Untitled Quiz

Historical Context

• Black - information posted in MyLS
• Green - added to Lecture
• Peak of youth crime - mostly from academic research and Statistics Canada
• Youths are getting harsher treatment in Canada than in the US
  • Youths receive more negative attention than any other group (80% under 25)
  • Judgment of youths as troubling and problematic

Media and Politics of Youth Crime

• Idea that young people are a problem, not their actions
• 95% of crime stories - youths are violent
• Youth crime is political, influencing policies
• Youths are socially constructed - this way of presenting makes them seem like the problem
• Media drives public opinion

Reality of Youth (teens and YA)

• Teens are different from adults: mentally developing
• Frontal cortex last to develop (mid-late 20s)
• Teens excluded from adult world
• Prospects diminishing for Gen Z and Gen Alpha compared to previous generations
• Lack of mental support for young people

Social Reality (Teens)

• Social status: have no legal power until 18, emancipation through court possible at 16
• Political power: do not make rules
• Devalued contributions - legal to pay less than adults
• Distrust from adults - the court is less lenient, and actions considered unlawful

Economic Reality

• Indigenous youth and children at greater risk of getting fired and not getting a job
• 2016 graduation rate: 20%, 2021: 10% for baby boomers
• Disadvantage for Gen Z - less time to save, more debt compared to past generations

Youth Justice - Opposite Sides

• Youth Advocates: support youths struggling with issues at home, school, with friends, unemployment, and poverty.
• View Youth: Need guidance and help with things outside of their control
• Legal and Order: Crime control - focus on criminals - get what you deserve
• Punishment: Youth viewed as enemies of adults needing to be punished.

Social Construction of Youth and Adolescence

• G. Stanley (psychologist) coined adolescence in 1904
• Adolescence - a transitional stage between childhood and adulthood
• Low self-control increased in the 1940s (as a way to make money from consumer products)

Consequences of Industrial Revolution

• Law displaced children, disconnected from families, didn't know where they lived
• Children weren't paid - stole to eat
• Social Policy - UK policy: shipped kids to Canada to work in farms
• Canada: more agricultural than UK/France (1860-1920) - 100,000 kids/teens exported.

Compulsory Education

• Forced to attend school to deal with orphan kids
• Started in 1800s - reading, writing, maths
• Ontario first province to extend age past 8 (girls could stay longer)

Juvenile Delinquency and Crime

• Actus reus - committing a crime or unable to commit
• Mens rea - mental intent of committing a crime
• 14 yrs and older - understand good/bad behaviors, can get adult sentences
• Under 7 yrs - do not understand behaviors are bad

Youth Crime Legislation

• Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA) - 1908
• Legislation details - regulating - age as young as 7

Welfare Model and Child Behaviour

• Focus: help children and support for their development and well-being
• Based on environmental influences: emotional trauma, child neglect ,etc
• Emphasises family/community responsibility - for children's behaviour and well-being

Measuring Youth Crime and Counting

• Age of responsibility (7-17) changed in JDA
• Most violent age group (28-29 months) - haven't learned communication and language
• Pattern: few kids enter system at 12/13, 16/17 more likely to commit crimes
• Quantitative method using official data from police, courts, and corrections

Official Statistics for Crime

• Uniform Crime Reporting: data collected (annually by law) to report to police
• Police discretion to choose whether to arrest, and not to arrest as well as
• Less likely to give youths warning, higher surveillance is used

Problem with UCR (official statistics) in Crime

• Dark figure of crime - unknown number of crimes
• Break and entry more reported

Self-Report Surveys

• Official data removed from the source
• Skepticism - examine system bias (boys don't commit crimes as much as was thought)
• Origin of self-report in youth: middle schools and high schools

Teen Crime

• Awareness of crime is lower than official statistics
• Police attention - influenced by class differences and race
• Criminologists reflects police work, not crimes

Measuring Youth Crime

• Self-report surveys - more accurate rate of crime and types
• Criminal vs. non-criminal - girls less likely than boys to get crime reported
• Youth crime is not class-based, but boys commit more than girls

Social Dimensions of Crime (Correlates of crime)

• Correlation: association between variables
• Correlates of crime (usually social)
• Age and Gender:
• Youth and ability
• Higher crime (youth) for greater surveillance
• Gender - males more likely to commit crime than females

The Age of Responsibility

• Violence is tied to maturity - age and life events influence
• Highest rates of victimization for 16-24 year olds, also mostly violent crimes

Sex and Crime

• Gender - best predictor of crime.
• Males more likely to commit crime.
• Girls - linked to sexuality (in a negative light).

Categories of Crime:

• Property (theft, arson, mischief etc)
• Violent crime (assault, battery etc.)
• Administration of Justice (failure to comply with an order)

Legal Factors for Arrest

• Seriousness of crime
• Number of previous contacts with law
• Suspects’ attitudes and demeanours

Extra Legal Factors

• Ethnicity, age, appearance.
• Negative feelings towards youths
• Disrespect of authorities.

Diversionary Measures

• Alternative measures, may or may not involve charges
• Types of crime (non violent, less serious)

Youth in Court

• Youth Criminal Justice Act
• Procedures (due process, contact with parents, etc).

Restorative Justice

• Meetings between parties (victim, offender, community member)
• Discussing crime, harm, and apology
• Restitution, reconciliation, and rehabilitation of offender

Probationary Conditions

• Mandatory conditions (e.g. keep the peace, be of good character, appear in court as required).
• YCJA Conditions

Youth in Custody:

• Secure vs. Nonsecure Custody (level of supervision).
• Limits of sentences

Correctional Considerations

• Costs of detention (financial risks)
• Disruption of education

Indigenous Youth Issues

• Systemic racism - decisions at different levels of CJS
• Historical contexts
• Colonialism and its effects on Indigenous youth

Family Relationships' Impact

• Parental influences on youth
• Parental involvement and supervision during crises

Bullying and Victims

• Bullying is a result of social-psychological factors
• Social-cultural (stereotypes or beliefs from the past, etc)- more in depth about bullying

Media and Youth Crime

• Media portrayal of youth as “troublemakers”
• Focus on negativity, violence, and crime.
• How youth are portrayed in relation to certain demographics (e.g., racial and ethnic profiling)

Shoplifting

• Teens shoplift in groups- to impress friends
• View as pink collar crime

Race and Ethnicity

• Over-representation of Indigenous girls in the CJS
• Socioeconomic deprivation and lack of resources, over-reliance on the CJS
• Systemic racism plays into this.

Black Girls (USA, implications)

• Girls’ behaviour framed differently than that of White girls
• Black girls perceived to make choices that result in crime
• White girls perceived as a result of trauma or abuse.