and self sufficient individuals and yet parents and other adults in the society still regard them contrary to what they think. Mainly they are known as children and that kind of dilemma for juveniles normally spark conflicts in which delinquency is manifested. (National Training Manual for Care givers). The same manual described the main social challenges that juveniles normally face which include communication problems, demand for aterial things, and demand for independence i. e. socially, economically and emotionally independent from others, peer pressure, conformity, sexual immorality, the tendency to compare themselves with others from a rather different social backgrounds, decision making problems among others. All the above problems and challenges if not addressed carefully and sensitively can blossom into juvenile delinquency. Suggested remedies for juvenile delinquency Mark Kurby et. al (1997) wrote that the call for children’s curfews is vital.
He explained that unfavorable curfews would instead lead to increased delinquent behavior rather than controlling it. Fro example asking the child to stay at home until he/she is granted permission to go out may not be a better solution. He asserts that in general terms, human beings don’t work well with strict and extreme limitation. They instead tend to act in a more wired and deviant manner if exposed to such limitation. It’s good fro that matter that parents set favorable curfews which will effectively build a healthy and conducive environment for growth as a juvenile delinquency is prevented.
The scholars above is stressed that exploration of the juveniles in their own world and environment is healthy for growth and development and it should not be denied them. Stephen Moore (2001) in his book Sociology Alive warned that a lot of care needs to be taken to avoid labeling people as criminals and unruly or with deviant behavior as this may indeed make them so and affect their entire life leaving them no chance to change. This today happens to many adolescents in schools and society at large where by the community already rejects them as bad, criminals, disobedient, un able to change son on and so forth.
These make them more rigid and remain with the maladjusted behavior they are being accused of and this demoralizes their self esteem to change. Although Moore suggested that people move away from deviant behavior as they grow older because of stability provided by employment and marriage, it’s not a guarantee that this will happen among juveniles especially if they remain redundant and un employed. Stephen Moore also suggested that about four factors which could be addressed since they are the cause of delinquent acts: Anomie – where a large number of people fail to follow the generally accepted social values.
Status frustration – where by high class youths or adolescents resort to delinquent acts due to their inability to meet certain targets like good performance in class which makes them feel they have lost their status and that every body else looks down on them. Subculture – this is another factor that ought to be addressed in order to prevent juvenile delinquency. It’s where a small portion of young people develop anti social attitudes which mean to be deviant from anti social attitudes which mean to be deviant from the main stream values of society.
The last factor is according to Moore was poor socialization – where by people who commit crimes are generally regarded to have had poor socialization. Paul B. Horton (1998) gave reasons for persistence of deviant behaviors among Juveniles but also gave a number of remedies for them. One of them was to give support to delinquents to enable them move from the deviant behaviors to more socially acceptable ones. Condemning the culprits rather makes them more deviant instead of inhibiting change in them.
He emphasized that the above however must not be excuse for one to be delinquent but be used as a way of rehabilitating the young offenders. Stephen Moore (1997) again suggested that if given conducive chances for change and rehabilitation, delinquency as a behavior can be overcome. He believes that as adolescents grow older, they steadily shift away from delinquent behavior but that can be strengthened by the conditions named above. Education and employment would be the main elements that can cause a chance in the occurrence of juvenile delinquency.
Most of the attention should focus on boys who have registered a significant number of cases concerning delinquency than girls. The reason for this is because girls’ nature is focused on docility, domesticity, conformity and looking towards marriage in the general social perspective. The above give little room foe delinquency among girls than boys who tend to be more holistic, curious and aggressive in character. The way of dealing with culprits of delinquent behavior is also significant if the behavior is to be overcome well (Practice guidelines for working with street children).
It was observed here that victims of delinquent behaviors in Uganda are mainly orphans, children from poor family background economically and those who have had poor socialization from their childhood. The main point here should be to seek understanding of the children and those who deal with them. For example, id the child is to be changed with a particular offense, before that, they should be given chance to settle the mistakes or crimes with the local authorities like L. Cs in a more amicable manner (Practice guidelines for working with street children).
