Deviant Behavior and Crime of Youth - Coursework Example

Introduction As one grows from a child to an adult, many changes occur in the physical body and the mental ability of a person. Children go through different perceptions about risk, equality and the diversification of many life changing experiences. Children are regarded as the leaders of tomorrow. However, it might never come to happen as a result of the many problems facing children and the young people in the society today (Pitts1999). As a matter of fact most of these problematic issues are self inflicted and therefore deserting them becomes a problem. Some of the problems include; drug abuse, crime, alcoholism, drug trafficking and many others. All the above have become a major issue in the society today and many organizations have joined forces to help save the young generation from the above named social problems. As many of these actions are jointly linked to lack of employment among the youths, others are self initiated issues (Eadie & Morley 2003). Background information of youth crimes Youth crime has become one of the biggest problems in the society today and as a result it has been on the limelight even in the media for quiet some time (Hashima & Finltelhor 1999). Youth crimes are associated with so many pre-disposing factors like; unemployment, drug abuse and trafficking, alcoholism, mental disorder of even stress. Youth crimes are also referred to as juvenile delinquency. Youth crimes have been on the rise since the twentieth century as a result of development of new and improved crimes by the youths. Improvement in technology has also played a part in the advancement of the crimes against the youths (Eadie & Morley 2003). Most children who commit crimes are frequent criminals and at the same time they are known to be diagnosed with conduct disorder (Alvarez & Bachman 2003). Other disorders that cause delinquency among young people include post traumatic stress disorder and dipolar disorder. Anti social behaviour Anti social behaviour is another very big contributor to youth crimes. Children who commit crime have other individual psychological factors like impulsiveness, aggression, empathy, restlessness, low intelligence and lack of gratification. Most of these children and youths have no socialization skills and hence they have no idea of how to interact with other children or youths. They also lack self control and very troublesome children (Eadie & Morley (2003). At times anti social behavior comes as a result of family rules and regulations and family issues. Family factors are also causes of children crimes in the society today. Some of the factors that can predispose a child to crime include; parental conflicts, parental abuse or neglect, criminal parents, lack of good child –parent relationship. Children who witness frequent quarrel, disagreements and even fights going on between their parents turn out to be very violent (Brown 1998). At times some children lack parental care and some are neglected while some of them are even physically or emotionally abused, as a result they grow up in wrath and most of them end up becoming criminals. Drug abuse, dealing and alcoholism Drug abuse and drug dealing is another contributor to youth crimes. Children under the influence of drugs do a lot of evil stuff (Alvarez & Bachman 2003). Due to the effects of the drugs on the child, when committing a crime, they do not think about the consequences and actions of what would happen to them if they are caught as adults do. Dealing with drugs also poses a major risk to a child. Drug businesses expose them to very hostile environment which introduce to them criminal s moves. For example, when a child is at the headquarters of their drug business and sees how their boss kills workers who don’t obey his rules. Violence gets into the child’s blood. Alcoholism also contributes to crimes among the youth as its effects are similar to those of drug abuse and dealing drugs (Cardy 1995). Societal influence The society is the mirror for the children and the young people. Whatever they see happening, they tend to follow its course. Evidently discrimination is one of the major evils in the society today that has contributed to increase in youth crimes (Alvarez & Bachman 2003). This means that all forms of discrimination; racial, religion, tribal, and gender, are all involved. When our leaders come to national television and argue due to their skin colour, it gets into the children brain that a certain skin colour is superior to the other. In that case An African American child will be insulted by a white child and violence will erupt. These two races have fought each other for years in the streets (Cadavino 1996). They fight to prove which race is superior to the other. As a result, many people have been victim of their violence, some even loosing their lives. Gender discrimination has also had it take in crime. Women wanting to prove to men that they are superior to them while men wanting to prove their egoistic nature have led to violence in the society and this mostly happen among the young people. Media The media has become has become a common source of many evils in the society today. This includes youth violence as a result of imitation. Many at time, our media like concentrating on the negative things happening in our society today. Showing rated programmes with violence, strong language to children really affects the way they think. At young age many young people copy what they see and hear in the media (Meadows & Kuehnel 2005). Through media they know where to purchase illegal firearms like guns .Weapons like guns are available in the streets at cheap prices, as a result when conflict erupts; they all get their guns and start shooting at each