Criminology - Mission Australia - Essay Example

Criminology: Case study; Mission Australia Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: Criminology: Case study; Mission Australia It is an apparent fact there is an alley of challenges which confront the youths in diverse regions of the world. These include but not limited to the impediments of unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness and family breakdown among others. All of these challenges are evident among the youth cohort in the Australian population which have both direct and indirect implications on the crime rates among the youths in this country. In the efforts to address these challenges, the government of Australia in collaboration with other agencies has been geared towards minimizing the effects of these challenges among the youths. These efforts form the basic foundation of the undertakings of Mission Australia, which is an agency that works with the youth in this region. With regard to this background, this paper will explore how the work of Mission Australia is related to youth crime prevention or generally how the work of this agency might be applied to this area. In addition, it will analyze the strengths and limitations of what this agency does with young people as well as exploring the work of this agency and describing the philosophy upon which the agency bases its practices. Youth crime prevention As aforementioned above, majority of the challenges among the youths which are addressed by Mission Australia have a direct or indirect implication on crime rates in any given region. The work of this agency and youth crime prevention is explored in the subsequent discourse. Provision of support to youths experiencing issues with drug and substance abuse: According to Mission Australia website (2012) this forms a robust foundation of activities undertaken by this institution. It is imperative to note that there has been a wide alley of literature which has attempted to expound on the relationship between substance use and criminal behavior among the youths (Purcell, 2009).However, despite the widely held perception that substance use among this group culminates to criminal behaviors or vice versa, this correlation is in many cases complex (National Crime Prevention Centre, 2009). Nonetheless, despite the complexity in this correlation, it is an apparent fact that crime rates are more prevalent among youths in regions with high rates of substance abuse due to the substance-related crimes when juxtaposed with those areas with low substance abuse rates (NCPC, 2009). The substance-related crimes among the youths are prompted by diverse factors like low self-worth, desperate lack of money to finance the purchase of the drugs as well as seclusion from the mainstream society as a result of these behaviors. Thus, in the efforts of Mission Australia of supporting youths experiencing issues with drug and substance abuse, this rehabilitative activity plays integral role in increasing the self-esteem of these youths through getting them into groups where they can share experiences and encourage each other in life which has the effect of minimizing their substance abuse and their evident or probable criminal behavior. In addition, the counseling interventions on this category of youths might be applied in the area off youth crime prevention in addressing the root cause of their behaviors in substance abuse and crime, for instance, peer pressure, family breakdown or general frustrations in life. The encouragement in these sessions can thus go a long way in increasing their self-worth and they are bound to abandon substance abuse and opt for other mechanisms to solve their issues. Supporting youths experiencing issues with unemployment: Just like substance abuse, the question on whether there is a relationship between unemployment and criminal activities has received much debates, with two opposite schools of thought arguing on either side of the paradigm. However, research has revealed a robust relationship between unemployment and criminal activities, which is epitomized by works by Agell and Nilsson (2003) and Papps and Winkelmann (1999) among others which are just examples of studies which have found a robust positive relationship between unemployment and crime. This is based on the fact that the economic hardships and the cost of living as a result of loss of employment or general lack of it are normally and widely considered as having close relationship with the level of criminal activities in a given region (Baharom & Habibullah, 2008). Therefore, the activity of addressing the issues of unemployment among the youths can be applied in the realms of youth crime prevention based on the fact that the unemployment youths are enlightened on how to confront their economic challenges as a result of unemployment without resulting to criminal activities. Moreover, the youth counseling undertakings in this agency are bound to empower them to seek for other income generating activities or lowering their employment over-expectations, for instance, preference of white collar jobs and despising any other kind of employment. In this regard, these youths are bound to engage in other activities which are endowed with economic benefits without resulting to criminal activities. This goes a long way in youth crime prevention in Australia. Lastly, this agency engages in the activity of offering services related to mentoring through education and skills development. This has an overall impact of preventing crime among the youths. According to the Youth Justice Board (2001), mentoring projects poses great as a protective factor in the lives of young people through development of skills, social bonding and networking, recognition of the youths as well as offering them opportunities for involvement in the community. Based on the fact that the role models involved in the mentoring programs are older people, they are integral in provision of support, guidance as well as encouragement to the young people (Joliffe & Farrington 2007). The education and skills development approach in the mentoring process plays a major role in crime prevention which is founded on the fact that it empowers the youths to engage in meaningful activities which not only enhance their morals in terms of curtailing the trends towards substance abuse but can also be formidable avenues of economic gain. This is based on the inference in the preceding section of the close relationship between crime among youths, substance abuse and unemployment. This is mostly effective when the mentoring process focuses on the ‘at risk youths’ whereby extensive evaluations have revealed positive outcomes of the mentoring programs focusing on ‘at-risk youths’ or young offenders in regard to substance abuse and eventual crime prevention (Moody, 2005). This is best epitomized by an evaluation of the New Trax mentoring project which reported that out of the 85% of the participants who had drugs related problems, 64% either completely stopped or minimized their drugs