...Outline and Assess Sociological Explanations for Age Differences in Patterns of Crime According to the Official Crime statistics most crime is committed by young people with the peak age of crime being 18 for males and 15 for females, with the majority of this crime consisting of theft and handling stolen goods which make up over 50% of all youth crimes. Cohen states that young people have a desire to feel valued, respected and to gain status within society. He states that this age difference may exist due to young working class boys feeling alienated and angry at the low status that schools and society allocate them and experience status frustration which results in the formation of gangs or subcultures of like-minded boys who reverse the norms and values of dominant culture and award status on the basis of anti-school and delinquent behaviour. This theory was influence by Merton, who states that crime results from a strain to anomie, which is when a working class boy is unable to achieve success in society through legitimate means which results in those boys looking for this achievement through illegitimate means by committing crimes to get back at a society which did not allow them to achieve. Kintrea’s theory of gang violence reinforces this as it explains that territorial conflict with rivals from other areas heightens the sense of masculinity. This in turn allows males to gain status, respect and reputation from each other which they failed to receive from mainstream...
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...The Age and Time for the Crime in Juvenile Justice Natasha Yancey Strayer University March 16, 2014 The Age and Time for the Crime The adult criminal system is designed for the prosecution of adults not children. Both state and federal legislative have responded to juvenile crime by focusing on sending more and younger children to adult criminal court. How and where do we draw the line between adults and children? Where do we draw the line between justice and malice? Juveniles that commit crimes should be punished for the crimes that they commit, but they should not be tried as an adult. This paper will offer information on why there needs to be changes in the juvenile justice system, and it will analyze why the increased prosecution of juveniles in adult court is disastrous and nothing but a threatening policy. This policy is unjust, harmful to children and does nothing to increase public safety; consequently punishing adolescents as adults does more harm than good. Thomas J Bernard a professor of criminal justice and sociology at Pennsylvania State University explained how psychologists and sociologists saw young offenders. Bernard’s (2010) book The Cycle of Juvenile Justice recognized that minors are children and not adults. (p. 45) Bernard (2010) further explains that during the 18th century children were tried as adults. Juveniles as young as the age of seven could be tried and sentenced in criminal courts. (Bernard 2010) His research expounds on the Society...
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...In today’s world age, race, and crime are very popular topics. Everyone is accusing each other on their color and race. As a human being I think we should all be treated equally no matter who we are or what’s our background. In the United State African Americans and Latin Americans have a highest rate of crime but, that does not mean if they were all treated equally by the law. Racism is still very much a major part of our society. Growing up in NY I always knew that there were racist people, but I never knew how the racism actually affected our society and how strongly it influences such things as government funding for education and housing developments. Racism and prejudice always seemed secondary to me. I always knew that this country had issues with racism, but I never imagined that it affected serious issues so heavily. Minorities in this country are put at a greater disadvantage than whites. Many minorities, especially those that do not speak English as their primary language, have to deal with inadequate housing, underfunded school districts and the everyday struggle of discrimination for their differences and beliefs. Most people believe that black and Hispanic people simply commit more crime; the situation is actually more complex. Research suggests crime exists across all societies; it is the type of crimes committed that varies. Those who are victimized by crime are the lower economic levels of society. I think it’s a lack of knowledge and we only...
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...Construction of crime: Platt (1969) – Juvenile Delinquency (Youth crime, is participation in illegal behavior by minors) Originally created as a result of a campaign by upper class Victorian model entrepreneurs, aimed at protecting young people at risk. This established ‘juveniles’ as a separate category of offender with their own courts, and it enabled the state to extend its powers beyond criminal offences involving the young, into so-called ‘status offences’ such as truancy and sexual promiscuity. Becker – notes that social control agencies themselves may also campaign for a change in the law to increase their own power. For example, the US Federal Bureau of Narcotics successfully campaigned for the passing of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937 to outlaw marijuana use. Supposedly, this was on the grounds of its ill effects on young people, but Becker argues it was really to extend the Bureau’s sphere of influence. Who gets labelled? Piliavin and Briar (1964) found that police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on the physical cues (such as manner and dress), from which they made judgements about the youth’s character. Cicourel – probation officers held the common sense theory that juvenile delinquency was caused by broken homes, poverty and lax parenting. Therefore they tended to see youths from such backgrounds as likely to offend in future and were less likely to support non-custodial sentences for them. ^Page 81 Left Realism – Causes of crime - Marginalisation ...
