Crime by Young People - Essay Example

Final Crime The millennium witnessed an increase in concern about youth and crime. In part, this was due to a nervous public response to increased urban and industrial development that weakened the traditional sources of social control by the family and local community. It also reflected a growing recognition of youth as a specific stage of the life course that was especially susceptible to deviance. In the more economically developed, furthermore, new age-segregated institutions intended to deal with troubled youth further contributed to the age grouping of youth. By the end of the 20th century, observers such as Craine, S. and Coles, B. (1995) described early adolescence as an unsettling and stormy phase of the life course. Young people are actually more likely to be victimised than adults. (Brown, S. 1998). The growth of public schools, and the concomitant age grouping that resulted, prompted increased public concern about youth. Although some private or public primary schools were established in a few 17th-century New England towns, most parents either taught their own children or shared in the paying for a temporary private school teacher. By the early 19th century, however, primary schools were established in many northeast towns, and by the mid-19th century most communities in that region had well-developed public common school systems. In the South, however, few public schools were created, so that as late as 1900 large numbers of children received little formal education (Newburn, T. and Stanko, E. (eds) 1994). A disproportionate amount of recorded crime is committed by young people, especially by young males. In 1994, two out of every five offenders were under the age of 21 and a quarter were under 18 [Audit Commission, 1997]. A small number of persistent offenders commit most of the crimes by young people. A survey through which respondents self reported their offences over the previous twelve months identified that 3% of young people, mostly young males, were responsible for about a quarter of all offences [Graham and Bowling, 1995]. http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_mobility/documents/page/dft_mobility_503832-04.hcsp In contrast to a decade ago, young people and young males in particular are not growing out of offending behavior as they reach their late teens and early twenties. Property offending by young males may now be increasing with age up to the mid twenties [Bright, 1997]. The known rate of offending by young adult males aged 18 to 24 years has increased significantly and, as a result, the peak age of offending for young men has increased from 15 years in 1986 to 18 years in 1994. In contrast, the peak age of offending for women has remained between 14 and 15 years of age [Audit Commission, 1997]. Female offenders who become socially mature adults are significantly more likely to stop offending than those who do not, whereas this development process appears to make little difference to male offenders [Graham and Bowling, 1995]. http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_mobility/documents/page/dft_mobility_503832-04.hcsp Crime by young people hasn't risen in the past five years and the number of known young offenders fell by 14% between 1995 and 2001 (Source: Criminal Statistics 2001). However, three-quarters of respondents in a recent survey believed the number of young offenders had risen (Source: Youth Crime and Youth Justice: Public opinion in England and Wales 2004). http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/youth-crime/version=1 Youthful offenders were more likely to be arrested for property crimes and ordinance violations compared to older adults who were more apt to be charged for drunkenness and moral offenses. Perhaps the most striking finding, however, was that arrest rates at all ages are much higher today than in the past, and that there has been a relative increase in the proportion of crime committed by young people (Davies M, Tyrer J & Croall H 1998). The growing attention to youth crime was due, in part, to the feeling among some commentators that youth was a particularly important period of change. Analysts for youth did not pay much specific attention to age, but they generally believed that the adolescent phase of the life course was crucial in the development of proper values and behavior (Foster, J. 1990; Maguire, M., Morgan, R., and Reiner, R., 2002). Nineteenth-century Britain's agreed that the period of youth was central in the formation of good character and devoted considerable resources to guide them through these years. Teachers and school administrators, in particular, stressed the importance of moral training in the classroom, believing that such education was an essential component of efforts to help youth avoid the snares and temptations of crime (Valier, C., 2002). Indeed, most 19thcentury policymakers assumed that much, if not all, of youth and adult crime could be prevented with a proper moral education (Massachusetts Board of Education, 1849). Although some critics questioned the efficacy of education to prevent crime and pauperism, this continued to be one of the most widely held views among policymakers and the public throughout the period (Graham, J. and Bowling, B. 1995; Walklate, S., 1998). Religious leaders, furthermore, saw Sunday schools as a valuable tool for combating vice. In the early 19th century, U.S. Sunday schools taught both literacy and morality to individuals of all ages, although they became more age graded as they focused more on youths than adults (Hagell, A. and Newburn, T. 1994). Although Sunday schools appeared throughout the country, they were viewed as most necessary in cities to combat the urban vices encountered by students. Whereas urban public schools in the North taught children the basics of literacy, Sunday schools concentrated more on teaching religion and morality. Most reformers employed environmental, or even racist, explanations for the causes of youth crime. Although they believed that all youth were at risk of misbehaving or becoming criminals, those from certain backgrounds were believed to be particularly susceptible to such dangers. So, for example, reformers regarded youthful crimes and misdeeds as manifestations of a basically