Essay - Family, Deliquency and Crime Question 1. Define and Explain the...

FAMILY, DELIQUENCY AND CRIME

Question 1.

Define and explain the cycle of violence hypo*****sis as it relates to the intergenerational transmission of mistreating children. Be sure ***** include evidence that supports your pos*****ion.

***** cycle of violence theory is a well-known hypothesis ***** in its most simple form means that a cycle or a pattern ***** violence is set up ***** is "*****herited" by the *****. Th***** refers not to possible genetic aspects of violent crime that may be physically inherited but more aptly ***** the view that criminal patterns of behavior ***** deviance learned in the home or family environment are carried forward and perpetuated in the lives of those who have been exposed to *****se ***** ***** violence.

This view is s*****ported research sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), which found *****, "...childhood abuse and neglect increased ***** odds of future delinquency and adult criminality overall by 29 percent" and "...being ********** or neglected as a child increased the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 59 percent, *****s an ***** by 28 percent, *****d for a violent crime by 30 *****" (Widom and Maxfield, 2001). In the light of these statistics, the cycle of ***** ***** therefore suggests that, "...a childhood his*****ry of physical abuse predisposes the survivor to violence in later years. This study reveals ***** victims of neglect" (Widom ***** Maxfield, 2001).

The transmission of violent patterns of ***** is ********** considered ***** take place largely with***** the family structure and become intergenerational. The most common and plausible explanation for this process is that these patterns of behavior ***** learned *****in the family environment and imitated by the children. However, ***** learning process, as many studies indicate, ***** a complex process and *****ten involves outside influences and variables. This also means that it does not necessarily follow that every individual ***** is exposed to prolonged periods of violent behavior at an influential age will automatically adopt ***** types ***** behavior. "....***** learning of aggressive behavior is a complex ***** in ***** the interactions between individual, environmental ***** structural variables produce different outcomes in ***** *****dividuals" (The ***** of violence: the role of parental ***** in the learn*****g of aggression).

However, the general theoretical consensus is that ***** learn ***** im*****ation of those around them and th***** can lead to the adoption ***** violent ***** in *****s where parents exhibit such behavior. There are many critiques of this theory, with the main criticism being that it is *****o weak to explain the considerable variance in the research findings. For example, it has ***** found that expo***** to violence has different outcomes for different people; ***** that very often the children who ***** ***** do not continue to become abusers themselves in later life. As a result, "...these problems ***** the cycle of ***** hypo*****sis have led researchers to try different approaches ***** identify which specific ***** variables are more likely to influence the transmission and maintenance of aggressive behaviors" (The cycle of violence: the