Deviant Behavior

In the United States, there are laws which determine the proper punishment for individuals who choose to commit crimes. If someone is under a certain age, then that individual is held less responsible for their choices than an adult who makes that same choice. However, if the crime is severe enough or if there is no appropriate remorse from the perpetrator, District Attorneys and prosecution may decide to try that person as an adult, even though they are under the age of eighteen. Theoreticians have argued about teenagers since the first stirrings of the psychoanalytic movement at the time of Freud. Can someone who is not yet a physical adult still make adult decisions and thus should their punishment fit their age or their action? Deviant behavior can manifest itself in three ways: power, money, and crime. Deviance in teenagers can be seen in all three categories.

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