research project on youth crimes

Youth Crimes

Submitted by :

Zunaira Tarif

Riphah International University Islamabad

2013

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Youth Crimes

Acknowledgements

I am heartily thankful to Allah Almighty and my supervisor, whose encouragement, supervision

and support from the preliminary to the concluding level enabled me to develop an

understanding of the subject. Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who

supported me in any respect during the completion of this research report.

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Youth Crimes

Abstract

There are a number of concerns about young people and crime as it seems to be at the top of

media reporting and also political agendas. This research analyzes the social factors, economic

environment and family structure which influence youth crime. It will look at key perspectives

such as the sociological, economical views towards youth crime also it will review the evidence

to why they get involved in varies of crimes. This will be done by looking at my primary

research. Results show that all of these factors influence the youth crimes but economic factor

highly affect it.

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Youth Crimes

“Increase in Youth Crimes the Moral Issue”

Keywords: Youth crimes, economic situation, social environment, family structure.

Chapter No.1

Introduction

With the passage of time crime rates are increasing all over the world. Several factors are

responsible for this increase which relates economic, social and family situations and problems.

This research will focus on the area relating to crime amongst youths. It will examine the issue of

young people as to why they may get involved in different crimes. Different research has been

undertaken on the causes of youth criminality as therefore my dissertation will look at different

types of concepts that relate to crime. I will be looking into different theoretical explanations

towards youths as this will be explained and analyzed. Youth and crime is a topic that has hit the

headlines today, it is a topic that has always interested me as I have always wanted to know

about criminal behaviors. Many youths commit crimes as this is my chance to analyze to why

they do this, to see the social factors that influence youth crime or economical factors or may be

the family structure. There are many youths that are in education or working while some of the

others are involved within criminal activities, this is to be looked at as to why this happens.

There is a question raised on a report from the youth justice board which asked, “Why is it that

some children, as they grow up, become involved in criminal activity, while others stay out of

trouble and respect the law?”

Before looking at research about young people’s offending it is worthwhile considering the

amount of crime committed by young people. The first issue to address is exactly what we mean

by ‘young people’. The youth justice system deals with young people aged 10-17 only. Children

under age 10 are deemed to be not criminally responsible and unless involved in very serious

offending are dealt with under welfare and child protection procedures rather than criminal

justice. Young people aged 18 and over are treated as adult by criminal justice system and

sentenced by adult courts in same way as adults. The youth justice system then, defines youth

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Youth Crimes

crime as that committed by those under the age of 18, but the purpose of our research is to take

from 17 t0 27 ages as youth.

Youth crime and a history of young people

There have been complaints and issues made regarding the behavior of young people. There is a

widespread belief that antisocial behavior among children and young people has reached a

historically unprecedented high. According to conations north London, it states that young

people are responsible of 40% of crimes such as theft, burglary, robbery and violence and youth

crime and also fear to youth crime is causing frustration to many of the communities.

Youth crime basically harms communities, creates a culture of fear and also damages the lives of

some of our most vulnerable young people. There are many factors that cause youth crime today

as it changes an individual's life. This can be for example troubled home life, poor attainment at

school, truancy and school exclusion etc. Most of the young people think getting into trouble is

part of maturing/growing up, as they want to test the limits, however, this process often has

many questions raised against it and it is seen as a major problem.

Youth crime is a major issue, today as the public seem to have a fear against it as it is rising. The

public has negative opinions towards it as this means the government will have a huge input

within this matter. This has however set the circumstance for an ever increasing volume of

legislation seeking to adjust and improve society's official response.

One of the youth crimes that has increased today and which is a major issue is violence,

according to telegraph newspaper violent youth crime is up a third. Leapman (2008) suggests

that “The number of under-18s convicted or cautioned over violent offences rose from 17,590 to

24,102 - an increase of 37 per cent.” This shows this is one of the main crimes in which the

youths commit the most and has a huge increase towards it. The public was very concerned

about this as it is a major youth crime within their communities,

Leapman (2008) went on and stated that “The evidence of rising youth offending comes amid

public concern over youth crime following the murder of Garry Newlove, a father of three who

was beaten to death as he stood up to a street gang”

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Youth Crimes

Criminal behavior of young people is an important political issue in the UK over recent years.

