The Child in Trouble: Institute of Public Health, Social Work and Care - Coursework Example

CHILD IN TROUBLE, YOUTH CRIME Introduction Crime is any unlawful act punishable by Crime can be to a person or the whole community; is applicable on law because is what defines it. Youth, on the other hand, is the time in life between childhood and adulthood; youth has no specific age used to identify it, but is the time when a person is more vigorous, freshness charactering one as young. Therefore, youth crime is hence unlawful act done by a young person. Youth crime can range from status offense; this includes minor offenses like underage smoking, violent crime are ones that the offender uses force to do crime like robbery with violence or murder and property crime like shop lifting and motor vehicles theft (Barry & John, 2009). Juvenile arrests statistics in United Kingdom in 1999 In United Kingdom in 1999 young people arrested are fewer than the adults except in arson arrests, despite that this number is still disturbing because the youth are not supposed to get involved in crime. When youths are involved in crimes, it tears the society apart because people will not agree on what happened and blame it on other peoples, especially the parents of the youth. Other parents do not want to associate with those parents and even tell their children not to keep company of those youths. Youths are the most productive members of the society and if found guilty of doing crimes and taken to juvenile detention or prisons, there will be few productive people. The youths said to be the leaders of tomorrow will be absent to build their future the right way hence, building a society that filled with youth crimes becomes hard. All these will tear the society apart. Youth crime is always associated with youths not raised responsibly by their guardians, because they lack correct upbringing they tend to do bad things that harm others and even themselves. Youth from violent families tend to be violent even with their age mates outside the family and single parenthood is associated with youth crime. The society also blames it to poverty, if youths do not afford basic items they tend to get them through some unlawful way or do other things like drugs and joining violent gangs to get away from their poverty and sorrow. Peer pressure is high in youths and can be a reason they engage in crime, the gangs they join to fit in with the rest and end up doing wrong things in the name of fitting in. Access to illegal drugs and guns in some societies is easy; these makes some youths get involved in illegal things easily as compared to where access is hard. Body Psychosocial model describe the stages between childhood to adulthood and each stage build the life of a person in the future, a person gets an identity as he matures. If the stages handled correctly a person will end up with a strong psychosocial that serve them well their whole life but the opposite is also true incase handled the wrong way. The first stage is trust verses mistrust; it occurs between a child births to a year old where it is very dependent on someone. If the child is able to get all it need, trust can be built but incase the caregiver does not provide mistrust tend to arise between them, this will grow in future and mould how the child associate with people around. Autonomy verses Shame and doubt is the second stage that practiced during the early life of a child. He develop sense of personal control and parents should let their children choose their preference but under their supervision to help them make the right decisions, children who complete this stage successfully fell confident and secure while those who do not have self doubt and inadequacy. Third stage is initiative verses guilt, playing with other children and socializing build purpose, the feeling of being able to lead others and get the balance of willingness to work with others and individual initiative, an unsuccessful child in this stage lacks initiative and has a sense of guilt. Industry verses inferiority stage affects children in their early school years. When encouraged by teachers, parents and peers they tend to have beliefs in their skills and feel competent but those who do not get the encouragement will conclude their abilities are not successful. This is a stage where a child develops his abilities to handle work that comes his way. Successful adolescences in identity verses confusion stage can live in the standards that are set in the society, however; this requires that encouragement and exploration with feeling of control and independence but those who are not sure will always feel insecure and confused about their future. The next stage is intimacy verses isolation, young adults need is to fit in and are afraid of rejection. Ones a person has identified himself and is ready to have a commitment with another person by being ready to make sacrifices and compromise in their relationship. The next stage people are always concerned about what impact they are making in the society to help the future generation, is the sense of productivity in the society, a person who does not do this feels dissatisfied and lack of productivity. Ego integrity verses despair stage; old people look at what they have done in the past and if a person is satisfied gives him a feeling of achievement. All the stages in the psychosocial model but the last one affects youths and if they get involved in crime, it describes the stages of a person’s life and can determine how they will end up. Youth crime can be attributed by a person’s life since birth especially how people around them will react to thing he encounters during his whole life from childhood, understanding the stages of psychosocial model will make us understand how a youth turns out to be and can also be used to prevent them from acquiring negative attributes. If the child develop good personal control, trust of people around, have willingness to work with others, believe in their skills, feel independent and in control and be able to feel comfortable around every one, he will be able to make the right decisions and avoid crime. According to the society is that psychosocial model helps people to understand how a person might turn out because of the events in his early life to then (Sheila, 2005). The problem here is the child, regardless of how the problem came up in the end youth crime is a decision made by the youth to get involved. As much as there are many reasons as to why they get involved in unlawful activities, it is their sole decision to do them; everybody should be responsible for their actions and think hard before getting involved in anything. Sometimes, the society might try to give positive example but in the end the youth chooses to stay on the wrong path. Another tough stage is adolescences because they tend to ignore advice given because they see themselves as grown up (John, 2008). Many things around them easily influence youths and doing crimes is not an exception, others get involved in crimes because they looking for solace maybe because of their troubled life or they do it to fit in or maybe feed their families. Legislation helps in trying to control youth crimes, depending on the gravity of the crime youths taken to court and judged (Bernard, 2006). This is helpful though the punishment for the offenders should be heavy enough to give them a lesson and make the other afraid to get involved. Those responsible for the conduct maybe gang members or family members who encourage those youth to do those unlawful acts be punished, the law should investigate thoroughly and all the culprits prosecuted. This will serve as an example and make youths afraid of crime and discourage those who encourage them. The law should also ensure unauthorized guns and illegal drugs are not available to the young people. Guardians should watch over their children and mould them from birth, to differentiate the good and the bad so that they can grow up to be responsible and be able to make the right decision. As children grow influence around them affect their whole life and how they make decision and handle challenges around them, well up bringing they will choose good company and make the right decisions to avoid getting involved in crimes (Brook Lapping Productions, 2008). Conclusion Youth crime affects the whole society the youth live in; the younger children are also in a risk of emulating the older ones hence it is important to prevent these crimes. Stopping youths crimes should be a number one priority to prevent them making wrong choices that will come around and affect their future lives and the societies, every parent has a view of their children being successful in future and having a good life getting involved in crimes does not assure that. Youths attending school is helpful because they have something to keep them occupied and focused. With help from the whole society youths should be able to overcome temptation of crime (Clayton, 2008), and incase one has been released from detention should receive support from everyone so they do not fall back to their old way. This will reduced if not finish youth crimes in the society. References Brook Lapping Productions. (2008). Preventing youth crime. London: Teachers TV/UK Dept. of Education. Brown, S. (2005). Understanding youth and crime: Listening to youth? Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Harcourt, B. E. (2006). Language of the gun: Youth, crime, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hartjen, C. A. (2008). Youth, crime, and justice: A global inquiry. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. . In Muncie, J., & In Goldson, B. (2009). Youth crime and juvenile justice: Vol. 2. London: Sage publications ltd. Pitts, J. (2008). Reluctant gangsters: The changing face of youth crime. Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing. Read More