Familial criminal history and socio-emotional development of juvenile delinquents and students in Punjab, Pakistan: a comparative analysis

Purpose Society assumes that children of parents with criminal records are at risk of becoming criminals as well. The purpose of this study is to identify psychological and crime-related factors that explain the difference between juveniles and students concerning familial criminal records. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional research design is used to collect data from 213 respondents from Borstal Institute and Juvenile Jails (n = 118) in Bahawalpur and Faisalabad, whereas match groups are extracted through purposive sampling from government schools (n = 95) of respective cities by using gender, age and socioeconomic status as criteria. Then, divided each group into subgroups with and without parental crime histories. Findings Findings showed that the majority of juveniles are illiterate from rural areas living in joint family systems with high illiteracy prevalence among parents. Juvenile delinquents have close relations (father, brother, etc.) committing violent crimes and staying in jail for longer periods whereas students reported the opposite trend. Findings of MANOVA showed that juveniles with familial criminal records scored high on delinquent tendencies, emotional immaturity and physical and verbal aggression. In contrast, students who did not report familial criminal records scored high on prosocial behavior and positive orientation. Practical implications Though based on cross-sectional data, this study is an initial attempt to provide a snapshot of the psychosocial development of adolescents with and without familial criminal records. This study is a risk assessment to target community or prison-specific interventions for adolescents with intergenerational transmission of crime.