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...According to the Official Crime statistics most crime is committed by young people with the peak age of crime being 18 for males and 15 for females, with the majority of this crime consisting of theft and handling stolen goods which make up over 50% of all youth crimes. Cohen states that young people have a desire to feel valued, respected and to gain status within society. He states that this age difference may exist due to young working class boys feeling alienated and angry at the low status that schools and society allocate them and experience status frustration which results in the formation of gangs or subcultures of like-minded boys who reverse the norms and values of dominant culture and award status on the basis of anti-school and delinquent behaviour. This theory was influence by Merton, who states that crime results from a strain to anomie, which is when a working class boy is unable to achieve success in society through legitimate means which results in those boys looking for this achievement through illegitimate means by committing crimes to get back at a society which did not allow them to achieve. Kintrea’s theory of gang violence reinforces this as it explains that territorial conflict with rivals from other areas heightens the sense of masculinity. This in turn allows males to gain status, respect and reputation from each other which they failed to receive from mainstream society. However, these theories fail to explain why those in the middle or upper classes...
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...In Teenage Crimes Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Teenage Crimes 4 In Pakistan 4 Background 5 Peer Pressure: 5 Poverty: 5 Poor Parenting Skills 5 Findings 6 Survey 6 Interview 6 Small Scale Implementations 7 Conclusion 8 Bibliography 9 Charts……………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Appendix 11 Executive Summary Teenage crimes as we all know are those crimes which are performed by people aging between 13-19 years old. These crimes are performed all over the world but unfortunately these crimes have been on the rise in Pakistan for the last 5 years. My objective was to find out who are responsible for the increase in teenage crimes. For this purpose I Conducted a survey from our fellow students and also interviewed a Deputy Supretendant of Police to get his views about this particular issue. The results we found showed that teenage crimes are a reason behind many problems of our country and steps should be taken to reduce this as soon as possible otherwise condition of our country will become much worse because a country cannot develop without its youth. “The Youth of today are the future of tomorrow and a country cannot prosper and develop without the contribution of its youth”:- (Bill Gates) Introduction Teenage Crimes Teenage Crimes or Juvenile...
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...interested in crime control as they were in social work. Admittedly, some reformers were motivated by a desire to save growing numbers of poor and homeless children from the streets of America’s cities. Others, however, were mainly interested in removing the legal obstacles that prevented criminal courts from dealing effectively with young hoodlums” http://www.urban.org/publications/307452.html The Juvenile Justice System was founded on the principle that “children are fundamentally different from adults, and that the justice system that deals with them should reflect these differences” (Setting the stage). Two themes make the system: the welfare of young offenders and the protection of public safety. “State legislatures are responsible for establishing juvenile courts and for framing their legal responsibilities. Thus, state lawmakers have the power to decide who falls under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and who remains under the jurisdiction of the criminal court. At one time, the issue was relatively simple. States merely decided at what age an individual was to be fully responsible for his or her criminal behavior. Offenders above that age were tried as adults in criminal court; those below it went to a juvenile court. Most jurisdictions set this age at 18” http://www.urban.org/publications/307452.html Maximum age: “16 states statutorily set the lowest age of juvenile court jurisdiction. • North Carolina having the youngest age which is 6 • MD, MA and NY= age 7 • Arizona=...
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...who has not completed eighteen years of age. A boy or girl under eighteen years of age is a “juvenile” according to the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA), 2000. Earlier, according to the JJA, 1986, the age of boys and girls were different, but however, the JJA 2000 which repealed the JJA, 1986, brought the age of male juveniles at par with the female juveniles. Another reason for increasing the age of male juveniles by the JJA 2000 is to bring the Indian juvenile legislation into conformity with the ‘United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)’. Article 1 of CRC states for the purposes of the present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. Therefore, both the boys and girls below the age of eighteen years enjoy the protection of juvenile legislation. The term ‘children in conflict with the law’ as stated by the United Nation’s Children Fund refers to anyone under 18 who comes into contact with the justice system as a result of being suspected or accused of committing an offence. In India, the JJA, 2000 defines “juvenile in conflict with law” as a juvenile who is alleged to have committed an offence and has not completed eighteenth year of age as on the date of commission of such offence. Juvenile Crime Law is a subcategory of Juvenile Law. Although a type of criminal law, juvenile crime law only deals with under-age individuals, who are treated very differently...
