The Rights and Responsibilities of the Youths in the UK - Case Study Example

A Research Paper: Analysis of the Rights and Responsibilities of the Youths in the UK Name Institution 2 May 2016 A Research Paper: Analysis of the Rights and Responsibilities of the Youths in the UK Introduction Most youths tend to follow the actions of prominent people in their day-to-day lives as per the indication of literature(Kemshall, 2008). Most youths want to follow the footstep of their parents as their role models and imitate everything they do. With this understanding, it is apparent that in the UK, young people acquire rights and responsibilities at different ages. For instance, in the UK, youths are entitled to have special hearings in the court that are characterized by certain legal protections. On the other hand, in the same country as a youth, there are things that one cannot do, as they may be against the law that protects the young people. For example, among the things that youth are not supposed to do include vying for a political post until one has is in a certain age bracket. Therefore, with this in mind, at the end of this study, important facts about the rights and responsibility will be well explored and presented. More so, the survey will intend to bring into light the understanding of young people’s rights that come with responsibilities. The study will incorporate different methodology, as well as the literature that has significantly touched this topic of youth’s rights and responsibilities in the UK. As such, to allow for a better understanding of this issue, the survey will also bring out the concept of research objective, hypothesis and most of it all the research findings. Background of the Study When one talks about rights and responsibilities, it is clear that one means two different things, but apparently relates to each other(Hollingsworth, 2007). A right refers to the freedom that is ultimately protected while responsibility is the duty or something that individuals ought to do so that they brighten their future. In the UK, the law regulates both the rights and obligations of the youth. Across the globe, youths are assigned various rights that dictate the actions through which they carry out on a daily basis. As such, it gets interesting to find out the way youths utilizes these rights. In the same line, the responsibilities of the young people differ depending on these rights. It is with this interest that this a study is done on the rights and the responsibilities of the youths in the UK. The report aims at finding the critical perception of the rights and duties that a young person in the UK possesses. As such, the study carries out a survey from an interview with ten questions that shows the perceptions of the youths concerning their rights and responsibilities in the UK. In turn, the role of children in society is also evaluated concerning these rights. Providing young people with the freedom of making decisions leads to them to either making changes that can affect the community in a positive or a negative way(Inbrief.co.uk, 2016). It is this desire to find out more about the youths that a study of the way young people from the UK exercises these rights. Through an active citizenship, young people in the UK have been able to demonstrate their capability of making a change in the society. They have also shown the various ways through which they can develop soft skills that are essence in the work industry. With these skills, people of different age groups have been actively participating in the work industry thus bringing on the question of the minimum age that one can start earning. Likewise, a small group of young people tends to engage themselves in the destructive and anti-social actions that spoil the constructive patterns of the other individuals. In this case, it is necessary to find out the ways that young people get into immoral behaviors and what should be done about this issue. Objectives At the end of this study, the ways in which the rights and responsibilities of young people contribute to the community development will be reviewed. In this case, both the positive and adverse effects of their actions will be examined. Besides, their contribution to the work industry will also be evaluated. Lastly, the report aims at looking into the ways that young people engage in destructive actions and the role of government in countering these effects. Hypothesis The rights and responsibilities of the young people in the UK are the keys to the continuous change in their communities. Methodologies The participants for this study consisted of males and females youths from different cities and public schools in the UK. The age distribution of the survey included youth between 14 and 18. A survey was carried out with the use of questionnaires as a way of finding out the way young people tend to use their rights and responsibilities in the UK. Besides, these questionnaires provided a way through which the youths can submit their perceptions of these rights and how helpful they are to them. As such, a questionnaire of ten questions was distributed to most of the young people as well as to the adult. They were in turn required to fill in the questions according to their knowledge, opinion, and experience. The questionnaires were then collected and analyzed to portray the key messages. Additionally, as this topic of youth right and responsibility tend to be technical for a researcher, the study will show that youths in the UK are more likely to be influenced by the law and the people assigning any form duties to them. Therefore, for a practical result of the survey, the study will seek to answer this question and come up with a clear solution on the ways the rights and responsibilities of the youth contribute to the community development, mostly in the schools, workplaces, and in their homes. So as to achieve this objective, in this study, a convenient systematic sampling is used to conduct this research. Convenience sampling is the type of the sampling that is nonprobability. The method is utilized for the sample of the study is a convenient source of information. The subjects of the survey are youths, and they are directly accessible. Therefore, convenient sampling in this study enhanced the researcher to select the topics that are convenient regarding accessibility of the subjects. More so, convenient sampling is used in this study because of the subjects’ (samples) proximity. Findings The rights and responsibilities that the young people have in the UK have significantly stimulated a positive change in most of the UK’s communities. Most of the young people are making most of their lives by ensuring that there is a close association with their adults as a result of respect and mutual appreciation. The research revealed that most 80% of