This concept follows basically goes on to say that if a young person is prepared to break the law

or involved, then they should be held responsible for their actions and therefore face punishment.

According to the home office research study which was on youth crime: findings from the

1998/99 youth lifestyle survey, states that the most common offences committed by girls under

the age of 17 were criminal damage, shoplifting, buying stolen goods and fighting.

There is a comparatively high rate of offending by 14- to 15-year-old boys reflects their

involvement in fights, in buying stolen goods, ‘other theft' and in criminal damage. Roughly one

in eight boys of this age admitted to each.

However 16- to 17-year-old boys showed a similar pattern of offending but were less involved in

buying and selling stolen goods, ‘other theft' and criminal damage. Over a third of offences

committed by this age group involved fighting. There is not much of a different with gender and

age groups committing crimes, this report shows youths under 17 committing common crimes.

There is no single root cause of crime. Crime is primarily the outcome of multiple adverse social,

economic, cultural and family conditions. To prevent crime it is important to have an

understanding of its roots. Causes of crime differ from country to country because of different

cultural, social and economic characteristics.

Economic Situation

Social Environment

Family Structures

Scope of study:

To analyze the relationship between independent and dependent variables.

To measure how much these factors effect or influence the youth crimes.

To provide the applicable remedies to remove youth crimes in society.

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Youth Crimes

Chapter 2

Literature Review:

The majority of the public tend to have some kind of complaint or an issue regarding the

behaviors of young people today. Youths hang around in their streets and cause trouble for

example violence, drugs etc. The public have a major problem towards this as they are concerned

about their local community.

Referring to the public's view on youth crime, Hough, M. (2004) suggests that the survey that

was done revealed that the public have more pessimistic view of youth crime than it is justified

by the official crime statistics.

Hough, M. Et al (2004), Youth crime and youth justice (page 1) London

Youth crime policy has moved to the centre of public attention in the recent years. An increase in

youth crime, stories of parents those are frustrated and seeking for help for their troubled

children. Most of the public have a different view on youth's crimes as they may not have a good

knowledge towards it. Many youths commit crimes within their communities for example street

crimes, they may do this due to peer pressure or they come from a low income poor housing, this

view is understandable from some of the member of publics as majority of them label youths

harshly, this has started happening after the James Bulger murder as the 2 year old was murdered

by two 10 year old boys. Public have been more concerned after this murder as they want the

government to toughen up on youths and give them harsher sentences.

The public are mostly concerned about youths hanging around streets transforming into gangs as

they think that the youths may cause trouble within their community. When discussing publics

views on youth crime Siegel. J.L, (2009:11) suggested that

“As youths move through adolescence, they gravitate towards cliques that provide them with

support, assurance, protection, and direction. In some instances the peer groups provides the

social and emotional basis for antisocial activity, when this happens, the clique is transformed

into gangs”

This shows that as youths move through adolescence they tend to have a large group, a big gang

as it protects and supports them. The public are not happy with this in their community as when

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Youth Crimes

they are in large gangs it normally means they take part in an anti social activity, violent

behavior. According to the public, gangs is one of the main factor that influences youths crime as

they are peer pressured, they may commit crime due to fear as they are in a gang.

Gangs in local community have a major role play within violent activities as to why this

concerns the public today. Street crimes are mainly held by teen gangs, Klein, M (1971) defines

teen gangs as

“Any denotable group of youngsters, who are generally perceived as a distinct aggression by

others in their neighborhood, or recognize themselves as a denotable group with a group name,

and also the ones who have been involved in a sufficient number of delinquent incidents to call

forth a consistent negative response from neighborhood residents and/or law enforcement

agencies”. (Malcolm Klein, street gangs and street workers 1971)

The anomie and strain theory was developed by Emile Durkheim in ‘division of labour' (1893).

