Age And Crime

Question 1

Age and crime

Answer 1

• deviance and crime have always been features in the lives of young people, and they have always been over represented in crime statistics
• parsons - shows how young people have always formed the largest group of criminals and deviants e.g hooligans, young people demonised for anti social behaviour, vandalism, street gangs, illegal drug use and knife crime

Question 2

The evidence on young people and crime

Answer 2

• the peak age for offending is between 15 and 20, with the proportion of this age ground found guilty of indictable offences
• estimate 10 -17 yr olds found for around a quarter of all recorded crime, with nearly 85% of this committed by males
• a 2002 self report survey found that almost half of Britain’s secondary school students admitted to breaking the laws
• the reason most often given for law breaking by young people are to impress others, and Bordeom

Question 3

Explanations for the links between age and offending

Answer 3

There are several inter related factors which combine to explain the link between age and offending. The most prevalent themes are those relating to status frustration and the influence of the peer group
Such as:
- focal concerns of w/c subculture carrying a risk of law breaking
- weekend sense of identity arising from status frustration
- status frustration arising from a,big unity of transition to childhood to adulthood
- labelling and police stereotyping
- weekend social bonds
- thrill seeking and excitement arising from risk taking, providing peer groups status

Question 4

Status frustration and delinquent subcultures

Answer 4

• cohen, cloward and ohlin, and miller - develop theory’s of delinquents subcultures to explain the link between crime and young people, particularly those from a lower class
• younger people lack sense of identity and direction and they are therefore in what a ‘state of drift’. In this period of drift, the peer group can provide a sense of identity, excitement and status. Thus may encourage young people to engage in occasional acts of delinquency

Question 5

Postmodernism theories: edgeworks and the seductions of crime

Answer 5

• postmodernist such acts Katz and lyng - suggest that much youthful criminal activity may be committed because of the pleasure it provides and the excitement of edgework. Crime and anti social behaviour are committed for the ‘buzz’ generated by the risk of taking, excitement and thrills involved in acts like shoplifting, vandalism, fighting back, being drunk and taking drugs
• peer group status can be achieved through such activities, which take on a symbolic value as a trophy of the risk taking game. The peer group offers support and encouragement for such activities, and group involvement increases the chances of getting away with it.
• the ‘thrills and spills’ of edge work as a motivation for crime may appeal to all people at various times, but are likely to motivate young people and especially w/c men as a way of expressing masculinity.
• the period of status frustration generally appears as people get older

Question 6

Labelling and police stereotyping

Answer 6

• the police are likely to see young people as the source of the problem, and, as labelling theorist suggest, this stereotype involves them in speeding more time observing and stopping and searching young people
• cohen - has shown how young people are frequently demonised in the mass media. Young w/c males, particularly, are more likely to encounter the selective law enforcement which Chambliss, Becker and cicourel discussed, and as a result, more likely to have their behaviour defined as criminal, become defined as offenders and appear in the statistics

Question 7

Status frustration and the peer group

Answer 7

• young people are often deprived of an independent status in society, and they are caught in the transition between child and independent adult status, and they may experience a sense of status frustration at this situation
• the peer group provides some support for an identity and starts independent of school or family, and therefore takes on a greater importance among young people at any other age
• the lack of responsibilities and independent status, and the search for excitement and for status in their peer group, means many young people drift into minor acts of delinquency and clashes with the law
• peer group pressure may also give young people the confidence and encouragement to involve themselves in minor acts of delinquency which they would not engage in on their own. This aspect of status frustration affects all young people, and explains why many young people of all social classes occasionally get involved delinquent and deviant activity

Question 8

Control theory and weekend social bonds

Answer 8

• control theory suggests that criminal and deviant activity become likely when individuals bond to society and the controls that help to prevent crime and deviance - such as social interrogation through the family, school, workplace and community - are weakened.
• the period of status deprivation and frustration can weaken theses bonds, as they are temporarily displaces by the peer group, in which deviance may become a means of achieving status and respect from peers