The same manual above gave solutions for helping delinquent children which include the following; Reconciliation: this id where there is a peaceful settlement of the offense and the child is asked to seek pardon from the offended person. Compensation: here the offender’s side i. e. the child or his parents can give a suitable payment for the loss or damage caused or an alternative could be working or lending a hand in doing some work for a period of time. Restitution: the child or the delinquent can be asked to return something lost or stolen back to the owner.
Apology: the delinquent child can be asked to make a statement expressing that he or she is sorry for the offence made. Caution: the child here is warned not to repeat the wrong act that he or she has done with a serious promise of future punishment if the offence is repeated. If the above measures fail in preventing delinquency then the child can be remanded or taken to rehabilitative assistance centers. Conclusion In conclusion, there are several causes of juvenile delinquency which emerge from the social, psychological and biological background of the person.
The factors responsible for juvenile delinquency highly depend on the maladjustments of one or the combination of the above factors in the developmental background of the juveniles. It therefore follows that the remedies for them to be effective should tackle each background so that there can be effective adjustment (Social background of juvenile delinquency in Uganda, 2002). CHAPTER THREE Introduction This chapter gives the details and explanations of the methods the researcher used when collecting data for the study carried out.
The main features embraced in this chapter include research design, sampling design and the measuring instruments. Research Design The researcher used descriptive study design and the study carried out was conducted on a case study basis in Kampala city. It took up qualitative and evaluative methods and the results gathered were presented in tables and explained in word form. Measuring Instruments The researcher used questionnaires as a way of collecting information from respondents. Questionnaires were found appropriate and suitable to use because of the nature and category of the targeted respondents.
The respondents freely responded to the questionnaires at their convenience for purposes of validity and reliability of responses. Population and Sampling The population considered includes three categories of people who include the police, parents and care givers of both the delinquent and non delinquent children as well as the juvenile offenders themselves. The total population of respondents was forty (80) people, considering forty (40) juvenile offenders from Naguru remand home, twenty (20) parents from around Kampala, while other twenty (20) were policemen and women also from around Kampala.
Out of the forty (40) juvenile offenders, 25 were males and 15 were females. This was because the number of male juvenile offenders in the remand home out weighed that of females. Ten 10 out of twenty parents were male and female respectively while thirteen (13) of the twenty (20) police officers were males due to smaller ratios of police ladies in the police force. The kind of sampling in this case was purposive sampling because the respondents were chosen with a reason that they are most suitable to give information or ideas about juvenile delinquency.
Also the roles, positions and the background of the suggested respondents made them suitable for responding to the suggested questionnaires. Data Sources The questionnaires obtained primary information from among respondents while other secondary information was obtained from journals, articles, text books, and websites among other sources in order to get relevant literature and data about this research. CHAPTER FOUR Introduction This chapter contains the results obtained from the data collection instruments which were designed to find out the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda a case study of Kampala.
Descriptive methods have been used in presenting and analyzing data. The results have therefore been presented in tables which show frequent responses and percentages on the study’s objectives. This chapter considers all the category of respondents i. e. juvenile offenders, parents and the police respectively, the background information for each category of respondents has also been tabulated. The first tables show the demographic information of respondents and their understanding of juvenile delinquency while the last four tables answer the four main objectives of this research. Responses from juvenile offenders Table 1
The researcher measured the gender of respondents and their respective percentages were obtained as below. From the above table the number of male respondents (25) was higher than that of females (15), given the fact that there were more male juvenile offenders than female. 62. 5% were males while 37. 5% were females. Table 2: Age categories for all the respondents in this category were provided in accordance to the age bracket of those who are considered to be juvenile offenders. Most of the respondents were found to be aged between 14-16 and they were 23, followed by those in the category of17-19 and lastly those aged between 11-13.