In this book, anomie was disregarded by American criminologists. But in the 1950's Robert K.

Merton started applying this theory to sociology which he wrote about in his essay ‘social

structure and anomie' (Merton 1938). Since then this theory has been used repetitively in various

arguments and studies to display the ‘moral panic' of increased criminal behavior amongst

today's youth. This has been emphasized hugely within the media; by the Home Office statistical

data; as well as other professional organizations.

From a functionalist perspective, Durkheim perceived that society was similar to humans in the

way that in order to function satisfactorily and in perfect harmony, each aspect of society has to

fit together conveniently. He resented the individual perceptions regarding psychological,

classical and biological reasons for criminal behaviors.

As society exists based on what the media states, it is apparent that people are easily influenced

as to what they perceive to be true. More than usual, the media does not define crime in the same

way that the authorities do such as ‘muggings' which are in fact robberies. But the fact remains

that people still have some kind of understanding as to what these terms mean as the media

familiarizes people with their use of language knowing that the law is sometimes regarded as an

unreliable source of information due to the various injustices that occur. As Hall et al (1978)

recognized that the media uses certain tactics to create moral panic. It is clear that the media is

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Youth Crimes

advantageous in being able to clarify aspects of society to the public by their own means. For

example elderly members of society are more careful about going out alone as they fear they are

in danger from the youth.

However perhaps the media influences youth crime to broaden as a label is placed on individuals

whom consequently are made to act in a certain way due to them being ‘known' in this way.

Disregarding the good aspects of youth, the media paves the way of making the younger

generation behave in a defiant way to meet their perceived behaviors by the media. It is realistic

to state that the media focuses on the bad points about the youth rather than praising the good

aspects; this is why youth within a certain community are downgraded according to their social

status which is based around where they live and how they dress.

Media also ignores the fact that young people are also likely to be targeted victims of crimes;

predominantly with the recent advances in telecommunication technology for example mobile

phoned even iPods. This is ignored just when the media targets firm social classes as being

delinquent.

Lack of education according to “Beatrix Campbell” is defiantly crucial to the reviewing of

manhood and its connection to crime as “unemployment consigns men to the world of women”,

“it denies those institutions and activities” and which then leads Campbell views to

unemployment as being a factor of “unleashing and endorsing extreme forms of masculinity”. By

this reference Campbell basically means that due to youths constantly having nothing to do and

the pressures of no employment and no income they resort to violent solutions to the demands of

life.

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Youth Crimes

Chapter No.3

Methodological Frame Work

Methodology

This study is descriptive study. Here we check the relationship between variables. We took both

primary and secondary data. We are using the primary data for questionnaires.

Social environment

Economic situation

Increase in Youth Crimes

Family structure

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

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Youth Crimes

Sampling:

Research population is educated youth and our sampling frame is the educational institutes of our

city. Sample size n=30. Our sampling is non-probability sampling.

Questionnaire:

Nominal scale is used in questionnaire for personal information. For research purpose the scales

used are ratio scale, category scale and likert scale. The main factors used are economic

situation, family structure and social environment. The sub factors we used are unemployment,

inequality, poverty, poor supervision from school and parents and television.

Data is measured by using frequencies and convert it into simple percentages.

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Chapter No. 4

Results and Discussions

Following tables shows our results which are collected with the help of questionnaires.

Table.1: Main factors to influence the youth crimes

Social

environment

Economi

c

situation

Family

structure

All of

them

Frequency 5 8 2 15

Percentag

e

16.67% 26.67% 6.66% 50%

Graph

Social Environment Economic Situation Family Structure All of them02468

10121416

Main Factors

Main Factors

Interpretation

Survey results shows that 50% respondents said that all of these factors influence the youth

towards crimes, 16.67% is thought that social environment, 26.67% is thought economic

situation and only 6.66% is thought that the family structure is the main factor.

