Juvenile delinquency among students of an approved sheltered girls’ school in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Juvenile delinquency is the involvement of a child younger than 18 years in behavior that violates the law. Its cost in terms of human potential, public safety and tax expenditures can be very high. Research that assesses how and why children become delinquent is a sound
investment, because it can provide the foundation for effective intervention in its prevention and control.
Objective: The study is to determine the factors associated with juvenile delinquency.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among sixty (60) students of the approved sheltered girls’ school, Idi-Araba, Lagos., using a structured intervieweradministered questionnaire.
Results: Findings revealed that the respondents were within the ages of 10-18 years with a mean age of 14.2 + 2.0 years, 70% had attained primary school education. Of the 53.3% that dropped out of school, 65.6% did so from financial problems, 6.3% as a result of poor performance
and peer pressure accounted for 28.1%. A total of 71.7% of the students were brought to the school by the police; 52.5% on account of roaming while lack of parental control, stealing, robbery and fighting accounted for 16.9%, 11.9%, 10.2%, and 8.5% respectively. Majority (58.6%) of the
students had both parents alive while 12.1% had both parents deceased. About 25 (41.7%) of the respondents admitted to committing a crime out of which 88% was stealing, 4% were involved in armed robbery and 8% in
house breaking. Of all the socio-demographics characteristics of the
respondents explored, only their educational level was found to be significantly associated (p=0.0197) with criminal behaviour. Mother’s educational level (p=0.0245), maternal alcohol consumption (p=0.0173) and kind of treatment (0.0245) received from step mums were significantly
associated with criminal behaviour.
Conclusion: Poor parental supervision, poverty and peer pressure played key roles in delinquency among the juveniles. An effective prevention and control of juvenile delinquency will require collective efforts involving all
stakeholders (family, government and non-governmental organizations) in child development.

Key words: Juvenile, delinquency, crime, social habits and family background