The percentages for each were 57. 5% 35. 0% and 7. 5% respectively. Table 3: Majority of the respondents showed that they had reached secondary school level and they frequency shows 24 as opposed to that of those who had stopped in primary school which is 16. Their percentages were 60% and 40% respectively. Table 4: Out of the 40 respondents 15 understood juvenile delinquency as crimes committed by children, 13 understood it as bad behaviors possessed by children while 12 indicated that they have no knowledge about it. This makes their percentages 37. 5%, 32. 5%, and 30. % respectively. Table 5. From the above table most of the respondents indicated that the biggest factor that is responsiblefor delinquent behavior is poverty(16), this was followed by family problems (9), drug abuse (6), harrassement in schools or else where (5) and the least was any other factors. Their percentages are 40%, 22. 5%,15. 0%, 12. 5% and 10. 0% respectively. Table 6. The responses obtained in the table above show that fighting, a combination of several bad behaviors and disobeying parents are the most indulging behaviors that delinquents normally portray.
Their frequencies were 17,10,9,2, and 2, which gives their percentages as 42. 5%,25. 5%,22. 5%,5. 0% and 5. 0 % respectively. Table 7: The respondents (delinquent children) indicated that the biggest coping strategy they use is getting support from friends (18) giving 45. 0%. this was followed by escaping from those who always acuse them which had (7) giving 17. 5%, hidding delinquent behaviors scored (6), yielding 15. 0%. the above were followed by drug abuse and any other strategies that could be used by the delinquents which gave frequencies of (4) and (5) yielding 10. 0% and 5. 0%.
Table 8: The juvenile offenders mainly thought that responsible institutitions have the problem of sensitization about juvenile delinquency(13) =32. 5%, bad rehabilitative methods (11) =27. 5%, lack of a well trained staff (10) = 25. 0%. lack of time to help delinquents and any other challenges were not considered to be most pressing by the respondents hence they scored (5) =12. 5% and (10) = 2. 5%. Responses obtained from parents. Table 9: The researcher deliberately considered ten (10) respondents of each sex from among the parents making it a total of 20 respondents both male and female.
This was intended to obtain results that may not be subjected to any gender bias in finding out the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency. Table 10: Table 10 above shows the age ranges of the respondents (parents) which were classified in an interval of four. 23 – 28 and 29 – 33 had the same and biggest number of respondents i. e. the frequency of 6 each scoring 30. 0%. mean while the other respondents were in the age bracket of 39 -43 the frequency of 4 and yielding 20. 0%. the youngest and oldest parents scored the least frequencies as well as percentages,(1) =5. 0%. Table 11
Most of the parents were married and they showed the frequency of 10 =50. 0%, while single parents were with the frenquency of 7 =35. 0%. separated parents had a frequency of 2 = 10% and those who had devorced were the least with the frequency of 1 =5. 0%. Table 12. As indicated in the table above, most of the parents who responded to the questionnaires where self employed 13 = 65. 0%, those employed were next with the frequency of 6 = 30. 0%. non employed were the least with the frequency of 1 = 5. 0% Table 13. Most parents’ responses indicated that poverty was the main factor responsible for delinquent behavior (35. %), followed by drug abuse scoring 25. 0% mean while family problems and harassements faced by delinquent children scored the same (20. 0%). Table 14: The table above shows the responses obtained from parents about the indulging behaviors of delinquents. Most parents agreed that delinquents indulge in not only one behavior but a combination of bad behaviors (60. 0%), 25. 0% agreed that disobedience is their biggest problem, 10. 0% considered fighting while 5. 0% thought that delinquents indulge in sexual promiscuity. Table 15:
About the coping strategies for juvenile delinquents, the responses for parents indicated that most juvenile offenders cope by soliciting support from their friends (55. 0%), the 30. 0% indicate that its because of drug abuse, 10. 0% of them showed that they cope through escaping from the accusations set against them, while 5. 0% obtained from one person ticked that juvenile offenders cope by isolating themselves. Table 16: The respondents indicated that corruption is the biggest challenge faced by institutions in solving the problem of juvenile delinquency, (55. %), while all the rest of the challenges indicated the same score form the respondents’ i. e. unskilled staff, poor government policy, and less involvement of parents (15. 0%). Responses obtained from the police. Table 17: The researcher also took a sample of 20 respondents from the police who were sought to have reliable information about juvenile delinquency. Out of the 20 respondents, the researcher was able to get 13 males and 7 females given the fact that there were fewer female police officers available and willing to contribute to the research. Table 17:
The above table shows the age of the respondents (police officers) who responded to the questionnaires and this age was categorized in class intervals of five. Most of the respondents were aged 23 – 28 (five respondents), followed by those of 34 – 38 (four respondents). The age category of 18 -22, 39 – 43, and 44 and above had three people each, while those of 29 – 33 had only two respondents. Table 18: As regards the marital status of respondents most of the respondents were married (50. 0%), singles comprised of (30. 0%), and those who had separated were two carrying 10. 0%, while there was one widow and a widower both of them yielding 5. % each. Table 19: 65. 0% of the police respondents among the police understood juvenile delinquency as crimes committed by children, 35. 0% of them considered it to be bad behaviors possessed by children. There was no police officer who did not understand what juvenile delinquency means. Table 20: Most respondents in the table above responded to poverty and harassment to be the highest factors responsible for delinquent behavior of which they scored 25. 0% each, family problems and drug abuse scored 20. 0% while two people responded that any other factors could be responsible for juvenile delinquency which yielded 10. 0% of the responses.
Table 21: Like parents, the police officers who responded to the questionnaires also believed that delinquents indulge in more than one of the bad behaviors that were listed in the questionnaire and this scored 40. 0% of the responses, disobedience was another indulging behavior that was highly responded to with 35. 0%. The rest of the indulging behaviors as indicated above sexual promiscuity and any other behaviors scored 10% each while fighting was the least with5. 0%. Table 22: Also soliciting support from friends by the delinquents was considered to be the strongest coping strategy for the delinquents since it scored 40. %, it was followed by drug abuse with 30. 0% while escaping from accusations scored 20. 0% from the respondents. Isolation and hiding delinquent behavior had 5. 0% of the responses. Table 23: Majority of the respondents among the police officers regard lack of sensitization to be the biggest challenge faced by institutions in fighting juvenile delinquency, bad rehabilitative methods and lack of a well trained staff had similar responses to them yielding 25. 0% each and the least responses were for lack of time to help juvenile offenders which yielded 15. 0% only. Conclusion
In conclusion , considering the four objectives of this research, from the above three samples that were considered by the researcher, it was found out that most of the respondents agree that poverty is the main factor that is responsible for juvenile delinquency by all the samples. While delinquents considered fighting and disobedience to be the most indulging behavior, parents and the police officers thought that delinquents indulge in a combination of bad behaviors. Adolescents cope by getting support from their friends and escaping from those who accuse them and here they agreed with all the other respondents.
Where as the parents suggested corruption to be the biggest challenge faced by institutions in fighting delinquent behavior, for juvenile offenders and the police it was lack of sensitization that was the biggest institutional challenge in solving the problem of juvenile delinquency. CHAPTER FIVE Introduction This chapter provides the discussion of data analyzed in relation to the four objectives and research questions. It also contains the conclusion and the recommendations to the findings about the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda.
The data relates its findings to the literature discussed in chapter two where several writers discovered several facts about juvenile delinquency which the researcher has rediscovered through the findings of this research. Discussion of findings The first objective of this research was to find out the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda and this was well responded to in regard to table 5, 13 and 20 for all the sample categories i. e. juvenile offenders, parents and the police respectively. In all the samples, the issue of poverty was regarded to be the biggest factor that is responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda.
