One of the main changes that has occurred in the world is the increase in juvenile delinquency. The term juvenile delinquency can refer to offenders between the ages of ten and sixteen (Queensland Police Service, 83). Australian state governments are responsible for managing young offenders. The juvenile justice system is responsible for supervising young people who have committed crimes (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ix). However, juvenile crime has become one of the most serious problems today due to the rapid growth of juvenile delinquency in recent years. In Australia, the number of young people under supervision increased from 2.2 per 1,000 in 2006 to 2.5 per 1,000 in 2008 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ix). For example, the Western Australian Government stated that 137 of the average daily population of WA young people in 2008 increased to 161 in 2009 (Mission Australia, 1). In addition to this, statistical analysis by Queensland Police in 2010 shows that youth crime in Queensland had increased by 36% compared to 10 years ago (Queensland Police Service, 35-43). Young males committed the majority of crimes in Queensland (Queensland Police Service, 83). In 2010, the majority of property crimes and thefts in Queensland were committed by ten-year-olds (Queensland Police Service, 84). Thus, Queensland Police statistics showed that young males aged between ten and fourteen were the fastest growing criminal groups in Queensland (Queensland Police Service, 83). Therefore, the above evidence shows that the juvenile justice system today is ineffective in controlling crime. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Important questions for criminologists today are why these changes have occurred in young people and how to overcome their problems. In this essay I will try to rigorously review a series of criminological theories on the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency. Then, I will argue that those criminological theories could reduce juvenile delinquents today. In my examination, I will first explore the labeling theory to explain that youth crimes were caused by social process and how the labeling theory has some influence in strengthening the juvenile justice system to overcome the problem of juvenile delinquency today. Secondly, I will use Merton's strain theory to examine the strain on social structures within society that can lead people to commit crimes and how rehabilitation programs aid the current juvenile justice system. First, labeling theory originally developed by sociologists in sociology studies, but is regularly used in criminological studies (White & Haines, 72). Therefore, labeling theory is different from other criminological theories because other criminological theories assume that criminal behavior is driven by biological, psychological, or genetic perspectives (White & Haines, 72). However, the labeling perspective argues that crime is a social process (White & Haines, 72). For example, White and Haines argued that the rise of rock-and-roll music culture, gay and lesbian activism, and the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s created a new phenomenon for current cultures youth (White & Haines, 73). These processes have called into question the current state, even threatening some powerful groups in society who are calling for these changes to be stopped. Therefore, imembers of the criminal justice system applied labels such as deviant or criminal to those people for their actions and behaviors (White & Haines, 74-75). However, this approach is defining the meaning of crime and what type of people's actions or behaviors they classify as criminal (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 226-227). Therefore, the labeling process can have negative effects such as stigmatization and influence those young people to become real criminals, as described by the criminal justice system. According to symbolic interaction theory, the above approach would create a self-image for people to help them define themselves (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 226-227). Unfortunately, these young people not only create a positive self-image, but also create a criminal self-image. In 1938, Frank Tannenbaum supported the idea of ​​a labeling theory from an example of conflict between youth and adults in an urban neighborhood (Tannenbaum, 20). For example, young people played like children when they were children (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 227). When those children become adolescents, they might experience something exciting or dangerous to play, which would deteriorate the relationship between the adult neighborhoods (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 227). Those adults would describe them as good kids but doing bad things. (Bernard, Snipes, and Gerould, 227). However, if the conflict between youth and adults worsens, then the will of the adult describes the youth as bad (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 227). Tannenbaum concluded: “The person becomes what he describes as being” (Tannenbaum, 20). Therefore, if a young person unable to get out of a criminal self-image, then he describes himself could turn into a real criminal. On the other hand, Eadie and Morley argued that the young man would be more offended once labeled a criminal. (Eadie and Morley, 552). Today's young delinquents may find that they are ridiculed by the current juvenile justice system and slowly turn into a real criminal. For example, Seen and Heard pointed out in their 1997 research that approximately 78% of young people said that the Australian police did not treat them with respect (Seen & Heard, 84). However, Lemert provides an explanation about labeling people's future behavior and describes the difference between primary deviation and secondary deviation (Lemert, 17). Primary deviant may refer to initial deviant (White & Haines, 79). According to Tannenbaum's example of conflict between youth and adults in an urban neighborhood, Lemert describes those youth who engage in that deviant behavior as primary deviation (Lemert, 40). Secondary deviation can refer to when a person engages in some form of primary deviation (White & Haines, 80). For example, the police arrest a young man and label him as a deviant. But that young person will begin to act differently and become stronger to counter ridicule from neighborhoods or gain surveillance from the police (White & Haines, 80). The example above coincides with the research of Eadie and Morley, they found that today's youth would slowly accept the role that society has labeled them and would start to mix with other people who had been labeled as them (Eadie & Morley, 552). Therefore, based on the labeling theory and its examples which demonstrate that the current juvenile justice system today is ineffective in controlling juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, in order to overcome juvenile delinquency today, the functioning of the juvenile justice system should have no stigmatizing effects, have greater tolerance and minimal intervention. Becker argued that the criminal label trumps other labels, so outsiders normally think that thepeople who are labeled are criminals (Becker, 34-35). For example, if a person has been in prison before they would be ridiculed by the public because of the public stereotype of the criminal (Becker, 37-39). The above situation affects those people who cannot find a normal job and this may force them to return to crime to survive. Therefore, in 2011, the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Victorian Safe Communities Network held the Young People, Risk and Resilience conference in Melbourne (Australian Institute of Criminology, 4). This conference brings together police, researchers and professionals to assist young offenders today to protect them from being penalized for their crimes. Diversionary programs have been implemented because they have the potential to reduce the number of juvenile delinquency in Australia. For example, Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) has proposed a diversionary program to divert young offenders from formal criminal justice processes in order to reduce unnecessary negative labeling and stigma. Additionally, diversionary programs such as Pasifika operate in all states to reduce the number of juvenile offenders in prison (Mission Australia, 1). White and Haines argued that limitations on publicity in juvenile cases and restrictions on fingerprinting young offenders would help them divert from the official criminal justice system (White & Haines, 84). The Tattoo Removal Scheme in Victoria is a program for young offenders that helps them rebuild a new image because tattoos were once a symbol of deviance (White & Haines, 84). Therefore, diversion programs help support the functioning of today's juvenile justice system, which would avoid negative labeling and stigmatizing effect, and help reduce the number of juvenile delinquents. In the 1930s, the American sociologist Robert K. Merton adapted Durkheim's theory to American society and developed deformation theory (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 154). Merton argued that the tension of social structures within society can lead people to commit crimes (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 154). The main concepts of strain theory stimulate the individual to seek greater wealth to achieve the “American Dream” (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 154). Therefore, it has become a psychological motivation for the public, which convinces the individual to work harder to achieve certain social goals. However, Merton argued that opportunities are not equal for everyone, so not all individuals can achieve the social goal (Merton, 188). Individuals who achieve wealth may identify themselves as middle class, but those who fail to achieve their social goal may remain as lower class (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 155-156). Merton argued that it was social structure, and not social culture, that explained why the rate of crimes committed by lower-class people in America was higher than other classes (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould, 156). For example, people who receive a poor education would not get a well-paying job and may be willing to commit crimes to gain wealth or change their status. Therefore, if opportunities are unequal in a society, some poor individuals will commit crimes. Depending on the opportunities available in a society, people must choose a way to achieve their goals. Merton describes those adaptations to this tension theory in five different ways as conformity, innovation, ritualism, withdrawal, and rebellion (White & Haines, 61). 1) Conformity refers to those who accept both the cultural goals and the means..