In recent time, juvenile delinquency and its associated problems pose serious threat to Lesotho and across the
globe. This includes actions and inactions of children below the age of eighteen, of which the child is subject to conviction by
the state. This study investigated the social background patterns of juvenile delinquents to ascertain their contributions to
juvenile delinquencies in Lesotho. The study made use of all the 43 juveniles who were in the Juvenile Training Centre (JTC)
in Maseru at the time of this research. Relevant data were collected through the use of survey questionnaires with close-ended
questions. The results in the main corroborated what exists in literature that most delinquents come from broken homes; most
delinquents are males; delinquency is at a higher rate in urban areas compared to the rural areas and that most delinquents are
part of peer groups who engage in delinquent behaviours. Precisely, Maseru the capital city of Lesotho and Leribe were found
to be the districts with highest rates of juvenile delinquency. It was also discovered that most of the juveniles have fathers who
are employed in the mining industry. The most committed offence across the country was robbery. The high rates of robbery,
housebreaking and stock theft indicate that poverty may be the factor behind the scene in Lesotho, which requires urgent
attention from the government to tackle and eradicate poverty.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1000711 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Obioha, EE, Nthabi, MA |
| Publisher | Journal of Social Science |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | |
| Rights | Kamla-Raj |
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