Out of 40 juveniles, 16 of them supported it, 7 of the 20 parents supported the same factor while 5 of the police officers had a similar response. Stephen Moore (2001) wrote that the solution to juvenile delinquency may not be found in remanding or punishing the juvenile offenders in some sort but in a number of various things. It there fore comes out that to eradicate juvenile delinquency other factors like poverty need to be dealt with. Other factors that were suggested by the samples included in respect of their high frequencies and percentages, family problems, harassments at school or else where, drug abuse and other or delinquents, while parents suggested the same in the same rankings as well as the police. The second objective of the research looked at identify behaviors or activities that juvenile delinquents do that are unacceptable in society. These were reflected in tables 6, 14 and 21 for all the samples. To this majority of the juvenile offenders suggested fighting to be the behavior they indulge in most followed by a combination of bad behaviors. The former yielded 42. 5% and the later 25. 0% while disobedience to parents also had 22. 5%.
Parents and the police suggested that offenders indulge most in a combination of bad behaviors followed by disobedience to parents and authority (60. 0% and 25. 0% then 40. 0% and 35. 0% respectively. These findings are related to what Stephen Moore, 1997 wrote about various activities that young people do that are socially un acceptable.. He gave a list of examples such as stealing, disobeying the law, fighting in public (affray), disobeying parents, refusing to do domestic work, abusing people, rape, defilement, vandalism, permissiveness, refusal to attend school, possessing ammunitions, destruction of property, gambling among many other.
Although not all of the above were brought out in the findings it can be worth to base on in finding a solution for juvenile delinquency. Efforts to reduce or stop the above indulging behaviors will automatically cause a change in the occurrence of juvenile delinquency. For instance if there is no fighting, disobedience to parents and other bad behaviors as shown above no one may ever complain of juvenile delinquency since the findings show that those are the indulging behaviors of delinquents.
The third objective aimed at finding out the coping strategies for survival of juvenile delinquents. The responses from the tables 7,15 and 22 which addressed this objective show that all the respondents agreed that delinquents cope through seeking support from their friends, parents and police followed that with drug abuse while the offenders put escaping from those who accuse them as their second coping strategy followed by hiding their delinquent behavior.
Other coping mechanisms like isolation and others did not get many responses as shown by the tables in chapter four. This means that delinquent behavior finds fertile grounds in areas and situations where the above practices are rampant and a better way of solving it is giving them no chance to occur. There is a special interest in knowing why getting support from friends has had many responses from among all the respondents, this means peer support can be very influential in the lives of juveniles especially when it comes to grooming such bad behaviors.
Paul. B. Horton et. al (1998) had observed that the search for a “good time” often lead to a clash with the law. He suggested that the weakness of social control and coupled with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm can lead to a drift into juvenile delinquency. The fourth and last objective of this research was to find out the challenges faced by institutions and remand homes for juvenile offenders in fighting against the behavior of juvenile delinquency.
Lack of sensitization was the highest response from among the juveniles; this was followed by bad rehabilitative methods used in such institutions like remand homes and then inadequate well trained staff to help offenders to quite the behavior of delinquency. Only five offenders suggested that their care givers in remand homes don’t give enough time to help them. This may call for the revision of the methods that are being used in remand homes to rehabilitate the young offenders.
Similar responses were obtained by the police and the parents The challenged institutions in context here may include the police, schools, communities, families, churches among others. Conclusion In conclusion, it was found out that juvenile delinquency is not in mere words but in actions where by there are many children in remand homes to the extent of congestion, the objectives of the study were arrived at where by the main factors responsible for juvenile delinquency were found out, poverty, family problems and harassments that children get in their day to day life which make them more violent and wild.
The findings also showed that delinquents mainly indulge in behaviors like fighting, disobedience to parents and authority, a combination of several behaviors that are socially regarded as bad, delinquent children were found to be mainly coping through the help of friends, drug abuse, escaping form those who accuse them and hiding their delinquent behaviors.
The main institutional challenges were also found to be poor sensitization of the public about the dangers and other negative things associated with juvenile delinquency, the presence of bad rehabilitative methods in the course of helping the juvenile offenders to change from their habits, lack of well trained staff and in ability to allocate enough time to help the juvenile offenders.
Recommendations It is recommended according to the findings of this research that efforts to fight juvenile delinquency should also focus on a variety of factors like poverty eradication, improving family life and systems to avoid family problems, the fighting of drug abuse and any other factors that can influence the life of juveniles.
