Sociology

Relationship between Adolescent Motherhood and Crime A Social Dimension of Crime Approach
The United States experiences a higher teenage birth rate as compared to other developed nations (Farrington, 1996). Children that have been born and raised by these teenagers often undergo more difficult childhoods than those born to other mothers. In this regard, they are more likely to commit crimes. In this paper, I will use the social dimensions of crime approach to discuss the relationship between adolescent motherhood and crime.  I will also assess the conditions that may help explain this relationship.

The United States crime rate during the 1980s was high for property and violent crimes (Farrington, 1996). It also had a high prevalence of assault, burglary, robbery and larceny (ibid.). It is also interesting to note that the country has a high rate of teen births. There is a high likelihood of children born of teen mothers to be unwanted, grow in poor conditions, and live in unstable single parent family.  There is high possibility of these features to compel children born of teenage mothers to commit crimes once they attain the crime-prone age range of late teens to twenties.

The main focus of this paper is to assess the relationship of high rates of teen births and crime, the mechanism through which this can occur and the degree to which such an impact can account for the high rates of crime in the United States. For this explanation, I will use the social dimensions of crime approach. In this regard, I will use demographic, socio-economic and individual level victimization information from the available literature.

From the analysis of the available literature, I discover that the rate of crime increases with an increase in the proportion of young people born to teenage mothers. The type of crime that is mainly prevalent is assault. The assault mainly affected is carried out by unarmed lone assailants that are familiar to the victim. These crimes are mainly not reported. Even though male victims consider these crimes to be less serious than other kinds of assault, female victims conceive them differently. My conclusion is that there is high possibility of individuals born to teenage mothers to be involved in one-to-one conflict with members of their families, relatives and workmates. The available evidence indicates that there are lower chances of them being involved in conflicts in other situations.

The high rates of assault in the United States as compared to that of the rest of the world can be explained by the high rates of teen births. The proportion of individuals born to teenage mothers may have numerous interpretations. Young mother may be unable to provide good parenting owing to their immaturity. They are also more likely to lack stable partners than older mothers. The implication is that the child is not accorded adequate parental attention and there is high potential for future family instability which may result in the child being traumatized. Again, the fact that there is a high likelihood of children born to teen mothers being unwanted than those of older mothers may impact on parental quality and consequently crime. Teen mothers are likely to be disadvantaged financially and this may hinder ideal upbringing.

Children that are also born to teenage mothers are also less likely to acquire any serious education and make connections that may help them get good jobs. As such, they are more likely to be poor themselves. This may result in them turning to economically motivated crime. The effect of the proportion of young people born to teen mothers corresponds with various findings that suggest that teen birth rates impact on the rate of physical and sexual assault. Beyond this, it provides an insight into the findings that suggest that single parent families are the best predictor of crime.

Numerous literatures within the field of criminology and other social sciences suggest that there is a link between the way a child has been brought up and hisher later likelihood of committing crimes. People born to teenage mothers and those who experienced family disruptions have been found to be more likely to commit crimes. Young men born to teen mother record high percentage of incarceration compared to those born to older mothers. Again, later delinquency of children born to teenage mothers may be a consequence of being born to a mother with poor parenting skills and inadequate financial resources. In this regard, there is a strong link between teenage motherhood and crime.