Why do Youth Commit Offence - Essay Example

?How do YOTs attempt to balance their responsibilities for child welfare and crime control? To what extent are they successful? A child is not born as a criminal or an offender; circumstances force him to become one (Weiner 242). Quoting Morrison, Weiner (242) further explains that that the surroundings in which a man is born and forced to live, shape him. Youth crime has become a significant problem in England especially in the socio-economically backward areas. A large number of youth come across some form of offending behavior in their lives whether as a perpetrator or as a victim. Most youth commit offence though the nature of the offences may not be serious. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the minimum age of criminal responsibility is set at 10 years while the boys and girls aged between 14 and 18 years are considered young adults. (Hollin et al 2). Sufficient evidence is available to prove that among children frequency in offending starts from the age of 8 and reaches the peak during the adolescent years at around the age of 16-17 years. Excessive levels of bullying and fighting, shoplifting, destruction to property, absence from school, defiant and provocative behavior, setting fires, physical attacks, graffiti and sexual assaults are some types of offending (Liabo and Richardson 14). The frequency in offending drops sharply at the age of 18 years and there is a strong possibility that the young offenders actually emerge as law-abiding citizens. Siegel and Welsh (282) have observed that the participation and the frequency of offences by young offenders decrease as they age. However offending does not totally vanish; it exists in the form of underage driving and consumption of alcohol (Hollin et al 2). A report conducted by Civitas (The Institute for the Study of Civil Society) showed that every year around 70,000 school aged children entered Youth Justice System with half of these first time offenders being young adults. The report also stated that both male and female were proven guilty of offence; however the number of male offenders was greater with theft and physical attacks on people being the greatest number of offences committed by the youth (Natale 2010). In England the offending youth have a love-hate relationship with the public. The public strongly condemns the offending actions of the young adults and considers them a threat to the lives and property of the public. On the other hand, the public also raises a hue and cry over the treatment meted out to the young offenders on the hands of law enforcement agencies. In early England, the young offenders were awarded the same punishment for petty offences as an adult. A child forced to steal a piece of bread out of hunger was a thief as was a grown up person who stole a valuable object. The outlook of the English Justice System has changed significantly and now young adults who offend are not treated as hardcore criminals. The Youth Justice System was established to deal with offending children and young adults and is very different from the adult justice system. According to the Youth Justice System, the young offenders should not be isolated from the society rather the whole community should work together to make them law abiding citizens. It believes that arrests and jail sentences do not stop the young offenders from re-offending rather it has been observed that often young adults turn into criminals when sent to prison. If offending is traumatizing for the victims, it also deeply affects the young perpetrator who often is not aware of the severity of his actions until it is too late. The children and young adults who offend need the support and help from all corners so that they do not re-offend and emerge as responsible citizens of the future. Why do Youth Commit Offence There are a number of reasons for which the young offenders commit crimes some of them being peer pressure (bullying), problems at home such as lack of discipline at home, violence at home, financial problems, poor housing, lack of communication between parents and children, boredom, hyper activity, not wanting to go to school, the feeling of exclusion and alienation, availability of alcohol and drugs, lack of leisure time facilities and mental health problems. Problems at school such as lack of discipline at school, learning problems and low grades also drive young adults towards crime (Oakland 161). In Oakland’s opinion the lenient sentences by the courts and poor policing, gangs and unemployment are other reasons for youth crimes. Siegel (52) considers “peer pressure” as the major reason of crimes by young offenders. According to him the youngsters commit offences to impress their peers. They commit offences to get admiration from their social groups and to get accepted. Those children who are subjected to abuse at home or witness conflicts at home also turn to offences. In many cases parents are too busy with their jobs to supervise their children which cause them to go astray. Also at times the parents are too harsh and so young offenders commit crimes as a sign of rebellion (Burfeind et al 109). Many young offenders also stated that the violence of television and films influenced them to commit crimes (Simon 251). Drugs and alcohol also act as motivators of crime among young offenders. While some young offenders committed crimes to get money to buy drugs and alcohol; a majority of young offenders too drugs and alcohol to get courage to commit crimes (Bennett and Holloway 72). The offending youths also quoted boredom to be a reason for offending. Some found offending thrilling and the best way to gain respect of the peers. The large number of immigrants have given rise to another type of offending; the racially motivated offending. The number of immigrants in UK has risen dramatically and most of them are housed in low income areas which are already the hotbed of crime. The local English in general resent the immigrants especially as majority of the immigrants do not attempt to blend with the English culture and instead have maintained their lifestyle. The local English population fears that their cultural identity is at stake. Also as the immigrants are willing to work at low wages, they fill the job vacancies causing more anger and frustration among the locals. The immigrants face racism, they are called names and often rude and racist slogans are spray painted outside their