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...Juveniles Tried as Adults As more minors are committing heinous crimes, the question of whether they should be tried as adults has arisen. Children as young as thirteen or fourteen are committing violent crimes such as murder, rape, and armed robbery with little to no remorse, and what punishment are they receiving? Some get tried as adults and the others are being tried as juveniles. A juvenile offender may receive a few years in a juvenile detention and maybe probation following their release at age eighteen. If an adult were to commit the exact same crime, they would most likely get a life sentence, with no chance of parole. The only difference between the two offenders is the age at which they committed the crime. Yes, teens who commit violent crimes should be tried as adults. In the article “Greg Ousley is Sorry for Killing His Parents. Is That Enough?” At age fourteen, Greg Ousley shot both of his parents, killing them. He admits to having planned the murder. Throughout the article, it is obvious that Greg Ousley after being in jail for sixteen years, regretted killing his parents. But even than just because he regrets doing it, does not change the fact that he did. He still deserves to complete his punishment. Regret means nothing especially after committing a brutal crime. A common argument is that teens should not be tried as adults because they are unfit for adult trial. According to the article “Many Kids Called Unfit for Adult Trial”, they don’t understand...
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...The Uniform Crime Reporting Program and Understanding the Victims Name: Institution: Uniform Crime Reporting is a program that is a national wide statistical effort which comprises over 15,000 state, city, and county laws enforcement agencies that report data on criminal offences voluntarily (Schmalleger, 2006). This data is later forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation directly or through the state-level Uniform Crime Reporting program from the local law enforcement agencies. The offences in the program are divided into two categories, part 1 and part 2 for data reporting purposes. The part 1 offences reported by the Uniform Crime Reporting program are categorized into two groups which include property and violent crimes and later used to measure the scope and level of crime rate in the country (FBI, 2004). The crimes reported in this part are called index crimes because reports the crimes that are very serious and they have a tendency of being reported reliably compared to others. These crimes are mostly reported directly to the police and not the separate agencies which do not contribute to the UCR program. These crimes include; forcible rape, aggravated assault, criminal homicide, forcible sex, arson, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and larceny-theft (FBI, 2004). The part 2 offences comprises of less serious crimes which are either reported directly to the police or through the separate agencies. Only the arrest data is collected and reported to the FBI...
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...Perception of crime in Australia Name: deejay dial University: egerton Tutor: dr.magana Course: criminology Date: 03-06-2013 Introduction Crime is defined as an act of breaking or violation of the law .a crime is punishable by the government through imprisonment or paying bail, crimes range from petty crimes such as pick pocketing to capital crime such as murder or robbery with violence Policy making in Australia is affected by many factors including public perception .policies in criminal justice are used to determine the kind of punishment that is to be given to offenders, its also used to classify the degree and severity of crimes and also allocating the required resource to the criminal justice agencies. Using public perception to make policy can lead to bad policy formulation this is because there is a huge discrepancy that exists between the actual crimes committed and what the public holds as the rate of crime in their country. This is true in Australia where people perceive that crime is on the increase while in the actual sense its declining (Rex & Tonry 2002; Roberts & Indermaur 2009), the same pattern was also reported in the united states during the last decade (Maguire & Pastore 1999). In Australia the elderly, women and illiterate people believe that crime rate is increasing compared to men and the literate who believe otherwise (Indermaur & Roberts 2005) In 2007 according to Australian bureau of statistics (2008) murders reported...
