I have a job interview working with juvenile offenders.  What are the
theories related to why juveniles break the law?  What contributing
factors are there to juvenile crime?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Our first link actually provides the answers to your questions.

“Causal Theories of Juvenile Delinquency”
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/stud7proj2.html


The website has information on the theories and factors as regards to
the causes of juvenile delinquency and crime.

FACTORS
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/causes.html


--------------------------------
THEORIES:

Social Learning
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/association.html

Rational Choice Theory
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/choice.html

Functionalism
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/functional.html

Structural Functionalists
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/sfunctional.html

Conflict Perspective
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/conflict.html

Labeling 
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/labelling.html
Social Control
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/scontrol.html

Strain Theory
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/anomie.html

Cultural Deviance
http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/english/courses/en205d/student7/deviance.html


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I also found this Powerpoint presentation that you can use to get a
better understanding about juvenile crime and delinquency.

Juvenile Delinquency
http://www.auburn.edu/~faupece/CR308/cr308ppt.htm 


Our next links will provide deeper discussions to this problem. It
will be good for you to read on them to get a wider perspective.

“Race as a Factor in Juvenile Arrests”
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/189180/contents.html 

“Violent Neighborhoods, Violent Kids”
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/2000_03_4/contents.html 

“Prevention of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending”
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/jjbul2000_04_1/contents.html 

“Truancy: First Step to a Lifetime of Problems”
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/truncy.pdf 

“Trends in Juvenile Violent Offending: An Analysis of Victim Survey
Data”
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/191052.pdf 

“Prevalence and Development of Child Delinquency”
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/193411/contents.html 

“Risk and Protective Factors of Child Delinquency”
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/193409/contents.html 


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Regards,             
Easterangel-ga             
Google Answers Researcher