use (National Community Crime Prevention Programme, 2006). Thus, the mentoring activities undertaken by Mission Australia have an overall implication of youth crime prevention. Strengths and limitations Nonetheless, despite the positive impacts of the activities of this agency in youth crime prevention as analyzed in the preceding discourse, there are bound to be some inherent strengths and limitations of what this agency does with young people. In regard to the strengths, the basic fact that the interventions of this agency are based on a synergy of input from the government and other bodies fortifies the impact and scope of their activities. According to Mission Australia website (2012), this agency works with the government, churches, corporate Australia as well as the wider community. This collaborative approach in confronting the challenges being faced by the youths is key to elevating the wealth of strategies in coping with the impediments among the youths. In addition, the fact that the wider community is involved in the activities of this agency is integral in facilitating the acceptability of these programs at Mission Australia which is integral to their sustainability. From another perspective, the involvement of the government is an extra strength based on the fact that solving some of the challenges facing the youths require large capital input, for instance, homelessness where the government can come in handy through its various programs, for instance, housing programs. Thus, this collaborative approach can be perceived to be a major strength of this particular agency. Nonetheless, there are some inherent limitations of what this agency does with young people. Firstly, the success of these interventions depends on the individual willingness of the youths as well as the environs from which they come from which the agency has limited control over. This is epitomized by the issue of substance abuse. Even if Mission Australia can be successful in encouraging and convincing the youths to abandon the substance abuse behaviors, the agency has limited control of the groups which these youths interact and spend time with once there are outside the agency. Thus, these youths are bound to go back to their habits because of peer pressure once they are outside the counseling programs. On the other hand, there are some of the causesof deviance among the youths which are outside the control of the agency, for instance, family breakdown. This is whereby even if the agency can provide support to the youths facing the pangs of family breakdown, there is little that the agency can do in solving the actual act of family breakdown as far as the parents are concerned, mostly if a divorce has already occurred. Work of Mission Australia and its philosophy In a generic sense, this agency is primarily engaged in empowering the youths, strengthening family institutions, provision of employment solutions as well as solving homelessness issues. A holistic approach in addressing this issues helps in delivery of positive outcomes to individuals and collectives, families as well as the wider community in Australia (Mission Australia Website, 2012). The major goal of this agency is to curtail the problems before they instigate as well as provision of support aimed at prevention of situations from getting worse. This is facilitated through formation of formidable partnership with other agencies and the government into finding solutions to the most persistent challenges confronting the communities in the wider Australian population (Mission Australia Website, 2012). The practices of this agency are based on some generic philosophies. These include the philosophy of cooperation whereby as previously mentioned, this agency operates through a wide network of partnerships with churches, corporate Australia as well as the government. This is key in enriching its strategies, human capital as well as material resources to solve the aforementioned challenges. Another philosophy is that of perseverance and celebration. This is whereby despite the intensity of the challenges confronting various individuals, the agency has an organizational culture of persisting in its determination to solve these challenges through diverse strategies to ensure that individuals achieve positive outcomes at the end of the intervention. Upon the achievement of these positive outcomes, there is a general celebration among the involved parties of these results which tends to motivate the individuals as well as being a constant reminder of their triumph over different challenges. Conclusion From the above analysis, it is evident that youths all over the world are confronted by diverse challenges, a situation which is also apparent in Australia. Mission Australia engages in various activities in an attempt to address these challenges. In the efforts of youth crime prevention, this agency provides support to youths experiencing issues with drug and substance abuse as well as unemployment as well as providing mentoring programs. Nonetheless, there are some strengths and limitations in regard to what this agency does with young people. Lastly, Mission Australia operates under the philosophies of cooperation and coordination, perseverance and celebration among others. References Agell, J. &Nilsson, A (2003) Crime, Unemployment and labor market programs in turbulent times. forthcoming in the Journal of the European Economic Association Baharom A.H & Habibullah, M.S. (2008). Is crime cointegrated with income and unemployment?: A panel data analysis on selected European countries. Retrieved November 09, 2012 from http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/11927/1/working_paper_5.pdf Joliffe, D & Farrington, D.P. (2007). A rapid evidenceassessment of the impact of mentoring on reoffending: a summary. Home Office Online Report 11/07. Retrieved November 09, 2012 from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110220105210/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/rdsolr1107.pdf Mission Australia website (2012). Retrieved November 09, 2012 from http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/ Moodie M (2005). Building an evidence base to practice 2004.Richmond: Big Brothers Big Sisters Melbourne. National Community Crime Prevention Programme (2006). Mentoring and Young people. Retrieved November 09, 2012 fromhttp://www.crimeprevention.gov.au/NationalCommunityCrimePreventionProgramme/Documents/Tip_Sheet_9.pdf National Crime Prevention Centre (2009). School-based drug abuseprevention: promising and successful programs. Ottawa: NCPC. Papps, K.L & Winkelmann (1999). Unemployment and crime: New evidence for an old question. IZA and Centre for Economic Policy Research 1-16. Purcell, M. (2009). Challenging assumptions: The association between substance use and criminal behaviour. Edmonton, AB: Alberta Health Services. Youth Justice Board (2001). Risk and protective factorsassociated with youth crime and effective interventions to prevent it. London: Youth Justice Board for England andWales. Read More