flawed character--frequently the result of parental loss or neglect. Rather than relying only on specific crimes or misbehaviors to identify troubled youth, they assumed that any children from disadvantaged backgrounds or neglectful parents were at high risk of becoming societal problems. Whereas ideas about environmental and familial causes of youthful corruption and criminal behavior continued to be accepted throughout the antebellum period, by the time of the Civil War additional nuances had appeared. The list of preventable causes reads like a catalogue of earlier diagnoses: "ignorance, intemperance, over-crowding of population, want of work, idleness, vagrancy, the weakness of the marriage-tie, and bad legislation." furthermore, it is also observed that immigrants or their children were likely to become criminals. After the great influx of Irish in the 1840s and 1850s, this theme received even more emphasis. Rather than raising questions about the lower quality of the "stock" of the immigrants, however, the propensity of the children of immigrants to become criminals largely in social and environmental terms. Moreover, sexual passions lead to immoral behavior. One corollary of this belief is that wayward boys were more likely to be reformed than delinquent girls. This is most likely due to the fact that boys and girls as fundamentally biologically different in their tendency toward sexual passion and their ability to recover from early sexual activity. The number and nature of the crimes committed by youths make for a major social problem that must be met swiftly and effectively. We cannot lull ourselves any longer with careless assumptions that the high rates of serious crime by youths are transitory, for they have shown no inclination to diminish over a period of years. But we must also guard ourselves against the other extreme of becoming overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem and striking out impulsively, vengefully, and without avail. While punishment of young offenders may be effective if used with discretion and control, indiscriminate punishment proves all too often to be more in the nature of relief and satisfaction to the chastiser than cure for the chastised. In some instances recidivism is the boomerang of punishment randomly imposed without regard for the character and circumstances of the individual offenders (Rogowski, S. 2000/1). The very gravity of the problem calls for a comprehensive program in which vigorous action is planned, controlled, and calculated to reduce crime among our youths. The courts, of course, are institutions of very great importance in any community program to deal with youth crime and they must be sufficiently well organized to deal with young offenders justly, evenly, and with a view toward possible rehabilitation. Because they represent a serious problem from the standpoint of their numbers, their complexity, and the kinds of offenses they commit, there have been various attempts to sort out youthful offenders for some form of specialized handling. Unquestionably, society's motives in this are pretty well mixed up. On the one hand, it is recognized that this group constitutes a threat to the welfare and security of the community, but on the other hand it is known that often they are dominated by acute adolescent conflicts. Usually, specialized treatment has been reserved for those under twenty-one, who are legally minors with specific civil disabilities, including inability to make binding contracts except for legally defined necessaries. They are not men and women, but older boys and girls whose persistent and even dangerous behavior logically requires that they be given some special form of attention (Parker, H., Aldridge, J. and Measham, F. 1997). These special programs for dealing with youthful offenders require analysis, even though they do not fit into neat compartments. These programs are not numerous, but they have an importance and significance for the future that extends far beyond their numbers. Work Cited Craine, S. and Coles, B. (1995), 'Alternative Careers: youth transitions and young people's involvement in crime', Youth and Policy 48, pp6-26 Foster, J. (1990), Villains: Crime and Community in the Inner City, London: Routledge Maguire, M., Morgan, R., and Reiner, R., (eds), (2002) 'The Oxford Handbook of Criminology', Oxford:Oxford University Press. Valier, C., (2002) Crime and Punishment. London,Longman,. Graham, J. and Bowling, B. (1995), Understanding and Preventing Youth Crime, Home Office Research Study 145, London: Home Office Walklate, S., (1998) Understanding Criminology, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Hagell, A. and Newburn, T. (1994), Persistent Young Offenders, London: Policy Studies Institute Davies M, Tyrer J & Croall H (1998) Criminal Justice: An Introduction to the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales, (2nd edition) Longman Felson M (1998) Crime & Everyday Life, (2nd edition) Pine Forge Press Heidensohn F (1989) Crime & Society, Macmillan Jones S (2001) Criminology (2nd edition) Butterworths/LexisNexis Group [first edition still quite helpful] Maguire M, Morgan R, & Reiner R (2002) (3 rd edition) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford University Press Moore S (1998) Investigating Crime and Deviance, (2nd Edition) Harper Collins Newburn, T. and Stanko, E. (eds) (1994), Just Boys Doing Business: Men, Masculinities and Violence, London: Routledge Parker, H., Aldridge, J. and Measham, F. (1997), Illegal Leisure: The Normalisation of Adolescent Recreational Drug Use, London: Routledge Parker, H., Aldridge, J. and Eggington, R. (2001), UK Drugs Unlimited, London: Palgrave Rogowski, S. (2000/1), 'Young offenders: their experience of offending and the youth justice system', Youth and Policy 70, pp52-70 Brown, S. 1998 Understanding Youth and Crime: Listening to youth Open University press: Philadelphia Bright Jon Turning The Tide - Crime, Communities and Prevention Demos 1997 Graham J and Bowling B Young People and Crime Home Office Research Study 145, 1995 Audit Commission Misspent Youth - Young People and Crime 1996 Association of Town Centre Managers Young People and Town Centres 1997 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/youth-crime/version=1 Read More