From the second objective of the study and its relevant findings are its recommended that the stake holders in the fight against juvenile delinquency and the building of good morals focus on promotion of good social values and behaviors, sensitization of the public about the root causes of complex behavioral disorders like delinquency from the neglected or “simple” un acceptable behaviors. The stake holders in focus should include parents, police, remand home officials, the ministry of Ethics and Integrity, school authorities, church leaders and other responsible persons.
There should be strengthening of crime cracking units through the police force in areas like slums where acts like drug abuse are rampant, these drugs include alcohol, marijuana, myrrh, sniffing of petrol among others. Meanwhile efforts to limit the availability of such drugs should also be made by the government and other institutions in order to reduce chances of indulging into drug abuse, for example the presence of cheap alcohol so much so that the children can afford should be eliminated in order to save children from such dangers of alcohol.
School authorities and parents should put efforts to ensure enculturation of formation of good peers for good socialization which is a necessary tool to fighting the growth of juvenile delinquency through negative support of friends (negative peer influence). If such happens peers will be used as a tool to fight juvenile delinquency and any chances of its growth will be denied.
There can also be sensitization of parents, teachers and care givers about how to create a hospitable and friendly environment for children to grow which reduces the chances of becoming delinquent children. It can also be recommended to the parents and school authorities where children are mainly groomed from to create a child friendly environment which is free from stress, threats and harassments which play a big role in promotion of juvenile delinquency.
As regards the last objective of this study which talks about the challenges of responsible institutions, it would be recommended that changes and adjustments be made in the responsible institutions in their rehabilitative methods for example strengthening the sensitization of the public and schools where the children go to school about the dangers and other relevant information about juvenile delinquency, counseling services to the offenders could be made available to curb the various psycho social problems that they have faced that lead them to delinquent behavior. REFFERENCES Robert, P.
Archer (1987). Using the MMPI with Adolescents. Hilsdale. New Jersey. Allyn and Bacon (1985). Lefton Psychology. 3rd ed. The social Background of Juvenile delinquency in Uganda . Naguru Remand Home – Kampala. East African Mediacal Journals. Vol. 55. Issue 2. (www. ncjrs. gov. /App/publication) Terrie, E. Muffit, Auchom, Capsi, Guilford, (2003). Causes of conduct disorders and juveniledelinquency. New York. Mirk Karby. , Warren Kidd. , Franchine Koubel. , et. al (1997). Sociology in perspective. Heinemann educational publishers. Herly court. Jordan Hill. Oxford. London. Robert, C, Carson. James N. Burcher. , Susan Mineka (2000). Abnormal Psychology. New Delhi. India. Victims of Bullying. Vol. 13. (Graig Donellan, 2001). Independent Series. Cambridge. Britain. Guidance and Counseling for post primary institutions. Teachers Resource Book. Ministryof education and sports. Kampala – Uganda. Stephen Moore (2001). Sociology Alive. 3rd ed. Nelson Thorns Ltd. Paul H. Musen. , John, J. Conger & Jerome Kengan (1979). Child’s Development and Personality3rd ed. Behavioral Disorders. Vol. 22. No. 4 (Aug. 1997). Journal of the council for children with behavioral disorders. W. D. Wall (1979).
Constructive Education for Special Groups. Handicapped and Deviant children. UNESCO. Paris & George. G. Harp C. O Ltd. High Holborn. London. Stephen Moore (1997). Sociology Alive. Sternly Thorn. London. Paul, B. Horton & Chester L. Hunt (1998). Sociology. Library of Congress catalogue Publication. Data. U. S. A. A holistic approach to psychological support. A national training manual for care giversof orphans and other vulnerable children in Uganda. Ministry of Gender, Labor and SocialDevelopment. National Council for Children. Monitoring Child welfare. Chintamanikar (1992). Exceptional Children.