the youths are in good terms with their seniors. The established relationship has allowed most of these people to be ambitious since they can access better opportunities. Moreover, the ability of young people in the UK to make decisions have supported the way most of them conduct themselves. Statistically, it has been found that most of the young people are the ones who volunteer most following their decisions. As a result of positive conduct, drastic changes have been experienced in the UK as these young people do not abuse their rights(Goldson, 2013). Most of the youths, therefore, have played a positive role in volunteering that results into positive changes within the community. This includes 60% of the young people have volunteered in one or more instances. The resultant effect of this is that most of the young people have made positive contributions to the society earning them respect. The study also found that approximately 5% of the young people engage in the wrong actions that result in tainting of the image of other youths. Amongst this 5%, 4% engages in the crime actions and, therefore, bringing in the question of the number of years that a young person can be jailed into question. Most of the responses of approximately 53% revealed that a young person can be jailed while he is from ten years of age. The research also revealed that government can also intervene to reduce the number of crimes committed by these young people. These ways are addressing the negative perception of these actions while supporting events that can be used to celebrate the achievements of a young person. Most people also recommended the use of grants in supporting the youth projects as a way of shedding light to those committing crimes. Results With these findings, it is clearly that most of the young people from the UK do not misuse their rights and responsibilities. Rather, they use them to increase the productivity of their society while playing a positive role. Despite a small number of young persons who trend to misuse these rights, most of them take a decisive turn to ensure that the community is at its best. Recommendations of the ways that the government can intervene to assist this population have also been recommended. Conclusion Every person is granted various rights and responsibilities that determine how the individual lives. The utilization of these rights also governs the changes that society goes through, whether they are right or bad. As such, most of the youths in the UK have opted to use these rights for the betterment of their community. The few old cases of wrong conduct of youths have also been countered in an efficient manner where through the government intervention. It is in this spirit that it is expected that in the coming future, most of the young people will have established their lives with a few number engaging in the law breaking activities. Furthermore, the right to make decisions has also stimulated the proper conduct of these youths as they are responsible for their actions where most of the, tend to make positive decisions that are of significance to the community and the individuals themselves. With the survey presenting the facts, it is clear that the youths in the UK, are in the current time using their rights in the way that it expected. In fact, from the study carried out, one can say that due to the rights that the UK youths are assigned, it is purely possible for them to carry out their responsibilities by the law and in a way that will enhance the growth of the nation and the society these young people resides. With the support of the research findings, it is apparent that when the concept of right and responsibilities are grouped together for the UK youths, there have been drastic changes in the community as young people are primarily playing an important part to make the community grow in different ways. Recommendations The government should come up with various forms of recruiting more young people to the volunteering programs(gov.uk 2016). The provision of core competencies is needed in the work industry should be provided in their curriculum as a way of identifying the skills and talents that most of the young people possess(iars.org.uk 2016). Further, the core causes of the crime among the young people should also be identified so that a working solution for this problem can be determined. The government should make it easy for the youths to access the grants as a way of promoting youth development as well as solving the problem of those youths who involve themselves in wrong actions due to the lack of something to keep them engaged(Directory.islington.gov.uk, 2016). On the other hand, the society should make sure that it recognizes the youths as the people who has an important context in the community. This will only make the youths more motivated in using their rights to carry out positive responsibilities in the UK. Lastly, teachings on the approaches to making the right decisions should be taught to the young people as a way of encouraging individual and community development. References Directory.islington.gov.uk, (2016). Rights and responsibilities at work | Islington Youth. Retrieved 2 March 2016, from http://directory.islington.gov.uk/kb5/islington/enterprise/youth.page?youthchannel=6-4 Fergusson, R. (2013). Risk, responsibilities and rights: Reassessing the 'economic causes of crime' thesis in a recession. Youth Justice, 13(1), 31-56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1365480212474733 Goldson, B. (2013). 'Unsafe, Unjust and Harmful to Wider Society': Grounds for Raising the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility in England and Wales. Youth Justice, 13(2), 111-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1473225413492054 gov.uk (2016) Young people and the law - GOV.UK. (2016). Gov.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from https://www.gov.uk/browse/justice/young-people Hollingsworth, K. (2007). Responsibility and Rights: Children and Their Parents in the Youth Justice System. International Journal Of Law, Policy And The Family, 21(2), 190-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/ebm004 Inbrief.co.uk, (2016). What are my rights and responsibilities as a young citizen? Retrieved 2 March 2016, from http://www.inbrief.co.uk/immigration-law/young-citizens-age-limits.htm# iars.org.uk (2016) Empowering Youth Professionals: Rights & Responsibilities training | The IARS International Institute. (2016). Iars.org.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from http://www.iars.org.uk/content/empowering-youth-professionals-rights-responsibilities-training Kemshall, H. (2008). Risks, Rights and Justice: Understanding and Responding to Youth Risk. Youth Justice, 8(1), 21-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1473225407087040 Read More