Posted: September 7th, 2022

Workforce Shortages among Juvenile Delinquency

Workforce Shortages among Juvenile Delinquency
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Workforce Shortages among Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile delinquency commonly refers to the young individual who has committed criminal offenses. Most individuals or youth who have been engaged in delinquent behavior or are currently facing deviant behavior problems find it hard to engage in the workforce or even maintain employment. There has been a continuous trend of employees basing their job selection criteria on the juvenile records, which has played a role in increasing the workforce shortage among juvenile delinquency (Young et al., 2017). The trend has seen workforce shortages among juvenile delinquency. This paper provides an analysis of the issue of workforce shortage among juvenile delinquency, citing factors that contribute to the shortages.
Literature Review
Some of the existing literature regarding the issue have established the negative relationship between young persons or individuals with delinquent behavior with the workforce. Although juvenile delinquency involves law-breaking behavior, some other behavior is considered deviant but not law-breaking (Humphrey & Schmalleger, 2012). Workforce shortages among juvenile delinquency have a significant impact on delinquent behavior. For instance, General Strain Theory provides that strains, such as lack of financial resources, can be contributed by unemployment, serving as a state of discomfort triggering delinquent behavior (Agnew, 2001). Therefore, the problem of workforce shortage is set to continue to increase the opportunities for delinquent behavior.
Various factors were determined that are associated with workforce shortage among juvenile delinquency. As per Wong and Ying (2006), the deviant behavior among the youth is considered to have created situations whereby the delinquent youth cannot fit into the education system or the current labor market. The characteristics of juvenile delinquency were also considered to have an impact on the workforce. Two characteristic theories have been studied, including a clinical perspective associated with psychiatric disorders, including addiction to the internet, autism, social anxiety, schizophrenia (Chan & Lo, 2016). The other characteristic theory is nonclinical, which involves the culture in society. For instance, the rigid expectations on juvenile concerning school transitions to work or employment practices that most juveniles tend to find difficult to conform.
The other factor that was found to contribute to workforce shortage among juvenile delinquency is the young person cannot maintain long-term jobs. The failure of maintaining long-term jobs, as provided by Norasakkunkit & Uchida (2011), could be due to the fear of encountering fear, which is still in most cases associated with the past delinquent behavior that they regard as part of their failure. The other reasons that might be associated with the juvenile failure to maintain long-term jobs include withdrawing from the job due to the perspective of a mismatch with the structure of employment or mainstream standards in society. The other factor contributing to the workforce shortage among juvenile delinquency is the high job selection scrutinize conducted by most employees today. Most companies’ job recruitment procedures include high background checks that, in most cases, eliminate the individuals who tend to have bad juvenile records. Most young individuals with deviant behavior records are discouraged from finding jobs due to such scrutinizes.
Conclusion and Future Recommendations
Workforce shortages among juvenile delinquency, are considered to have been contributed by various factors that young individuals, especially those with delinquent behavior record face. Some of the highlighted factors resulting in workforce shortages include lack of financial resources, inability to fit in the current job market, societal expectations, and the recruitment procedures currently used. It is recommended for future work to consider the measures deployed to deal with workforce shortages among juvenile delinquency.

References
Agnew, R. (2001). Building on the foundation of general strain theory: specifying the types of strain most likely to lead to delinquency. J Res Crime Delinq, 38:319–61. doi: 10.1177/0022427801038004001
Chan, G., & Lo, T. (2016). Hidden youth and the virtual world: the process of labeling and empowerment. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315718521
Humphrey, J., & Schmalleger, F. (2012). Deviant behavior. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Norasakkunkit, V., & Uchida, Y. (2011). Psychological consequences of post industrial anomie on self and motivation among Japanese youth. J Soc Issues, 67:774–86. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2011.01727.x
Wong, V., and Ying, W. (2006). Young people and social withdrawal: a social exclusion perspective. Hong Kong J Soc Work, 40(1/2):61–91. doi: 10.1142/S0219246206000064
Young, S., Greer, B., & Church, R. (2017). Juvenile delinquency, welfare, justice and therapeutic interventions: a global perspective. BJPsych bulletin, 41(1), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.115.052274

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