Factors Influencing Juvenile Delinquencies Among Juvenile
[A CASE STUDY OF BORSTAL TRAINING INSTITUTE GANMO, KWARA STATE.]

    According to the developmental research of Moffilt (2006), there are two differences types of offenders that emerge in adolescence. One is the repeat offender, referred to as the life-course-persistent offender, who begins offending or showing anti-social/aggressive behaviour in adolescence (or even childhood) and continues into adulthood; and the age specific offender, referred to as the adolescence – limited offender, for whom juvenile offending or delinquency begins and ends during their period of adolescence. Because most teenagers tend to show some form of antisocial, aggressive or delinquent behaviour during adolescence.
    According to Roberts (2013), failure in schools is the main risk factor of juvenile delinquency. Failure at school includes poor academic performance, poor attendance, or more likely, expulsion or dropping out of school. According to him, this is an important factor for predicting future criminal behaviour. Leaving school early reduces the chance that juveniles will develop the social skills that are gained in school, such as learning to meet deadlines, following instructions and being able to deal constructively with their peers.
    In addition, the growing incidence of child abuse and child neglect in the family tend to increase the probability of a child committing a criminal act (Roberts, 2012).
    From the foregoing, it is clear that juvenile delinquency posed a serious threat to our society. Therefore, the fundamental concern of this study is to examine the causes and suggest lasting solutions to this threatening problem in our contemporary societies.
Research Questions
    The study aims at finding answers to the following research questions:
(1)    What are the factors influencing juvenile delinquencies?
(2)    Is there any difference in the factor influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents based on gender?
(3)    Is there any difference in the factor influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents based on age?
(4)    Is there any difference in the factor influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents based on family type?
(5)    Is there any difference in the factor influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents based on religion?
Research Hypotheses
    The following null hypotheses are generated for testing in this study:
(1)    There is no significant difference in the factors influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents on the basis of gender.
(2)    There is no significant difference in the factors influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents on the basis of age.
(3)    There is no significant difference in the factors influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents on the basis of family type.
(4)    There is no significant difference in the factors influencing juvenile delinquencies by respondents on the basis of religion.
Purpose of the Study
    It has been observed that the problem of juvenile delinquency has been one of the malicious, negativistic acts of purposeless violence which has turned out to be difficult to prevent and control in our school. Worst still, it has become a formidable cankerworm in our school. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to provide both quantitative and qualitative data on the factors influencing juvenile delinquency.
    Specifically, the study will examine if variables: Age, Gender, Religion and Family type will have a significant difference on the factors influencing juvenile delinquency among respondents.