Situational and opportunity factors associated with juvenile delinquency

Abstract

Psychology, together with other disciplines such as Sociology or Criminology, has attempted to respond to the aetiology of criminal behaviour in general and juvenile delinquency in particular. In this endeavour, the perspectives and theories that have arisen trying to explain this phenomenon are different. In this way, the scientific literature has shown how the individual and social factors of juvenile delinquency have been the most researched (Medina, 2011b), but it is true that situational factors have assumed a greater role in the last decade, as shown by international research. With all of the above in mind, the general objectives of this paper are, on the one hand, to study the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency from a situational perspective at different levels of analysis. On the other hand, to corroborate if the socio-economic and situational characteristics that in the international literature show to have relation with juvenile delinquency, are maintained in the context of the present thesis or if, on the other hand, they are other variables that are associated. To this end, this thesis compiles a systematic review -chapter 2 - and five non-experimental studies -chapters 3,4,5,6, and 7-. In summary, the results suggest that the socioeconomic scenario does not influence the choice of the place to commit the crime, although it is necessary to go deeper since there are national studies that show that they could have some type of influence on the personal characteristics of adolescents. In addition, in reference to the built environment, it can be said that the nature of certain facilities and services favor the propitious scenario for young people to commit infractions. More specifically, commercial areas and public transport stations are places of reference for many people. Finally, environmental results suggest that climate variables do not show any influence on juvenile infractions in our context. In short, we must be aware of the complexity involved in the study of juvenile delinquent behaviour. Not only because it is a polyhedral phenomenon, but also because of the difficulty involved in studying young people who commit crimes. In this sense, it is worth stressing the need to continue to study criminal events from a situational perspective. All this with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of life of the population; building safer and more inclusive cities; and that collaterally influences the economic development and improvement of the social capital of cities