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Youth Crimes

Table.2: Economic situation influences the youth crimes

Graph

40%---50% 60%---70% 80%---90% Above 90%0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Economic Situation

Economic Situation

Interpretation:

40% respondents lies between 60%---70% that economic situation influences the youth crimes in

the society. And 33.34% are thought it is 40%---50% responsible.

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40%---50% 60%---70% 80%---90% Above

90%

Frequency 10 12 6 2

Percentag

e

33.34% 40% 20% 6.66%

Youth Crimes

Table.3: Social environment forces youth towards crime up to

Graph

40%---50% 60%---70% 80%---90% Above 90%02468

1012

Social Environment

Social Environment

Interpretation:

36.67% respondents are laying between 40%---50% and 60%---70% that social environment

forces the youth toward crimes.

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40%---50% 60%---70% 80%---90% Above

90%

Frequency 11 11 5 3

Percentag

e

36.67% 36.67% 16.66% 10%

Youth Crimes

Table.4: Family structure has negative impact on youth to influence them into crimes

Graph

40%---50% 60%---70% 80%---90% Above 90%05

10152025

Negative Family Structure

Negative Family Structure

Interpretation:

The respondents 76.67% are agreed from 40%---50% family structure have negative impact on

youth to influence them into crimes.

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40%---50% 60%---70% 80%---90% Above

90%

Frequency 23 4 3 0

Percentag

e

76.67% 13.33% 10% 0%

Youth Crimes

Table.5: Youth crimes increase in society day by day

Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5

Frequency 1 0 0 18 11

Percentage 3.34% 0% 0% 60% 36.66%

Graph

Strongly disagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree0

4

8

12

16

Incrase in Youth crimes

Incrase in Youth crimes

Interpretation:

The results of this table clearly show that 60% people are agreed that youth crimes are increasing

day by day in society.36.66% are strongly agreed.

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Youth Crimes

Table.6: Unemployment leads the youth toward the crime

Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5


Percentage 3.33% 0% 3.33% 33.34% 60%

Graph

Strongly disagree


1012141618

Unemployment

Unemployment

Interpretation:

Results show that 60% respondents are strongly agreed that unemployment leads youth towards

crimes.

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Youth Crimes

Table.7: Inequality among the people in society causes youth crimes

Graph

Strongly disagree


101214

Inequality among People

Inequality among People

Interpretation:

43.33% respondents agree that inequality is the cause of youth crimes.

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Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5


Percentage 6.67% 3.33% 16.67% 43.33% 30%

Youth Crimes

Table.8: Poverty is the main reason of youth crimes

Graph

Strongly disagree


Poverty

Poverty

Interpretation:

The table shows that 30% respondents are agreed, 30%’s answer is neutral and 30% are strongly

agreed.

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Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5

Frequency 2 1 9 9 9

Percentage 6.67% 3.33% 30% 30% 30%

Youth Crimes

Table.9: Bad Company in the school is the base of youth crimes.

Graph

Strongly disagree


101214

Bad Company in school

Bad Company in school

Interpretation:

20% respondents are disagreed, 20% are strongly agreed, 16.67%’s answer is neutral and

43.33% respondents are agreed that bad company in the school is the base of youth crimes.

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Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5


Percentage 0% 20% 16.67% 43.33% 20%

Youth Crimes

Table.10: Poor supervision from school may be a cause of youth crimes

Graph

Strongly disagree


101214

Poor Supervision from School

Poor Supervision from School

Interpretation:

46.67% respondents are agreed that poor supervision from school may be a cause of youth crime.

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Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5


Percentage 0% 23.33% 23.33% 46.67% 6.67%

Youth Crimes

Table.11: Television also mislead the youth towards crimes as a mean of adventure

Graph

Strongly disagree


2

4

6

8

Television misleads the Youth

Television misleads the Youth

Interpretation:

Results show that 30% respondents strongly agree that television misleads the youth. 26.67%

respondents are agreed.