other. The government also has had a role to play in this sector. Corruption among the police force has lead to increase of crimes among the youths. Amazingly, some police officers collaborate with the youths to trade their stolen weapons for them. This makes it very hard to help curbing youth crimes when they are in collaboration with the high authorities (Pitts 1999). Policies and methodology Polices to curb youth crimes that have been set up and implemented include. Starting of sports team; they help keep the youths busy during their free time and hence thoughts if committing crimes are do not bother them (Alvarez & Bachman 2003). Sports help them release their stress and feel free after the activities. Other policies that have been implemented include building of rehabilitation centre which helps accommodate the mentally disturbed children. As they are being rehabilitated they are helped discover their own talent also. Moreover they provide accommodation to orphans and street kids and hence they get a sense of belonging. Laws have also been implemented to punish the offenders. Youths who commit crimes are taken to juvenile courts, tried and held behind bars in juvenile prisons. This has helped control the number of crimes among the youths. The trials and sentencing serves as an example to all the other young criminals and hence they hold back in fear of being caught (Meadows & Kuehnel 2005). To add to that, youths should be taught on morality and help them improve on their behaviour and reduce crimes and truancy. This will improve their social, emotional, and event physical conduct. As a result they learn and they are able to get employed. Good morals enhance a good parent child relationship and as a result their conflicts reduce (Muncie 1999). Families can also help by having mediation which helps in restoring a broken relationship between them .Safeguarding the children’s welfare also works and it should be a priority. Physical or even mental harm to a child make them grow with violence in their blood and they end up becoming criminals. Specialist should also be used when it comes to matters of handling children. Through the use of their skills the specialist are aware of programmes that can empower children and help them resist from a certain bad behavior (Hickey 2006). Children societies say that children being involved in crime should be treated as children in needs not as criminals. Furthermore, the society should offer care and welfare to them and help figure out the troubles they are going through. Many are times that children are sentenced to various months in juvenile prison but when they complete their sentence, they go back to the society and commit the same offence they had done in the first place. This shows that the jail fails its duty of correcting the child (Cadavino 1996). Other policies from the government include house arrests to children caught in youth crimes, community service to help the children realise their mistakes and be a lesson to others. Moreover, imprisonment of repeating offenders would also be a remedy to this problem; this will offer rehabilitation to the child (Muncie 1999). The government also will introduce community policing; whereby they will be working closely with community to help curb this problem of youth crimes. Methodology The methodology used to acquire information included case study among children in one of the local estates. The case study included one on one interviews with children and the young people who are not involved in crime and those who are involved (Meadows & Kuehnel 2005). The case study was done in one of the most known estates to have most youth crimes in the last one month. Amazingly many of the children who have committed youth crimes are still free in the streets and many said they were not willing to stop. Moreover, neighborhoods criminal officers were a good source of information as they get a chance to interact with the criminals at times. They provided helpful information about youth crimes in the society today (Cardy 1995). Rehabilitation centers also offered quite a substantial amount of information, as they have very many children and youths in their centre undergoing rehabilitation as a result of crimes in the neighborhoods and streets. Police headquarters also had a substantial amount of information. All the sources stated above were very cooperative and they provided very reliable information concerning crime among the youths (Muncie 1999). The methodology also included focus groups and door to door interview of the affected families in the society. The results were then tallied together and provided a basis for this paper. Children perception on youth crimes Children unlike adults have different perceptions on the crimes they commit. Unlike adults, children do not think about the consequences of whatever offence they want to commit (Penal Affairs Consortium 1995). While some the youths commit crimes to satisfy their needs, others do them out of ignorance and curiosity. Some of children’s and young people thoughts in youth crimes are discussed below:-. Crime and money To start with 15 years old Joel Williams said that he earns more money is the crimes he commits than what his parents offers him as pocket money for schools. Children have the perception that crimes help them earn money their parents would not give them. But for many children living in the streets have no income generating work hey get their income form these crimes (Cadavino 1996). As a result, they are hired at times by people to commit crimes and then they are paid after completion. This has led to increase in youth crimes. Individuals who hire these youngsters understand that if the kids are caught, the punishment would not be as harsh as it would be