Public Perceptions of Youth Crime - Assignment Example

Running Head: Transcript Interview Transcript Name Institution Date Interview Transcript Topic: public perceptions of youth crime and young offenders Participants Interviewer – Jason Cabral Interviewee – Nancy Collins Place: – Edith Cowan University: Board Room Interview – Hello Nancy, Interviewee – Am cool Jason, Interviewer – Welcome to this session, I would like you to feel comfortable and part of this interview. Before we begin, I would like to introduce myself and explain to you why I have requested your participation in today’s interview. Interviewer - I am a student at the Edith Cowan University, currently, I am carrying out a project on the topic of how the public perceives youth crime and young offenders. It is my pleasure to have you here today. I belief your contribution and answers will be of great help to me in completing my project. What I ask of you Nancy is that, you provide honest answers, try to be honest as much as possible. To this point, is there anything that you need more clarification? Interviewee – uh…not really, you are clear enough, I understand your point. Interviewer – I have a consent form and I would like you to sign it before we proceed. You can read it and sign it and space provided at the bottom of the form. Interviewee – Ok, thanks. Interviewee – mmmmm…., Thanks, Having signed the consent form, I have the demographic questionnaire that you will go through at your own time after the interview, fill it and send it back to me after completion. You don’t need to provide your personal information or information that you are not comfortable in providing. Interviewee – Ok, Thanks. Interviewer – aaahhhh….., well, am happy to have you Nancy and the reason as to why I selected you for this interview is because, you are a person who have interacted with the youth within the Australian community for a long time. If I may ask how long have you worked with the youth to be precise? Interviewee – uuhh… for ten years Interviewer – Good, so, um I have an experienced person to assist me with answers for my project. This interview will be an audio recorded, therefore, when you need me to stop or need any clarification about anything, let me know and I will pause the recording. Are your comfortable with everything up to this point? Interviewee – yeah, thanks. Interviewer – Ok, um Nancy, I am now beginning the interview and to remind you that, this is a voluntary exercise and you are not required to disclose any sensitive information. So, let me ask if you have any question before we proceed? Interviewee – aaahhh… no, everything is perfect clear, you can proceed. Interviewer – Great, now, I have ten questions that I will ask you to provide answers in the best way you can. On to my first question, when I say the word ‘youth’ to you….what comes to mind? Interviewee – a person in their teenage, young adult, any person between the age of twelve and 35 years is a youth. Interviewer – Nancy, you seem to be specific with your understanding of the word youth, why? Interviewee – um, ok, [sighs] according to research any person below the age of 35 years and above 12 years, is a youth. Also the young people that I have interact with in Australia; most of them range between the ages of 12 to 35 years. So I understand the word youth quite well. Interviewer – Great, um I tend to think youth is a stage for adolescents, young adults and senior adults. Do you agree with me? Interviewee – Yeah, Jason, I totally agree with you. Adolescents are at their teenage years, young adults are at their 19 to 24 years and senior adults are at the 25 to 35 years. True, I agree with you on that. Interviewer – um we all agree on that, on to my second question, Nancy, So when I say ‘young offender’ what does that make you think of? Interviewee – Ahhh… a young offender is a youth, any young person who has committed an offence. Interviewer – um, according to your view, what kind of offence are you referring to here Nancy? Interviewee – as I have experienced through my interactions with the youth, a young person can commit offences ranging from just picking a friends pen to a more major offences like sexual abuse and theft. Like the young people in school, a young person may bully their peers, this is an offence in school, and they can steal which is now considered as a crime under the law. And worst is sexual molestation a type of worst crimes that have been reported occurring among the youth. Interviewer - well, Nancy, I am impressed, can we pause and take a cup of water or coffee? Interviewee – ahh, not really, am ok thanks. Interviewer – [sighs] Nancy, am now on my third question, what types of crime do you think young people commit? Where do you think they commit these crimes? Interviewee – um as I have mentioned earlier, the youth commit different types of crimes. This is categorised based on age. Those at teenage, the common crime they commit is theft due to engaging in bad behaviours or influence from peers, the young adults and those at the higher age bracket, crimes such as sexual abuse, drug trafficking, violence, and traffic. I think the crime committed by the youth most occur in schools, outdoor public places, private residences, commercial establishments and in the office. Interviewer – to be specific, Nancy please explain the types of specific crimes and where they occur. Interviewee - ahhh, as I have explained, crimes committed by adolescents such as bullying and theft occur at school, crimes committed by young adults and senior adults like drugs, traffic and violence mostly occur at residential places, commercial establishments, at the office and outdoor public places Interviewer - Great, Nancy, on to the next question, do you think there is a specific group of young people who offend? Interviewee - yes, I tend to think so. The reason is that, the youth come from different backgrounds with different ways of upbringing. This means that, young people who have not been brought up well are prone to committing crimes. For example, I belief that, a child who was not taught the right ways of living will always commit a crime like theft and violence. Others who are highly exposed to crime also have a tendency of committing crimes, for example, the youth from the city, they have a lot of exposure to crimes like drug abuse, you find that, these youth tend to engage in abuse of drugs and drug trafficking. Yes, I do support that there is a specific group of young people who offend. Interviewer - well, ahhh… Nancy, do you think the level of youth offending has changed in the past few years? Interviewee – um, according to statistics, I believe that the level of youth offending has changed in the past few years. Interviewer – Nancy, you are talking of statistics, please can you elaborate. Interviewee – yeah, I can refer to a report presented by McGregor, Gately, Kraemer & Kessell (2010) to the Edith Cowan University, School of Law, about