A Psychological Constraint Responsible for Shaping Delinquent Behaviour

Abstract

In juvenile delinquency, aggressive behaviour can take many different forms, including feelings of resentment, thoughts of vengeance, bullying and sadistic behaviour, murder, etc. This behaviour violates others’ rights and social norms, and sometimes the violence is so subtly disguised that the perpetrator is not fully aware of his actions. The goal of the current study is to identify delinquents’ persistently aggressive behaviour as an underlying root cause of antisocial behaviour and to hold them accountable for the significant cognitive shift in their social behaviour. Additionally, an effort has been made to comprehend and analyse factors like age, the nature of offences, and the timing of offences related to antisocial behaviour. The study included a total of 150 samples (75 juvenile delinquents from Delhi remand homes and 75 Juvenile non-delinquents) that were selected through purposive sampling. Each participant is asked to respond to the aggression scale and interview schedule for assessing their variables (age, nature of offenses, and initiation of offences). The difference in aggression between delinquents and non-delinquents was calculated by the ‘t-test and found significant at P (>.01). The descriptive analysis of delinquents shows that adolescents in the major 17-year-old age group were more engaged in antisocial behavior, and their antisocial behaviour was much influenced by association with maladaptive peers. Most of the juvenile delinquents were involved in serious crimes, such as homicides. The juvenile justice system should emphasize comprehending the adolescent’s psychological perspective of his or her own latent violent behaviour, which has a substantial influence on the development of juvenile offending behaviours.