homes. This in return has caused much anguish and resentment against the locals. Youth on both sides are deeply affected by this negativity. Youth Offending Teams (YOT) According to Anning (32) the publication of the Audit Commission Report in 1996 the Misspent Youth was instrumental in the development of the Youth Offending Teams. This report brought to light the lack of coherent thinking within the Youth Justice System. It pointed out that the Youth Justice System was flawed and could be best described as inefficient, ineffective and expensive. The time delay in the processing of young offenders was another flaw of the Youth Justice System. The Youth Offending Teams were created in 1998 under the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) and under the “No More Excuses” legislation the Labor Government ensured that a firmer set of interventions were enforced on the children and young adults who broke the law (Giller 168) The practical implementation of the YOTs took place in England and in Wales in 2000 in 153 administrative areas. Each YOT was assigned an area and the main objective of the YOT was to minimize youth offending among children and young adults in that area (Anning 32). In order to effectively tackle youth offending, it was decided that the YOT would be a multi-agency and consists of staff from the Local Council, Police, Probation, education authorities, Health and housing services and social services (Andrew 46). This combination of personnel from different agencies was to ensure that the root cause which the child towards offending is identified and rectified. The root cause could be domestic problems, domestic abuse, poor schooling, drugs and alcohol, boredom and mental health problems. The Youth Offending Teams are supervised by the Youth Justice Board. Objectives of the Youth Offending Teams Basically the aim of the Youth Offending Team is to check offending and reduce the chances of re-offending among children and young adults. Agencies providing children’s services, police and courts refer any young adult (aged 10-17) who have offended or are accused of offending to the YOTs. The YOTs work on six basic objectives; the first one being the timely action; prior to the formation of YOTs, 142 days was the average time period required between the arrest and the eventual sentencing of the young offenders. Now the YOTs make sure that the whole process does not take more than 71 days. The second objective is to make the young offenders realize the consequences of their offending. This is usually done by holding face to face meetings with the offenders. Reparation and restorative justice are some approaches adopted by the YOTs. Thirdly the YOTs do risk assessment through ASSET; the risk assessment tool developed by the Youth Justice Board. Through this tool the YOTs can gather the complete information about the offender and select a remedial program or order for the young offender accordingly. The objective of the YOT is also to ensure that the punishment awarded to the young offender is in proportion with the crime committed. Reparation is encouraged as it makes the offender realize that his action can actually devastate a person and hurt him physically as well as mentally. The participation of the parents in parenting skills enhancement programs has been made compulsory (Giller 170). The objective of the YOT is also to supervise and support a young offender if he gets into trouble with the law which could either be getting arrested, appearing in the court after being charged with a crime and being sentenced after being found guilty of the crime. The various duties of the Youth Offending Teams include preparing reports and assessments for the courts, supervising the young offenders such as bail supervision, tagging and community sentences. Help and train parents to supervise their children more effectively. The YOTs also work with the school authorities to monitor the academic performance at school and to improve their school attendance. In order to inculcate a feeling of fair treatment, the YOTs assume the restorative justice approach; often young victims become offenders themselves out of resentment that they did not get their share of fair treatment. It is also the duty of the YOTs to monitor the free time activities of the young adults. To bring about behavioral changes, the YOTs provide short term counseling courses to the young offenders. They also try to obtain training and employments for the young offenders to help them become a useful member of the society (Sinclair 132). One of the most important duties of the Youth Offending Teams remains identifying those children and young adults who are at a strong risk of becoming involved in offending and to ensure that this does not happen. The YOTs also make sure that the chances of re-offending are largely minimized. This is done by careful planning and managing interventions. The Child welfare responsibilities of the Youth Offending Teams The children in trouble with the law face greater social and welfare problems. Quoting figures, it is stated in the report on Children’s Rights that 60 % of the children in trouble with the Law needed to be “looked after” because of various social and family issues. 25 % of males and 40% of females had been victims of domestic violence and 35 % of the children had three or more replacements. On the academic front too the situation was quite grim as 87% of the children were without significant education (Stationery Office 177). The Stationer Office further states in the Children’s Rights Report that sufficient evidence has proved the welfare based solutions of the Youth Offending Teams not only identify these problems but also try to meet the unmet needs in more effective manner thereby lowering the chances of re-offending by the young adults (Stationery Office 177). By acting swiftly and efficiently, the Youth Offending Teams can prevent a young adult from offending by providing help with any kind of problem they may be facing; for instance, domestic/family problems and also by looking after the physical and mental well-being of the children and the young adults. The Youth Offending Teams have chalked out numerous youth crime prevention programs which can strengthen the efforts of the local authorities against youth crimes (Arthur 57). Problems with parents have been citied as one of the major causes of youth offending. Some YOTs offer parenting courses to help parents develop