Juvenile Delinquency and Crime Nairobi Slum Areas, Kenya

Abstract

Juvenile delinquency has become an urgent concern for sociologists across the globe because it is a significant predictor of a possible increase in criminal activity among our growing population. A juvenile is a person who is under the age of ordinary criminal prosecution, which is normally 17 years. The increase in the incidence of juvenile delinquency implies that if measures are not taken in place, there are possibilities of the situation running out of hand. Juvenile delinquency can be considered as social maladjustment on the part of individuals to some difficult circumstances or conditions. The descriptive research design was adopted for this study since the researcher was interested in describing the salient traits of young offenders in the slum areas in Nairobi County and more specifically the predictors of their criminal behaviour and its effects. A sample of 200 respondents aged 18-45 years was generated using simple random sampling. A questionnaire was distributed amongst the respondents. Some questionnaires were distributed virtually using the Survey Monkey platform, which enabled the respondents to access and respond to the questions using their smartphones. The descriptive statistical analysis method was used to analyse the data, which was subsequently presented in table format.