At-Risk Youth

The concept of risk factors is at the core of a large body of research on juvenile delinquency. A risk factor is any variable that is related to a juvenile becoming or not becoming a delinquent. The answer to what puts a child at risk is elusive because some research on the subject is contradictory. Often the identification of risk has focused on the trivial and simplistic: rock and roll, rap, and punk music; pornography; the Internet; television violence; violent video games; media coverage of crime; the glorification of crime and violence in movies; and so on. The simple fact is that juveniles have always been crime-prone. The reasons why a juvenile commits delinquent acts should be considered multivariate in nature. In other words, there is no single variable, such as television or music, that causes a juvenile to commit crime. However, certain variables (risk factors) are correlated with a juvenile becoming delinquent. Hence it is important to understand the difference between a causal factor and a risk factor.

A causal factor is a variable that causes a juvenile to be delinquent. A risk factor is a variable that, by its presence or absence, is correlated with the youth's becoming delinquent. A juvenile who possesses several risk factors will not necessarily become a delinquent. Similarly, the absence of all risk factors does not guarantee that a juvenile will not commit delinquent acts. In addition, the concept of protective factors (variables that correlate with not committing delinquent acts) have also been researched quite extensively. In essence, risk factors put a juvenile in greater danger of becoming delinquent while protective factors insulate a juvenile from becoming delinquent. Risk factors do not cause delinquency; protective factors do not prevent delinquency. Nonetheless, research indicates that the presence or absence of a risk or protective factor is related to delinquency. There is a cumulative effect of risk factors that tends to lead to certain risky behaviors and lifestyles, which in turn typically lead to negative outcomes and lost opportunities for the juvenile.

Efforts to design effective delinquency intervention and treatment programs have led to many research endeavors aimed at identifying the most problematic risk factors and the most important protective factors. As a result, numerous classification schemes of risk factors exist and lead to confusion regarding exactly which risk and protective factors are the most important. In addition, many identified risk factors are often beyond the youth's control (race, gender, socioeconomic status, school district) and thus do not lead to easy interventions. They may also include behaviors that children display when they are very young: hyperactivity, lying, acting out. Because these factors are relatively common in many children, intervention can be too sweeping and can identify children who really are not at risk. Another issue in the research on risk and protective factors is that the majority of youth commit some type of delinquent act, and drawing the line between “delinquent” and “nondelinquent” youth is not always clear or consistent.