Association between Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Pecerption of Juveniel Deliquency Prevention among Minors in Abia State, Nigeria

A minor (juvenile) can be a person under the age of minority which is either seventeen or eighteen according to the jurisdiction. Juvenile delinquency covers a multitude of different violations of legal and social norms, from minor offence to serious crimes, committed by juveniles. Between two thirds and three quarters of all juvenile offence are committed by members of various minor groups. The study viewed the demographic characteristics as it relates to perception on prevention of juvenile delinquency among children below eighteen years in Abia State. A cross-sectional descriptive study was adopted and the respondents were drawn from the three senatorial zones of Abia State South East of Nigeria, who were within the ages of 10-17 years. The research was analyzed using statistical package for social science(SPSS) eg,univariate, bivariate and multi-variate methods. The research took a P value of 0.05 as significant regression. 399(100.0%) of them were students and 396(99.2%) were Christians while 393(98.5%) belong to igbo ethnic group 10(2.5) among the students, JSS and SS1 150 :(37.6%), SS2: 127(31.8) SS3: 112(28.1). On prevention of Juvenile delinquency, 377(94.5%) said provision of good Moral and religion instructions for the school minors as better means of prevention against bad behavior/crime and 352(88.2%) claimed increasing supervision of school teachers and academic curriculum and while 325(81.5%) claimed enhancements of guidance and counseling in the schools. The selected model was found to be statistically significant as the omnibus test of coefficient was statistically significant, χ2 = 180.472, p-value <0.001 with the overall correct percentage of 78.6%.

Conclusion: The theoretical information discussed in this study is a significant tool to empower the teachers to gain the proper perspective on juvenile delinquency – major issues being adolescence, juvenile delinquency and the common factors, globally, that lead adolescents to engage in antisocial behaviour.

Keywords: Juvenile, Delinquency, Socio-Demographic Socio-Demographic, Minor, Association