Youth and Crime

The recent media reports have overwhelming content on youth crime. A number of studies have also gone on to report upon the extent and nature of those crimes.
The government and the reform agencies including the juvenile justice system have responded accordingly.

In this essay we propose to discuss dimensions, experiences and causes of the problems, as well as the policy responses to them.
Extent of the Problem According to Nacro youth crime fact sheet, "Offending by young people is relatively common.
Some 33 % of males aged 15-16 years in self report studies, for example, admit committing at least one offence within the past 12 months.
At the same time, public perceptions tend to overstate the extent of crime which is attributable to young people: 28% believe that young people are responsible for more than half of all offences; and a further 55% consider that responsibility for crime is shared equally by adults and young people.

In fact during 1999, 76% of detected crime was committed by persons over the age of 18.
Offenders over 21 years were responsible were responsible for over 60% of detected offending" According to a survey carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, published in 2002, based on the sample size of 14000 exposed some of the unknown facts on youth crime in the U.K. According to the survey, almost half of Britain's secondary school children admitted breaking the law at some time; a third of 14-15 year olds admitted committing criminal damage and a quarter admitted shoplifting in the past year; one in five 15-16 year old boys admitted to attacking some one with the intention to cause serious harm; one in 10 boys in the age group 11-12 said they had carried a knife or other weapon in the past year and 8 percent admitted to having attacked someone with an intention to cause serious harm.
One in 10 boys aged 15 and 16 had broken into a building to steal during the previous year including 4 percent who said they had done so three or four times; a quarter of 13 to 14 year olds indulged in binge drinking, consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in one session; serious drug problems were also identified.

According to the Youth Lifestyle Survey (YLS) carried among 4848 respondents (aged between 12 and 30 yrs.
) between October 1998 and January 1999 several youth offences were reported.

Almost half of 12-30 year olds admitted committing at least on of the 27 offences at some stage of their lives (57% men and 37% women). The other reported findings were as follows: - almost a fifth (19%) of 12 to 30 year olds admitted one or more offence in the last 12 months. Women were less likely to have offended (11%) as compared to men (26%).
- At the time of the reported offence, about half (48% of men and 59% of women) had committed only one or two offences.

- Among all offences in 12 to 30 year olds, those in the age 14-21 committed most while those in the youngest (12 to 13) and oldest (26 to 30) age groups committed the least.
- The offending began at an average age of 13 ½ for boys and 14 for girls - The rates of offending are highest among men aged 18 - the peak age of offending; among women the peak age of offending is 14. - At the ages 12 and 13 there is little difference in boys and girls in offending including drug use and drinking.

The difference becomes marked after the age of 14, and over the age of 17, male offenders outnumber the women by a ratio of about 3:1. A number of reports have unanimously pointed out a perceptible decrease in youth crimes over the last 15 years.

For instance the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, between 1983 and 1993 there was a drop of 42% among the 10 to 13 year old boys who were found guilty or cautioned for more serious more serious "indictable" offences. The corresponding decline among 14-17 year old boys was 15%.
However, it was also pointed out at the same time that the perceptible decrease was illusory, as the police-recorded crime statistics and the national surveys of the victims of crime together agree that within the same period there has been a dramatic increase in offences like burglary and vehicle thefts, the types of offences most often committed by young people.

The other probable reasons explaining the discrepancy could be a growing reluctance to take juveniles to court and an increasing tendency on the part of police to issue unrecorded warnings rather than formal cautions. Factors Responsible for Criminal Behavior We might be interested in knowing the factors that might possibly dispose young people toward criminal behavior.

We should also like to be informed on the risk factors associated to crime. According to Joseph Rawntree Foundation, young offenders tend to be versatile and rarely specialize in specific crime or violence.

Longitudinal research has identified features in the childhood and adult lives of violent offenders and non-violent persistent offenders that are very similar, suggesting that violent offenders are essentially frequent offenders.
Studies have also found that young offenders are versatile in committing other types of antisocial behavior, including heavy drinking, drug-taking, dangerous driving and promiscuous sex.
Delinquency is, therefore, only one element in a much larger syndrome of antisocial behavior.
A large number of available researches on backgrounds, circumstances, and attitudes of future offenders have identified factors that point to an increased risk of future criminal behavior among children. Some of them as pointed out by the Home Office are troubled home life; poor attainment at school, truancy and school exclusion; drug or alcohol misuse and mental illness; deprivation such as poor housing and homelessness; peer group pressure.

More or less similar set of reasons have been identified by the studies on criminal behavior.

Ian Colquhoun identifies major causes of youth crime as follows: Low income and poor housing; Living in deteriorating inner city areas; A high degree of impulsiveness and hyperactivity; Low intelligence and low attainment; Poor prenatal discipline and harsh erratic discipline; Parental conflict and broken families.
The global report on human settlement points out that a wealth of international data suggests that crime and violence are strongly associated with the growth and proportions of youthful populations, and especially young males.

Youth crimes and violence rates are also associated with such environmental factors as level of policing, conviction and imprisonment rates, drug cultures and a host of situational elements that condition people.
Across countries, small arms survey and WHO data report that males aged 15-29 account for about half of all firearm related homicides.

However, apart from the factors internal to the offenders, the planning and policy measures are significant determinants of crime. "From a planning and public policy standpoint, then, where crimes occur and how places are designed and managed are at least as important as who the perpetrators are.

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because crime and violence tends to reoccur in relatively limited number of places in cities.

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generally well known to citizens and police, and occurrences are therefore, reasonably predictable"