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...more arbitrary. For instance, Professor Laub and Professor Sampson came across other definitions, such as Farrington and Hawkins (1991) and how they define desistance as having no conviction between the age 21 and 32, following a conviction before 21. Another study they found was that of Weitekamp and Kerner (1994), and this explained how together they have both tried to unravel various workings in the area of desistance. They have defined the desistance as the period of time when the criminal or delinquent actions ends permanently. Comparing this notion, they define suspension as an interruption in offending activities. Laub and Sampson also showed how Maruna (2001), points out that the fore mentioned researchers, in addition to their definitions, view desistance as a developmental progression, and not as a happening; which means the rate of offending recurring decelerates and also becomes far less appealing. In a documentary by Allen Weaver, on desistance, he spoke about Laub and Sampson’s study, about a research that was conducted in the 1940’s as part of a Harvard University study on delinquent boys. Laub and Sampson posed the questions; “Where are they now?” and “How did their lives turn out?” Laub and Sampson found that nearly all of the delinquents desisted from crime, some faster and some slower. When Professor John H. Laub was interviewed for the documentary, he stated that he and Professor Sampson had indentified certain turning...
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...Topic: Drinking Age in the United States Specific Purpose: to motivate my audience to protest for lowering the Drinking Age from 21 Central Idea: Lowering the legal alcohol consumption age will reduce the rate of underage drinking charges: INTRODUCTION I. The Attention Step A. 10.4 million kids reported drinking last year so obviously this law is not working. The average teen begins drinking at 14, seven years before they can legally drink. 1. I’m sure at least a few of you have taken some of your parents alcohol without them knowing about it or have participated in underage drinking at some point in your life up to now and if not you might in college. 2. If you haven’t and don’t plan on it because it is illegal, just know that if the legal drinking age were changed, one would have nothing to think about. Transition: So why do we need to lower the drinking age? II. The Need Step: A. Since the drinking age was raised teens have tended to drink in more of an abusive manor. 1. In 2011 in the United States, 13,000 underage kids died from alcohol poisoning. The next closest country had just 5,000. 2. If the number of underage drinking charges in America reduces, then the overall rate of crime in America will drop therefore making America a safer country. 3. A recent Kansas City newspaper asked 8,726 students if the drinking age should be lowered. Out of 8,726 asked 7,992 said yes B. Underage kids want to consume alcohol and them not being of legal age will not be enough...
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...delinquent is a person who is found to have committed a crime; they are usually under the age of 18. There are many crimes that are reported each year all over the world that involve these young offenders, but here in Texas, the crime rates have decreased and this could be because only the juveniles who commit felony crimes are held at state- run facilities. As of 2011, the total arrests made each year are estimated to be around 99,114, this is only involving juveniles. Amongst all the crimes, ranging from vandalism, to burglary, sex offenses, to drug abuse, it seems as if the most common crime that is recognized is theft/larceny. The term “larceny” is used when a juvenile willingly trespasses and leaves with personal property. Theft is basically stealing and taking something that doesn’t belong to you. These juveniles do not necessarily have to steal from stores, or break into a home and steal property for them to be charged. Other types of theft/larceny also include, stealing bicycles from other kids and stealing from backpacks or lockers at school. All this is considered to be theft and these young adults can get into a lot of trouble for these wrong doings. If convicted of larceny, a juvenile can face jail time, fines, and this could remain on his or her records for the rest of their life. It is believed that 16 years of age is the most common age that is reported in the state of Texas when it comes to crimes being committed and there are various reasons as to why...
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...with heinous crimes that are committed by adults. Capital punishment is highly publicized by the media when adults commit senseless acts against humanity. When adults are placed on death row society acknowledges that justice has been served. However, adults aren’t the only members of the community that commit unspeakable acts of crime. Juveniles also have been arrested for murder, charged as adults, and then sentenced to death. The thought of executing a juvenile is a double standard when compared to the laws in place to protect the same juveniles. Rehabilitation is the norm when dealing with juveniles who commit delinquent acts against the community. The question then arises as to whether Capital punishment is the correct form of punishment when a youth commits murder? Legal adulthood starts at age eighteen, the age at which a young person can vote, buy cigarettes, join the military, and live however they want as long as they follow the law. When young adults choose to break the law they need to be held accountable for those actions. “Do the crime and do the time”, is the philosophy for adults. When someone under the age of eighteen commits the same type of murder, they deserve to be held accountable. That is the law. Juveniles at seventeen aren't any different than those at eighteen years of age. At what age do we apply the death penalty? Should there be a minimum age to sentence a juvenile to death? Who decides that age? What parameters will be used to set the age? The opinion...
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