In the United States and many other countries we would say : yes to the question Many other society would have to debate this issues but the U. S. doesnt have to Throughout time there exist delinquency among the youth. It may not have had a delinquency label but we knew. Explaining crime and delinquency is a complex task. A multitude of 1. factors exist that contribute to the understanding of what leads someone to engage in delinquent behavior. While biological and psychological factors hold their own merit when explaining crime and delinquency, perhaps social factors can best explain juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is a massive and growing problem in America. .
The social causes of juvenile delinquency encompass a wide array of theories that have been set forth by criminologists and sociologists. Some theorists view delinquency as a function of the individual while others view delinquency as a macro level function of society. .
Many of the theories that will be presented will be applicable to at least some instances of crime and delinquency in society. Crime is such a diverse topic, that the explanation of this social problem is just as diverse. .
Just as the causal factors of delinquency are diverse and numerous, so are the definitions. Calhoun and others state, "Sociologists define deviance as any behavior that members of a social group define as violating their norms. This concept applies both to criminal acts of deviance and non-criminal acts that members of a group view as unethical, immoral, peculiar, sick, or otherwise outside the bounds of respectability" (168) . .
While Calhoun's definition looks at delinquency as an act that defies or diverges from cultural and legal norms, others have founded their own definitions. V.A. Tomovic cites Breckenridge's definition of delinquency as "a condition arising in the matrix of sociopersonal disorganization and in the sequence of experience and influences that shape behavior problems.
