Motives for property crimes committed by juveniles

A motive for a crime as an inner subjective action tendency is determined foremost by the lifestyle and upbringing of a juvenile, by moral and legal values, stereotypes predominating in a society and accepted by juveniles. Accordingly, the motives for crimes committed by juveniles reveal their characteristics, qualities and their attitude to principal social values. The research showed that the predominant (68%) motive for property crimes of juveniles was satisfaction of individual material needs and interests at the expense of other people (a mercenary motive). This motive was not connected with striving for hoarding and money grabbing as such but had a utilitarian character. It is worth saying that in each crime mercenary motives had different content depending on the character of material needs. It was showed in the research that mercenary motives of property crimes committed by juveniles expressed "the striving to take possession of material resources to ensure idle life" (38%); "the striving to satisfy the need for alcoholic drinks and drugs" (33%); "the desire to look not worse than others" (the so-called "motive of prestige")-25%; "the desire to eliminate material insecurity" (4%). The motives without profit comprised the second group of motives. A number of crimes were caused not by striving for illegal enrichment and satisfaction of material needs but by age peculiarities of juveniles. One in three property crimes (32%) included the motives which reflected the age peculiarities of juveniles. The crimes were committed because of a "growth motive" which combined the desire to prove a personal pertinence, authority, dominance in a group and desire "to follow the crowd". More than 57% of such property crimes were committed because of these motives. In other cases the motives connected with age peculiarities of juveniles expressed their desire to attract attention, make other jealous, excite admiration, earn a great reputation among peers and group mates and just for fun "for a team". All motives for property crimes differed in content and causes for crimes.

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