1b - discussion cards

Question 1

Thomas Bernard: The Three Myths of Juvenile Justice

Answer 1

• Myth nothing changes: youth crime in past was about same as it is today
• Myth of good old days: past delinquency was much less serious than today
• Myth of progress: delinquency in past was much more serious than today

*Statistics do not interpret themselves, we do.

Question 2

Media and the Politics of Youth Crime

Answer 2

• Extensive and disproportionate coverage given to stories on youth crime
• Youth crime is “political.” What’s this mean?
• “Facts” about youth crime are socially constructed.
• Media accounts drive public opinion about youth crime
• Public critical of legal attempts to solve problem, such as YOA

Question 3

Government Response to Youth Crime

Answer 3

• calls for reform in the 1990s
• Canada passes the YCJA in 2003
• Immediate criticism after it comes into effect
• Disproportionate media reports continue
• “New types” of youth crime reported; swarming, joyriding. Groupthink.

Question 4

Two Opposing Sides in Youth Justice Debate

Answer 4

Two Opposing Sides

• Youth advocate: focus is on the problems faced by young people (also called the “Child Welfare” approach)
• Law-and-order group: focus on how youth criminals are portrayed as “enemy” of society (“get-tough” approach)

Question 5

Lessons from the Nunn Commission

Answer 5

• Shows how youth and the crimes they commit are problematized in the media (Virk case)
• Often one extreme case is used as an example of how all youth behaviour is spiralling out of control

Question 6

History of Youth Crime

Answer 6

• Shows youth in the past were also described in negative terms
• Historian shows root “causes” to lay with parents of youth (overindulgent parents)
• The fur trade: problem of inheritance led youth to the trade, which was a profession wrought with illegal practices
• Immigration: promises of New World often did not materialize, leaving youth alone and impoverished

Question 7

Legal Governance of Deviant Youth

Answer 7

• Solutions proposed: more schools, more clergy, and geographic segregation
• Leads to the creation of early justice systems for youth criminals,
• early solutions included fines, punishment of parents, and increased policing

Question 8

19th Century Explanation

Answer 8

• Orphans
• Immigrants
• Poverty
• Gender. There’s always been a link with crime and gender & poverty. Large influx of British orphans with hopes for better life. Often found themselves equally poor and subject to harsh working conditions; young girls often forced into prostitution.

Question 9

The Victorian Period

Answer 9

• By the mid-1800s, poor were targeted/equated to immorality.
• New urban problems: illiteracy, sex trade, addictions, poverty, juvenile delinquency
• Specialist professions and agencies emerge to combat these problems

Targets

• Street kids (vagrancy - homelessness)
• Poor children and youth (rowdy youth)
• Young women (sexual immorality)

“Causes” and Solutions

• 1850-1908: social reform movement
• Rehabilitative view: youth can be reformed
• Child savers: Scott and Kelso
• Juvenile delinquency becomes a new label
• Bad parenting by working-class parents one source of the problem

Question 10

Era of the Juvenile Delinquent

Answer 10

• Definitions of youth deviance tied to rapid pop increase in Canadian cities
• Statistics appear to show youth crime increased throughout the 20th century – may be related to population concentration + changes in legislation & how youth crime addressed.
• Does increase in youth crime statistics equate to increase in youth crimes?
• What factors were used to explain the trend?

Question 11

Sociological Perspective on Youth Crime

Answer 11

• How is juvenile delinquency socially constructed?
• Do crime levels change?
• Is the quality of youth crime changing?
• How is the problem framed in the public eye? Think about marginalization.
• Who is marginalized by being defined as a youth criminal?

Question 12

Media and Moral Panic

Answer 12

• Stanley Cohen: coined the term “moral panic”
• Moral panics: based on perceptions rather than alleged reality of a problem
• “Out of control youth”: is one such moral panic, with a natural history

​Moral Panic and Penal Populism

• Media claims made about youth are not always the truth.
• Politicians who respond with policy that addresses moral panic rather than real numbers are engaging in penal populism.
• Public fear - drives political agendas - and results in changes in legislation.
• Youth crime rates have been steadily decreasing and its misleading for politicians to take advantage of penal populism to garner votes.

Question 13

What Is The Same over time?

Answer 13

• The presence of youth crime
• Concerns about ineffective systems of youth justice
• Public concerns about youth crime and personal safety
• Media stories continue to vilify all youth

Question 14

What Has Changed over time?

Answer 14

• The way we discuss the youth crime problem
• The alleged sources of youth crime, the way we talk about it (discourse).

Question 15

Consider

Answer 15

• What are the main “causes” of youth crime today?
• Where do you get your information about youth crime?