Juvenile Delinquency among Adolescents in Secondary Schools at Gambella administrative Town: Prevalence, causes and corrective strategies

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency significantly contributes for existence of anti-social behavior which causes political, social and economic instability of the country. In the region as whole juvenile delinquency behavior was disturbing peace and security. The study was aimed at assessing juvenile delinquency and social behavior the case of secondary school students located in Gambella town administration, South Western Ethiopia. Qualitative and quantitative approach was employed to conduct this study. Gambella Secondary School and Newland secondary school students were selected randomly from total secondary schools found in Gambella town. Using simple random sampling technique and purposive selection, 358 respondents were selected from 5292 of total respondents. Data was collected from primary source. Descriptive statistics and observational analysis was used to analyze data collected from respondents. The study finding shows that types of juvenile delinquency were gang involvement (hanging activities), exam malpractice (cheating) alcohol involvement, beatings, drug use behavior, robbery and ethnic conflict involvement. Causes of juvenile delinquency were also identified and includes Lack of communication with their families ( lack of advice from parents) peers influence, lack of social training, lack of income, broken family (divorce of mother and father), ethnic conflict, political instability and lack of literacy from parents. Concerning to corrective measures taken against juvenile delinquency behavior condemned the juveniles, parent child interaction training, using juvenile justice system, education and preparing recreation centers for juveniles, preparing awareness on effects of delinquency, identifying its causes and correcting it and training juveniles’ family on how to manage their children. Juvenile delinquency was potential problem in the study area because majority of villages and the towns were controlled by delinquent juveniles. This is because there was weak legal implementation to control delinquent boys and girls. Generally the study result concludes that there are so many numbers of causes of juvenile delinquency behavior which forms different types and a corrective measure taken was very weak. Therefore, it is recommended if local government finds solution for highly expanding juvenile delinquency behavior in the region by collaboratively working with juvenile parents, NGOs, school communities and other stakeholders.