Juvenile delinquency, crime and justice in the light of socio-economic conditions in Africa

Abstract

There does not seem to be an agreed definition of what is considered as juvenile delinquency and criminality. It is just as well that no rigid definition should be applied, as each country, society and community in a given time and space, may have its own definition of what is considered juvenile delinquency, m terms of its societal and cultural requirements, as defined by the penal code, and as applied by the police and courts. What compounds the difficulty is also the fact that there does not seem to be an agreed chronological line of demarcation nor age between delinquency and adult criminal behavior, each country seems to have its own age range, a lower and upper limit, as define by its penal code, and as considered by society. Broadly speaking, juvenile delinquency is applied variously to designate diverse forms of youthful activities that are regarded as misbehavior (Bloch and Geis 1970).