skills required for dealing with the unreasonable and difficult behavior of the children and to provide support which would motivate a young adult to stay away from crimes (Arthur 57). The racially motivated offending is dealt with meditation and conferencing. This has proved to be a very effective method with dealing racist cases. The police and the Youth Offending Teams arrange a meeting between the victims of racism and the offenders. The victims get a chance to explain why such comments and attitude hurts them and the offenders to comprehend how such words can upset and hurt a person’s feelings. Such face to face meetings can help the young offenders reassess and correct their attitude (Liebmann 308). How far has the YOT been successful? The Youth Offending Teams are a multi-agency blend; the various factions in the team are bound together by common social work ethic and this could be a reason that performance of the YOTs on both fronts; child welfare and crime control has been quite satisfactory. The different professionals in the YOTs share their knowledge, experiences and expertise with others to achieve their objectives (prevention of offending and re-offending by children and young adults). Working together also gave the team members a better understanding and a practical knowledge of the procedures and practices in other agencies (Ellis 5). The Youth Offending Teams have successfully met most of their objectives of child welfare and crime control; however in some areas their performance has been inadequate. For instance the YOTs have not been able to control re-offending properly (Ministry of Justice 67). A majority of the Youth Offending Teams was strongly aware of their responsibilities and under the management and guidance of competent leadership was able to carry out their safeguarding responsibilities. The Youth Offending Teams enjoy good working relations with the courts and along with the courts have provided timely protection to the young offenders. According to the House of Commons (5), the Youth Offending Teams have performed outstandingly as they have successfully brought down the instances of offending by children and young offenders. The number of young offenders being sentenced to custody has also fallen considerably ever since the Youth Offending Teams have started working. This report shows that the Youth Offending Teams have done a commendable job in controlling the juvenile crime. One of the biggest tasks the Youth Offending Teams are faced with is to prevent re-offending among the children and the young adults. The Youth Offending Teams remain in contact with the children and young offenders before and after the case. Prevention programs focus on individuals and families and those areas where the possibility of offending is greater. Because of these prevention programs, the number of first time entrants has fallen substantially especially in the same high priority areas (Controller and Auditor General, National Audit Office 7) Conclusion Offending in children and young adults is a serious matter and should not be treated as childish mischief nor should it be treated to harshly. No individual reason can be singled out as being influential in triggering offending in children and young adults. Negativity, deprivation, poverty, peer pressure, drugs and alcohol, lack of discipline at home and at school and lack of supervision are some reasons because of which children and young adults are lured towards the world of crime which begins with minor offending. If the children are not turned away from crimes, they grow up to be hard core criminals. The Youth Justice System of England firmly believes that placing a young offender in custody only breeds resentment and crime. The English Youth Justice System also believes that the reparation and restorative justice techniques work far better in turning away a young offender from crime than punishing him/her. Besides bringing down the rate of offending, the Youth Justice System is also committed to safeguard the rights of the children and the young adults. Another important concern of the Youth Justice System is to ensure the safety of the public and make sure that the young offenders compensate to the victims and the community. To achieve these goals, the Youth Offending Teams were formed in 153 administrative areas of England and Wales. The members of the Youth Offending Team consist of probation officers, police, local council, health services and education departments. This multi-agency team works is in constant contact with the young offender, his parents and the victim. Through counseling, mentoring and conferencing the YOTs try to help not only the young offender but also the victims. With the consent of the victims, face to face meetings with victims are held where victims speak of their hurt, trauma and emotional pain they had to undergo because of the offending actions. This approach works effectively as the young offender realizes the magnitude of the pain he/she has caused. As stated by Potter (63), the offending should be checked immediately by taking action which would involve the offender making reparation (with the victim and the victim’s family) for his/her hurtful actions. The YOTs also checks the academic performance of the offenders and make sure that truancy does not occur. They also see that the young offender is acquiring skills and trainings necessary for employment. Programs are organized for the parents where skills to deal with difficult children are taught. Although the YOTs have done well on the child welfare front, its performance in controlling crime is average. Due to YOTs the number of first time offenders has reduced but the YOTs have failed to effectively control re-offending. References Andrew, Bennett. Homelessness [Vol. 2] Written Evidence: House of Commons Papers 2003-04 1116-Ii. UK: The Stationery Office, 2004. Print. Anning, Angela. Developing Multi-Professional Teamwork for Integrated Children's Services: Research, Policy and Practice. England: McGraw-Hill International, 2006. Print.  Arthur, Raymond. Family Life and Youth Offending: Home Is Where the Hurt Is. USA and Canada: Routledge, 2007. Print. Bennett, Trevor and Katy Holloway. Understanding Drugs, Alcohol and Crime. England: McGraw-Hill International, 2005. Print. Burfeind, James, James W. Burfeind and Dawn Bartusch. Juvenile Delinquency: An Integrated Approach. 2nd ed. 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