Their psychology and education. Sterling Publishers Private Ltd. New Delhi. India. Practice Guidelines for work with Street Children in Uganda. (September 1999). Department of child care and protection. Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development. Kenneth, M. and Norman, T. (2004). Core Higher Geography. Holder and Stoughton Edition. Scotland. London. APPENDIX I Questionnaire for juvenile offenders Dear respondent, You have been identified and considered as a resourceful person to contribute to the research that is being carried out about the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda.
Because of your role and experience, the researcher has drafted a set of questions asking for your cooperation in answering them genuinely. You are further informed that this research is strictly for academic purposes and that any information and contribution you make will be valuable and kept confidential. Thank you for you cooperation. SECTION A Please tick what is appropriate. Personal information 1. Sex: MaleFemale 2. Age: 8 -10 11 – 13 14 -16 17 – 19 3. Please tick the category corresponding to you status Primary school pupil Secondary school student Employed / working Non of the above 4.
You are also requested to tick in the box which corresponds to the level of your education which you have attained as indicated below: Primary school Secondary school 5. Please tick the category of people from whom you receive help Parents Guardian School authorities Any others (specify) 6. Explain briefly about what you understand by juvenile delinquency. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7. Do you think you community is solving the problem of juvenile delinquency? Yes No Not sure SECTION B You are asked to respond to the following questions by ticking in accordance to your opinion 8.
Juvenile delinquency in Uganda is rampant because it has not been fully addressed by those responsible Agree Disagree Not sure 9. Most juvenile delinquents portray behavior that exposes them and those around them in danger Agree Disagree Not sure 10. Delinquent behavior is strengthened by the methods delinquents adopt in carrying out their activities and behaviors Agree Disagree Not sure 11. Remand homes, police and other institutions are not effective in addressing juvenile delinquency in Uganda. Agree Disagree Not sure SECTION C 12. In my view, I was led into delinquent behavior because of the following.
Poverty at home or in society Family problems Harassments Drug abuse Any others please specify………. 13. I was accused of being delinquent due to getting involved in one of the following behaviors. Disobedience to parents and authority Fighting Sexual promiscuity A combination of two or more of the above Any others please specify……………… 14. When I am / was a delinquent, the following factors helped me to sustain my behaviors. Seeking support from friends Getting involved in drug abuse Running away from those who accuse me Isolating my self from others Hiding my delinquent behavior
Any others please specify……….. ……. 15. Remand homes and other institutions cannot or could not help me to change my delinquent behaviors because of the following reasons. Poor / bad rehabilitative methods Poor sensitization of the public about juvenile delinquency Lack of enough well trained staff in handling delinquency cases Failure to give enough time to help juvenile offenders Any others please specify…………………………… SECTION D You are requested to write briefly your opinion in response to the following question 16. Briefly explain the kind of behaviors you would regard to be delinquent among young people. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17. Explain in your opinion what could be the major causes of juvenile delinquency. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18. Write briefly about what you think should be done or changed in the lives of delinquent children in order to help them change. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19. Eexplain briefly the reasons you think have stopped the progress of the efforts to prevent and stop juvenile delinquency. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX II Questionnaire for parents Dear parent, You have been identified and considered as a resourceful person to contribute to the research that is being carried out about the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda. Because of your role and experience, the researcher has drafted a set of questions asking for your cooperation in answering them genuinely. You are further informed that this research is strictly for academic purposes and that any information and contribution you make will be valuable and kept confidential.
Thank you for you cooperation. SECTION A Please tick what is appropriate. Personal information 1. Sex: MaleFemale 2. Age: 18 -22 23 – 28 29 -33 34 – 38 39 – 43 44 + 3. Parental status Single parent Married Divorced Separated Widow Widower 4. Occupation: Employed Self employed Non 5. Have you ever experienced / witnessed juvenile delinquency? Yes No 6. If your answer above is yes, explain briefly about what you understand by juvenile delinquency. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7. Do you think you community is solving the problem of juvenile delinquency? Yes No Not sure SECTION B
You are asked to respond to the following questions by ticking in accordance to your opinion 8. Juvenile delinquency in Uganda is rampant because it has not been fully addressed by those responsible Agree Disagree Not sure 9. Most juvenile delinquents portray behavior that exposes them and those around them in danger Agree Disagree Not sure 10. Delinquent behavior is strengthened by the methods delinquents adopt in carrying out their activities and behaviors Agree Disagree Not sure 11. Remand homes, police and other institutions are not effective in addressing juvenile delinquency in Uganda.