if they are the ones caught. Mostly, the crimes committed are of sale of illegal goods and services to neighborhood (Hashima & Finltelhor 1999). The goods may at times include hard drugs like bhang, cocaine, heroine to mention just a few. Crime and growth As children grow, their behaviors tend to change to. Some of the kids believe that for one to become an adult, crime ahs to be involved. By this they would know of they were grown up or still kids. Psychologists argue that at the adolescence age, youths go through a lot of exploration trying to know who are. Most of the crimes the children do are associated with their adolescent age and development taking place in their life. Also at this age the children want to prove their selves to their surrounding and incase they are not noticed, they use other means like crimes, drugs and even alcoholism. Although this is a passing stage, it may have implications in the future if not ell dealt with at an early stage (Mirrlees et al 1996). Crime and sense of belonging At home when a child demands attention, he will go drop the television set or the computer to make sure that they are listened to and the same notion they carry when committing a crime. Jane Simons a 13 years old said every time she want to attract her parents attention, she smashes a window pane (Meadows & Kuehnel 2005). A child will commit a crime to demand attention form his surrounding. When a child lacks a sense of belonging, they end up doing something that makes all attention direct to them. Many children view being involved in crime makes their parents more concerned about them and hence they start offering more care and welfare to them. Others commit crimes due to ignorance and they do not care what the consequences are. Youths with parents in high places like the government will commit a crime knowing that their father is the judge at the high court and hence if he is caught he will rule the case in their favour.To add to that other youth commit crimes out of malice and prejudice (Pitts 1999). Crime and early employment and economic gain Barnley David 16 year old admitted that he is employed in a drug company and they pay him like an employee. He sees it as an early employment opportunity. Many youths view crimes as early employment which does not require education (Hashima & Finltelhor 1999). They take as a job as it helps them support their selves economically. Many of these crimes are crimes dealing with businesses fraud dealing with illegally acquired goods and services. The young people also argue that the jobs they do pay a lot of money. If they are not caught, they continue working until they are steady economically and that is when they look for a less risky, severe and less frequent crimes and finally they retire. However, only a small group of these criminals make it their full time job until they die (Meadows & Kuehnel 2005.) Conclusion Although many policies in the past have been made in reference to children experiences on crime, the youth will continue to commit crimes which have become a source of fascination for the society for decades to come too. As a result it becomes a duty for the parents and the society at large to raise awareness concerning the issue of youth crimes. Unfortunately, despite the society knowing the causes of youth crimes, they will not stop soon even with the implementation of the policies stated above. As a matter of fact, the case of child and youth crimes are still on the rise and a great has to be done to curb and combat them. As a result of the physical and emotional problems faced by the young people in the society, many contradictions about their protection make them end up in crime to console their selves (Cardy 1995). It is every society’s wish to be secure and free from offenders, juvenile or otherwise. These offenders usually infringe on other people’s private lives and disturb their peace. Many factors contribute the rise in the deviant behaviors and both at the family and community levels, there is need to have initiatives aimed at eliminating or curbing juvenile offences (Pitts 1999). The two factions need to collaborate in ending the vice and upholding of upright social behaviors among the young people. The government also has a stake in that legislation and policies should be passed and well implemented in ensuring the vice is within control. References Alvarez, A, & Bachman, R 2003, 'Murder American Style', Belmont, California, Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. Brown, S 1998, understanding youth and crime (Listening to youth?), Buckingham, Open University Press. Brown, S 1998, Understanding youth and crime, Buckingham, Open University Press. Cadavino, P 1996, Children who kill. Winchester, Waterside Press. Cardy, C 1995, Training for personal safety at work, Aldershot, Gower Publisher. Eadie, T & Morley, R 2003, ‘Crime, justice and punishment’ in Baldock, J. et al. eds Social Policy 3rd edn. Oxford, Oxford University Press.  Hickey, E 2006, Serial murders and their victims, Belmont, California, Thomson Higher Education. Meadows, RJ & Kuehnel, J 2005, 'Evil minds: Understanding and responding to violent predators, Upper Sadle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall Publisher. Mirrlees-Black, C, Mayhew, P and Percy, A 1996, The British crime survey, England and Wales London: Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate. Muncie, J 1999, Youth and crime, London, Sage. Penal Affairs Consortium, 1995, The doctrine of `doli incapax`, London, Penal Affairs Consortium. Pitts, J 1999, Working with young offenders, 2nd edn Basingstoke, Macmillan. Hashima, P & Finltelhor, D 1999, Violent victimization of youth versus adults in the National; Journal oj'lnterpersonal Eolence, 14(8), 700-8 10. Read More