Jessica Carpenter
Marvin Caston
SCWK 3233
22 April 2013
Delinquent Behavior by Maltreated Juveniles Maltreatment of youths directly influences whether or not a child will participate in acts of delinquency. In Child Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency: Investigating the Role of Placement and Placement Instability, Joseph P. Ryan and Mark F. Testa evaluate the results of maltreatment in youth and try to determine if placement in substitute care helps prevent or cause acts of delinquency. Child maltreatment, by definition, is an event occurring within the family or substitute care setting (such as a foster home, group home or daycare center). Physical abuse and neglect of children is best understood as “the manifestation of an unfolding sequence of underlying problems that are often initiated prior to the family’s formation and could be located as well in community and cultural conditions.” (Pecora, Whittaker, Maluccio & Barth, 2000) Maltreatment in children happens all the time, but it does not always happen by members of the family. Maltreatment comes in many forms and occurs by people in the community, peers and of course, members of an individual’s family. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated that there were approximately 2.9 million children in the United States in 1999 that were the focus of a child protective investigation. 826,162 of the children in the child protective investigations were associated with a substantiated report of maltreatment. Social Control Theory states that greater social capital results in greater compliance and commitment from youth that helps prevent them from engaging in delinquency. Social capital refers to the “durable relationships of commitment, trust and obligation that bind people together and facilitate the giving and exchanging of resources.” When the bond with society is in general weak,