Agree Disagree Not sure SECTION C 12. In my opinion I think juvenile delinquents are led into delinquent behavior because of the following. Poverty at home or in society Family problems Harassments Drug abuse Any others please specify………. 13. Juveniles are accused of being delinquent due to getting involved in one of the following behaviors. Disobedience to parents and authority Fighting Sexual promiscuity A combination of two or more of the above Any others please specify……………… 14. The following factors help juvenile delinquents to sustain their delinquent behaviors. Seeking support from friends
Getting involved in drug abuse Running away from those who accuse me Isolating my self from others Hiding my delinquent behavior Any others please specify……….. ……. 15. Remand homes and other institutions are challenged to help juvenile delinquents due to the following reasons. Poor / bad rehabilitative methods Poor sensitization of the public about juvenile delinquency Lack of enough well trained staff in handling delinquency cases Failure to give enough time to help juvenile offenders Any others please specify…………………………… SECTION D You are requested to write briefly your opinion in response to the following question 6. Briefly explain the kind of behaviors you would regard to be delinquent among young people. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17. Explain in your opinion what could be the major causes of juvenile delinquency. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18. Write briefly about what you think should be done or changed in the lives of delinquent children in order to help them change. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19.
Explain briefly the reasons you think have stopped the progress of the efforts to prevent and stop juvenile delinquency. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX III Questionnaire for police officers Dear respondent, You have been identified and considered as a resourceful person to contribute to the research that is being carried out about the factors responsible for juvenile delinquency in Uganda. Because of your role and experience, the researcher has drafted a set of questions asking for your cooperation in answering them genuinely.
You are further informed that this research is strictly for academic purposes and that any information and contribution you make will be valuable and kept confidential. Thank you for you cooperation. SECTION A Please tick what is appropriate. Personal information 1. Sex: MaleFemale 2. Age: 18 -22 23 – 28 29 -33 34 – 38 39 – 43 44 + 3. Marital status Single parent Married Divorced Separated Widow Widower 4. Please tick in the box corresponding to your category: Parent Guardian Non 5. Have you ever experienced / witnessed juvenile delinquency? Yes No 6.
If your answer above is yes, explain briefly about what you understand by juvenile delinquency. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7. Do you think you community is solving the problem of juvenile delinquency? Yes No Not sure SECTION B You are asked to respond to the following questions by ticking in accordance to your opinion 8. Juvenile delinquency in Uganda is rampant because it has not been fully addressed by those responsible Agree Disagree Not sure 9. Most juvenile delinquents portray behavior that exposes them and those around them in danger Agree Disagree Not sure 10.
Delinquent behavior is strengthened by the methods delinquents adopt in carrying out their activities and behaviors Agree Disagree Not sure 11. Remand homes, police and other institutions are not effective in addressing juvenile delinquency in Uganda. Agree Disagree Not sure SECTION C 12. In my opinion I think juvenile delinquents are led into delinquent behavior because of the following. Poverty at home or in society Family problems Harassments Drug abuse Any others please specify………. 13. Juveniles are accused of being delinquent due to getting involved in one of the following behaviors.
Disobedience to parents and authority Fighting Sexual promiscuity A combination of two or more of the above Any others please specify……………… 14. The following factors help juvenile delinquents to sustain their delinquent behaviors. Seeking support from friends Getting involved in drug abuse Running away from those who accuse me Isolating my self from others Hiding my delinquent behavior Any others please specify……….. ……. 15. Remand homes and other institutions are challenged to help juvenile delinquents due to the following reasons. Poor / bad rehabilitative methods Poor sensitization of the public about juvenile delinquency