Youth Offenders Risk Identification (YORI): A screening tool for youth offenders in Western Australia, it is true that, overall crime rate among the youth in declining. However, increased crime rate is evident among the juveniles who commit diverse range of offences like persistent multiple as well as chronic drug use. Interviewer – Great, Nancy, what do you think happens to young people who are caught offending? Interviewee – ahhh… I think that, when young people are caught offending, they are prosecuted by the police and charged under the law. Interviewer – Why do you think so Nancy? Interviewee – I think so because, in Australia, we have the children and young people’s court that take care of crimes that are committed by children and the youth. We also have the law that prosecutes the adult youths. So I think any crime committed by the youth is prosecuted under the law Interviewer – according to your view, you have said that, there is a court that deals with children and youth crimes, can you elaborate that please. Interviewee – um, yeah, the court that deals with crimes that are committed by children and young people in Australia is the Youth Court that was instituted by the the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989. This court holds the young people accountable for their offences and addresses their needs. Interviewer – Ok, that’s great; we move on to the next question, what do you think ‘should’ happen to young people who offend? Interviewee – I think what should happen to young people who offend is that, first, establishing their cause of behaviour is important. This will help in eliminating future offences by dealing with the cause. Secondly, I think that, young people and especially those below the age of 18 years are still growing and being influenced by the four pillars in a child’s life including; school, friends, community and home. I belief that, these young offenders have their characters still being shaped and there is room for redemption. Therefore, when dealing with these offenders, it is also important to try and address their needs that may be influencing them to commit such crimes. Interviewer – Well, [pause] Nancy, um what do you think leads young people to offend? Interviewee – I think that, young people offend due to the influences from the community, school experiences and performance, family background and poverty. For example, when you look at these influences, majority of the youth commit crime due to peer pressure and poverty. Interviewer – Great, Nancy, I see you are well informed about this topic, where do you think you get most of your information about young offenders? Interviewee – Actually, Jason um I get most of these information from the youth I interact with, I also read the Australian law and what it requires of the youth. Generally, as a youth leader, most of the information I gain by talking to the youth directly. Interviewer – um Nancy, If you were given the job of addressing crime, what would you do and why? Interviewee – ahhh… [Pause] if given the job of addressing crime, I would consider the youth as a vulnerable group that needs to be protected. First, I will deal with the influences that lead the youth in committing crime, I will then educate the youth of the harm they are exposing themselves by committing crime. Lastly, I will request the Youth court to consider the age, family background and where and why the youth committed the crime. Interviewer – Well, Nancy, I am grateful for your coming and contributing to answer my interview questions. Thank you, I appreciate a lot and may God bless you. Reflection From the interview experience, I have realised that, I have used and demonstrated appropriate interviewing skills. This is clearly demonstrated when I asked the interviewee to elaborate on various issues that did not come out clear to me from the answers presented. I also demonstrated competent interviewing skills when I paused and asked the interviewee whether she was ok and if I could serve a cup of water or coffee. This was good to demonstrate concern about the interviewees’ welfare. From the interview, I have recognised that, I could have responded differently when the interviewee gave direct and complete answers to my questions. I could have applause and congratulated the interviewee to show that I am really impressed by the answers provided. Another area of the interview that I could have respondent differently is when the interviewee went into details even to quote references for her answers to the questions. The interviewee revealed to be knowledgeable enough on this field. In such a time during the interview, I could have stopped and requested the interviewee where I can access such important research material from my project. Additionally, the interview was successful as a result of my choice of participant Nancy Collins. She is a youth leader, a peer educator at the Australian Youth Service, well-educated and has ten years of experience while interacting and working with the youth. These are the major qualities that I considered when choosing the participant in my interview. During the interview, I did realise that, ethical issues arose. This was evident when I was asking the interviewee on how she can deal with the issue of crime among the youth. The interviewee seemed to be very careful on how she could handle crime offenders among the youth. To the interviewee, ethics is a critical issue when dealing with the youth since they are a vulnerable group and who are still growing. The interviewee was sensitive on this issue and would even intervene for the youth in court to handle their crime cases different from those of adult crime offences. My interview was successful as earlier mentioned. All my research questions were answered correctly and comprehensively since I had an experienced interviewee in the field of my topic. The interviewee was very honest in providing the answers and did give me a full extensive public view of crime among the youth. Considering all the contribution made during the interview, I have realised that, my questions were well answered and the answers are very helpful in completing my project. The aspects of interview that I did particularly well were asking my questions directly. The interviewee was very comfortable in answering the questions since she understood them quite well. Another aspect of the interview that I did well was asking for elaboration of answers from the interviewee when the answers were not clear to me or when I felt that, certain points requires to be substantiated. However, there was one aspect that required improvement. I needed to give the interviewee time to take a break in between the interview, since it was a long interview. Reference McGregor, C., Gately, N., Kraemer, S. & Kessell, J. (2010). Youth Offenders Risk Identification (YORI): A screening tool for youth offenders in Western Australia. Edith Cowan University, School of Law. Read More