Youth & Deviance Flashcards
Troubling & Troubled Youth
- Youth: a transitional time between childhood and maturity
↳ “Youth” = Socially constructed (percieved to have a lifestye that centers around deviance)
- Troubling Youth: primarily a threat to others and to society
Troubled Youth: primarily a threat to themselves
- When looking @ troubled youth, we may recognise they can become troubling youth at any moment (if we don’t address their issues in a timely manner)
Troubling Youth: Youth Crime
- Big difference between perceptions (ideas) & patterns (facts) of youth crime
↳ perception of youth deviance is far from reality
↳ the perception youth are more disrespectful today is dangerous and wrong - Perception of youth crime is that it is “out of control” and is growing very rapidly
adult crime has increases from 1962-1990
How Much Crime (how to count crime)
- 3 Dominant ways to count crime or describe crime patterns & trends:
1) Official statistics - Police-reported stats from dif regions are usually too variable & flawed
2) Victimization survey - ask dif people if they have been a victim of a crime. More accurate because most victim crime is never reported, however sometimes victims have no awareness they are a victim
3) Self-report studies - what crime have YOU committed recently, some crimes in our societ have no victims like robbing a company
Problems with Crime Rates
- A lot of issues measuring crime; increases in reports of more crime does not mean the actual crime increased, but it may be because the police just reported more crime
↳ need to carefully read stats when they “claim” there is a change in crime
How to read Changes in Crime Rates
- Change in Definition - adding or removing a law
- Change in classification - amending the law
- Change in tolerance - E.x. drunk driving & domestic violence (BAL)
- Change in reporting/charging practices - E.x. sexual assault, there is an increase for sexual assault reporting
- Change in legal priorities - Do we police certain things more aggresively
- Change in exposure - E.x. Traffic Violation due to increased cars on the road
Youth Crime: Canada
- Steady downward trend in youth crime
- We have an overrepresentation of youth (12-17) in the Criminal justice system
- Highest crime rate is ages 18-24
↳ highest rate DOES NOT mean highest quantity, the hishest incidence of crime does not occur in the 18-24 group as adults do morst crime - Concerns over youth crime are largely exaggerated
↳ should dedicate greater concern to youth and child victimization
↳ a shift in focus to the youth are more likely to be victims of crime; Kids under 18 years comprise of 61% of SA and majority of robbery
Crime rate in accordance with weather FINAL
Crime rate is also affected by the weather; if weather is at an extreme crime rate drops
Troubled Youth: Alcohol Use
- Not really a deviant behaviour
↳ quite normative & common - more common than drug use
- The intense marketing of alcohol to those that are under the legal drinking age
Binge Drinking in University
- Binge Drinking: 5 drinks in one sitting for males and 4 for females
- Binge drinking in uni is a unique behaviour
- binge drinking is more common among:
1) “Traditional” uni students
2) members of frats/sororities
3) University athletes
usually its the first time these uni students are away from home & parents
Change in Pattern of Binge Drinking
- Uni alcohol use has become more polarized
↳ Binge drinkers .vs. abstainers
↳ facilitated by straight uni policies
↳ Highly dependent on peers who binge-drink - Uni binge drinking is not associated with alcoholism
- Correlation between studying and binge drinking
Controlling Binge Drinking Students in Uni
- Most common efforts @ reducing this:
↳ Prevention and retroactive efforts
↳ Target the individual - Problem of the prevention paradox: growing efforts to help the “problem drinkers” on campus have not reduced the harm of alcohol consumption
-
Population prevention: approaches may be the most effective in reducing harm
↳ usually target uni environment as a whole
dangers of binge drinkers more frequently hits the average binge drinker than the extreme binge drinker
