Biological and Psychological Factors
The crime involving a juvenile perpetrator is that of a sixteen year old Trayvon Martin who murdered three of his classmates in a tragic scuffle. Soon after the criminal act, the Metropolitan Police of Florida made a stunning revelation that the youth had earlier on been involved in a number of criminal activities right from his days at the elementary school.
In corroboration of the FBI report, the school authorities also admitted incidence of excessive aggression of which Trayvon is the sole perpetrator. Other counts of confrontations and verbal intimidations of violent nature have also been leveled against him on different occasions. Trayvlon is now incarcerated at the Florida juvenile detention center awaiting prosecution. Taking into consideration his family background, Trayvlon has never experienced any form of neglect from the parents; his loving parents have been always there for him and the investigations cannot positively identify the cause of his unbecoming criminal behavior since aggression of this kind is normally associated with either the abused or neglected children. Even though, the criminal investigations failed to identify the possible causes of Trayvlon’s conduct disorder, behavioral scientists are categorical that biological and psychological factors are at play. According to the Professor Gary Nash, 80% of the juvenile delinquents, otherwise referred to as psychopaths, are clinically diagnosed with either oppositional-defiant disorder or antisocial personality disorder.
The clinical survey shows that the psychopaths are generally aggressive and grossly violent to humans and animals thus they are more likely to become serious criminals in later on. Imperatively, these disorders are subject to inherited functional and structural differences of the brain. Aware that the criminal tendency of the juvenile arises from the neurological malfunction of the brain, the juvenile justice system should focus more on the clinical psychotherapeutic treatments of the disorders rather than punishment and life imprisonment.
