Deviant Youth

Question 1

Troubled Youth: Drug Use

Answer 1

• Drug use is one of the greatest concerns for troubled youth
  ↳ most common drug is weed

Question 2

Reason for drug use in youth

Answer 2

• Stress relief
• Form of escape
• Curiosity
• Becoming part of a specific peer group
  ↳ strong correlation with drug use among peers

Question 3

Problematic Drug use

Answer 3

• Individual
  ↳ Genetic predisposition
• Family
  ↳ Family history of substance abuse
  ↳ Parenting style
• Community
  ↳ Norms about substance abuse
  ↳ peers
• School
  ↳ Academic success
  ↳ Extracurricular activities
  ↳ Reading skills

Having close relationships with people who have a drug addiction makes you more vulnerable to drug use
- Extracurricular activity prevents substance use but not if the group you hang out with uses drugs

Question 4

Dixon Bloods in Toronto

Answer 4

• Used to be a good community but police claim its a breedin ground for crime
• Somali refugees come and then the place is checked for terrorism
• Police raid in 2013 for project traveler for the gang Dixon blood
• People that lived in Dixon sees the dixon bloods as a friend group NOT organized gang
  ↳ People that are percieved as a gang do not see themselves as gang members

Question 5

Youth Gangs

Answer 5

• Gangs & youth crime is considered to be out of control
• Intimate relationship with neighbourhood
  ↳ Increasingly moving online (social media)

Question 6

Social Construction of Gangs

Answer 6

• gangs are socially constructed; those with power (police,politicians) identify groups as gangs
  ↳ Sometimes people are correctly identified or not correctly identified as gangs
  ↳ The “gang” label is disproportionately used against members of racialized groups due to profiling, racism & stigmitization
  ↳ Group that’s labelled as a gang changes overtime and are dif based on location.
• Members of racialized groups are NOT more likely to be involved in a gang but more likely to be labelled as such because of racism

Question 7

Why do Youth Join Gangs

Answer 7

• Material incentive
• Recreation - gang activity is fun, having a social group to do activity with is enjoyable
• Place of refuge - youth believe when you commit a crime with a group you feel less guilty commiting the crime
• Protection - Youth believe joining a gang will protect them from the rival gang, however joining a gang acc increases victimization
• Commitment to the community - The expectation to give back to the neighbourhood which is by joining a gang

Question 8

Gangs & Neighbourhoods

Answer 8

• Often view their existence as an embodiement of the neghbourhood
• A gangs identification with a specific territory (west side, east side)
• Mandates any perceived or actual threat need to be met with strong resistance & defense of territory
  ↳ Vehement (“protection”) is the primary motivation for gang warfare

Question 9

Who benefits from moral panics about gangs?

Answer 9

• Media - sensationalized story from gangs makes more money
• Politicians - crime and safety is a key aspect of presidential campaign
• Police - more funding
• Gangs themselves - any publicity (even bad) helps legitimize your position

Question 10

Effect of Police Contact on Youth

Answer 10

• Slocum & Wiley said youth who interact with the criminal justice system are more likely to continue with deviant behaviour
  ↳ They internalize the label & suffer the consequences of being labelled by others so they embrace it
• Said that police contact for racial minority groups creates more deviance especially in minority dom communities where social support isn’t sufficient

Question 11

Delinquency in schools

Answer 11

• Young people who detach from school are more likely to become delinqunets; the feeling of failure will bring more delinquency
• Students with a strong relationship with their instructor had a higher chance of graduation along with students who had a stronger relationship with each other

1) Taken over many occupational socialization functions formerly done by the family
2) School is related to delinquency through its effects on childrens daily lives

Question 12

Expulsion & Suspension

Answer 12

• Children who had early aggression; strong schoolbond protected them from being violent
• Strong school bond also acted as protective factor against the influence of peers who commited non-violent delinquency
• zero tolerance policy that uses suspension or expulsion Counter-Productive