Juvenile Delinquency in Nicholas Sparks’ Novel The Last Song
Abstract
The objective of this research was to identify the portrait of juvenile delinquency in the novel The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. Some related theories in the form of juvenile delinquency were applied in this research, one of which was that proposed by Steinhart (1996), an expert lawyer in the juvenile justice system, stating that offenses status is behavior that is unlawful for children. This research was conducted using qualitative descriptive methods proposed by Kothari (2004) with the goal of a comprehensive summarization, in everyday terms, of specific events experienced by individuals or groups of individuals. The research results showed that there are three forms of juvenile delinquency: drug abuse, shoplifting and violence, and all are done by the major characters, namely Veronica Miller, Blaze and Marcus. They carry out acts of juvenile delinquency without reasons, but they are accustomed to doing so, mainly for their desires and satisfaction.
Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency, Drug Abuse, Shoplifting, Violence
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