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Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5

Frequency 1 5 7 8 9

Percentage 3.34% 16.67% 23.33% 26.66% 30%

Youth Crimes

Table.12: If parents involve in crimes then children would be involve in crimes

Graph

Strongly disagree


101214

Parents involvement in crimes

Parents involvement in crimes

Interpretation:

46.67% respondents are agreed that if parents involve in crimes then their children would be

involve in crimes.

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Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5


Percentage 3.34% 6.67% 16.67% 46.67% 26.66%

Youth Crimes

Table.13: Child abuse may be a cause of youth crimes

Graph

Strongly disagree


1012

Child abuse

Child abuse

Interpretation:

The last table of our research shows that 20% respondents disagree, 36.67% agree, 16.67%

strongly agree and 26.67%’s answer is neutral that child abuse may be a cause of youth crimes.

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Strongly

disagree

1

Disagree

2

Neutral

3

Agree

4

Strongly

agree

5


Percentage 0% 20% 26.67% 36.67% 16.66%

Youth Crimes

Chapter No.5

Recommendations

To follow these recommendations we can remove youth crimes from the society.

Media should play an effective role and there should be Islamic activities in the society and it

should be controlled by giving them social and moral awareness.

Government should take part to remove youth crime from the society.

Youth crimes can be controlled by improving economical situation of society.

We can remove youth crimes by removing unemployment, inequality from society.

We can also remove the youth crime by facilitate the youth from better educational system.

Youth crimes can also be removed from society by giving strong punishments to criminals.

Youth should have to be guided step by step as grows up, very properly, so that they will not

join bad company, they should be busy such as in studies, in their jobs so that they cannot get

time for doing anything wrong.

Youth crimes can also be controlled by proper check and balance from parents.

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Chapter No.6

Conclusion

There is no single factor that can be specified as the main cause of criminal behavior. This can

more accurately be found in the way that multiple risk factors clustered together can interact in

the lives of some children, while important protective factors are absent. Moreover, causes of

crime differ from country to country, in western world; causes are directly related to the

environment of the surroundings. These surroundings can be of school, home, neighborhood or

playground. In contrast, causes of youth crime in Pakistan are significantly different from that of

the western world.

Many things have to be done in order to tackle these problems at the moment, nevertheless not

enough is being done for example looking at more significant problems such as, why youths

respond to crime when they are facing inconvenience, but also problems such as issues which

cause these in the first place for example fatherless youths. Youths and families in this situation

need to be taught more about why youths react to these problems in this way, and how single

mothers should deal with them so that they don't turn to crime. More also has to be done for

youths to how to deal with their problems, hence their reactions to their difficulties basically they

need to recognize that they are doing wrong and their response to their worries by turning to

crime is intolerable and that they have to basically be manipulated through teaching to change

their views and actions. In essence typically youths views on manhood are basically wrong they

feel aggression, fighting, causing violence and being involved in crime is all part of manhood,

especially a way of releasing their tensions. This all needs to be reviewed in order to tackle the

problem of youth's culture linked with criminal activities.

After identification of the root causes of youth crime, the remedial measures to control the

criminal activities must revolve around those identified causes. Research results show that all of

these factors influence the youth crimes but economic factor highly affect it. Priority wise

solution of the problems is the key to success. If the above mentioned remedial measures are

taken into account, significant decrease in crime can be achieved.

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Chapter No.7

References

Durkheim. E. (1893) “Division of labour”

Hough, M. Et al (2004), Youth crime and youth justice (page 1)

http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors209.pdf

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576076/Violent-youth-crime-up-a-third.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_19991205/ai_n13944432/?tag=rbxcra.2.a.11

Klein, M. 1971, Responding to youth crime radical criminal justice partnerships

Leapman, B. (2008) ‘Violent youth crime up a third' Telegraph January, 20.p.3 online

Merton. R. K (1938) social structure and anomie

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Documents

research project on youth crimes