FORMER DELINQUENTS: TEENAGE DELINQUENTS IN ADULTHOOD

Introduction

This page will go over what happens to juvenile delinquents as they enter adulthood. Unlike other ways we group people, such as race and gender, age constantly changes, and teenagers eventually become adults. What then happens when troubled teens become adults? Do they become reformed or continue into a life of crime? This page will explain how most juvenile delinquents do not enter lives of crime, and how there are roads out even if they do become adult offenders.

Where are They Now? – Canadian Delinquents as Adults

Unique to the discussion of adolescence is the fact that people age out of teenagerhood. This leaves us with the interesting question of what happens to juvenile delinquents after they become adults. The first question many may wonder about is if juvenile criminals will grow into adult criminals. According to current research, the answer is no. Sociologist Julian Tanner states that “most delinquents do not grow up to become adult criminals. Those who do, as you might expect, are the ones who as adolescence displayed the most involvement with delinquency – as gauged by how young they were when they started, how often the offended, and the seriousness of their offending.”¹ Tanner suggests that a certain level of “embeddedness” and unemployment among former delinquents is needed to result in further criminal activity.² With strong parental involvement, assuming those parents are not themselves involved in criminal activity, many will grow into employed, law abiding adults.³

Tanner also discusses former victims, something that was lightly touched on in the section about crimes on teenagers. A study from 2000 finds that early victimization does result in problems later in life, especially in adolescence where the effects are stronger than any time before or after the teenage years.⁴ Most concerningly, outside influences do not seem to change the effects of early victimization, as this study shows that even having an affluent, loving family and no connections to deviant subcultures does not protect people from the scars of victimization.⁵

Finding God

One interesting artefact found in the Reach is a pamphlet for a M2/W2 Dinner where their speaker, Ernie Hollands, describes himself as “an ex-habitual criminal.”⁶ This organization still exists as an accredited Christian charity and describes their mission as “to empower and equip volunteers to build practical mentoring relationships with people affected by incarceration.”⁷ This appears to be similar to their mission in 1980 as they state, “sponsors are welcome to bring their inmates if they are allowed to come.”⁸

What I wish to analyse in this pamphlet is the few paragraphs Hollands is describes in, which shows an interesting viewpoint of a former delinquent and criminal.

An image of Ernie Hollands. He looks like a respectable man in a suit with styled hair. — (Ernie Hollands, M2W2 Pamphlet, 1980)

His past is described as such: “Having been taught to steal as a child in a poverty-stricken family, Ernie quickly progressed to bigger things – to juvenile delinquency, to house breaking, to armed robbery, to attempted murder. He was eventually labeled a habitual criminal who had an inner compulsion that made it impossible for him to stop committing crimes.”⁹ As of 1980, the pamphlet describes how Hollands now goes to prisons as a volunteer and a speaker, has lost his interest in criminal behaviour, and has a goal of bringing “God’s love to those who really need it.”¹⁰ Hollands gives credit for his change to “God and one of His children who came to see him in prison.”¹¹

The small part of Hollands’ story we can get from this pamphlet tells us an interesting way some delinquents left crime, through religion. It also shows us one kind of outreach that occurred in the Fraser Valley. Considering the large population of Christians, especially Mennonites, it makes sense that we would see Christian Charities pop up to help criminals find the light, so to speak. However, M2/W2 appears to be very focused on adult offenders, which leads to interesting discussions about juvenile delinquents who became adult criminals, but not much about teenage criminals unfortunately. We can see how people like Hollands, who had been juvenile delinquents have found help through organizations like this though.

Another note that must be made about this case comes from the fact that M2/W2 does prison outreach, not prevention. We cannot blame this charity for not doing everything, and they work they do is immensely important, as giving former convicts a sense of community and aid is a vital part of the rehabilitative process, but it does beg the question of what is being done for prevention. Hollands past is described as poor, with him having to steal to make ends meet. This makes one wonder where food banks and other charities were to help him as a child, but that is a whole other conversation that would require a lot of analysis of charity work and social welfare that I cannot get into here.

Conclusions

Hollands’ story offers just one possibility for former juvenile delinquents turned adult offenders. The idea of ‘finding God’ in prison is not a unique story, and certainly in an area like the Fraser Valley with a large Christian presence there are many stories like Hollands’. What we find when looking at former delinquents is quite interesting in comparison to what we might expect. The fact that most delinquents grow out of it, so to speak, is an interesting fact. For anyone who finds that shocking though, I ask you to think back to your teenage years and all the things you did that you now wince at and regret. Perhaps some of you also fall into the category of former delinquents and are now well adjusted adults. But for those who did have other factors that led them to crime, it is also good to know that there are, and have been for a while, charities willing to do outreach and help these people make their lives better.

Endnotes

1 Julian Tanner, Teenage Troubles: Youth and Deviance in Canada (Ontario, Oxford University Press, 2015), 165.

2 Tanner, Teenage Troubles, 167.

3 Tanner, Teenage Troubles, 167.

4 Tanner, Teenage Troubles, 170.

5 Tanner, Teenage Troubles, 171.

6 “M2W2 Newsletter: Volume 13/ Number 3/ Fall 1980,” pamphlet, in Law Enforcement Box, folder Law Enforcement/ Corrections, The Reach Archive, Abbotsford B.C.