Week 9 : Deviance & Youth Lecture

Question 1

Youth as a subculture

Answer 1

• teenagers didn’t always exist, they had to be invented
• 1944 LIFE magazine introduced its readers to ‘the teenager’
• cause men were coming back from war
• the modern notion of the teen as a recognized, quantifiable life stage with its own fashions, behaviour, vernacular & arcane rituals did not exist until the post depression era

Question 2

‘At risk youth’ has replaced…

Answer 2

• ‘troubling’ and ‘troubled’
• now we identify youth who are ‘at risk’ and subject them to control efforts
• there is a concern that ALL youth can be included in the category cuz being a teenager itself is ‘deviant’

Question 3

Professors basic assumptions about youth, institutions & society

Answer 3

• most children and youth are ‘good’… their attitude & behaviour comes from somewhere
• it is the role of institutions who work with youth to support youth (DO NO HARM)
• we have opportunities through interactions to become a TANGENT (new direction, path, or possibility that can arise through interactions)
• instead of pushing ppl towards deviance further, we have to encourae them in a different direction
• we have systemtic assumptions that require a lot of unpacking… most times we cause more harm

Question 4

3 things needed for good decision making

Answer 4

1. good data (practicial data can be used effectively)
2. thoughtful analysis
3. compassionate understanding
   - At risk is not an adjective to describe a person, it is a condition/situation

Question 5

National Youth Study (Oct 2016)

Answer 5

• 4000 ananymous respondents
• “teachers say if you have a problem go to them, but they do nothing”
• “they say they have a 0 tolerance for bullying which is a complete lie and they give no help”
• “schools are not aware that their students are being bullied or harassed on social media”

Question 6

Traditional school shooter profile…

Answer 6

• lack skill to solve social problems
• poor anger control, lack of empathy
• sense of persecution & superiority
• negative schemata of others
• suffers depression & suicidal thoughts
• experienced direct bullying & victimization
• sequential & cumalative strain model
• psychology (aggression)

Question 7

School shootings

Answer 7

• a form of rampage homicide with different types of offenders & crimes
• can be current students who act against peers & faculty
• can be adults who use schools as a setting
• or can be crimes that take place on school grounds

Question 8

Examination of US school mass shootings 2017-2022

Answer 8

• Gun violence in the US is a pressing social & public health issue
• 4+ people must be injured to be a mass shooting
• gun violence disproportionately affects boys (esp black)

Question 9

of the 21 mass murders committed anually with firears…

Answer 9

1. familicide - victims are farmily and targeted by offender
2. Felony mass shootings - (or crimintal activity)

Question 10

The construction of panic

Answer 10

• violent crime has stabalized and decreased, yet fear & panic is rampant
• columbine, virginia tech & sandy hook has widest impact in the US & Canada
• schools were no longer viewed as safe (targetted white, suburban upper/middle class communities)
• there was a sense of lack of control & therefore heigtened sense of risk

Question 11

prevention of school shootings

Answer 11

• increased security & surveillance
• control of weapons
• increased law enforcement
• stricter access to schools
• applying rational choice theory… shooters make rational choices based on the opportunities available to them

Question 12

Risk factors of homeless youth

Answer 12

• 80% cuz of family conflict, 63% reported trauma/abuse & 60% had a history with CAS
• 83% were bullied in school, 50% were tested for a learning disability & 53% dropout rate
• 42% were homeless for the first time before 16 (most services do not start helping until someone is 16)
• systemic issues/ gaps contribute to problems… e.g. runaways, more men then women, indigenous, black, LGBTQ+)
• co-morbidity… mental health & substance abuse

Question 13

Can research contribute to better responses to youth homelessness?

Answer 13

• historically… prevention was almost completely ignored & youth homelessness became an afterthought
• more recently… there is an international knowledge sharing & networking which is reframing the nature of the problem & what to do about it
• governments are staring to take youth homelessness mroe seriously & strategies, policies, practices & targeted committees are being created at all levels