Social and psychological status of a juvenile offender's family

Introduciton. Juvenile offences remain one of the most urgent problems in the modern society, a difficult pedagogical and social task, and its solution requires a complex approach. Analysis of administrative offences enables the author to scrutinize interconnection of various social and psychological factors of a family and juvenile unlawful behaviour. The objective is to reveal social and psychological status characteristics of a family which influence the formation of a juvenile offender personality. Materials and Methods. 164 cases on administrative offences regarding juveniles and their parents were examined. The focus-group method with the students aged from 14 to 18 years old was employed. Results and Discussion. The author managed to specify the main subjective and objective features of creating an unfavourable social and psychological status of a juvenile in the family, which causes unlawful behaviour. It is proved that the negative impact on formation of juvenile asocial behaviour is made by social and psychological status of a family, legal characteristics of his parents and close relatives, the parents' level of education, incomplete family, family structure, residence, sex and age of the juveniles themselves. It is revealed that 81% of parents who fail to perform their parental duties abuse alcohol, in 14% of cases moving to another place causes social disorganization and formation of delinquent behaviour. Criminal records of 8% of juvenile offenders' parents was a crucial factor causing asocial formation of a person. In 75% of cases parents do not have higher education, in 9% their education is lower than secondary, which indicates the limited scope of intellect and interests and opportunities for upbringing. Conclusions. Psychological essence of a juvenile offender and conditions of its moral and psychological formation depend on his family status, his parents' level of education, occupation, and their characteristics, a number of children in the family, family relations, close relatives.