Youth crime
Introduction
This essay will critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the theory that young people offend because of their upbringing. The term ‘upbringing’ means the care and teaching received by the child from the parent throughout their childhood. There has been extensive research and controversial debate into upbringing being the root cause of youth crime and this essay will examine evidence to support this claim and evidence to dispute it. Although it is quite subjective as to whether a bad childhood is the cause of youth crime, the fact remains that a quarter of all reported crime is committed by young offenders between the ages of ten to seventeen. Home Office statistics show more than a half of all recorded robberies (51%), a third of burglaries (32%) and a third of vehicle crimes (31%) were the result of young offenders. (Home Office, 2012) Shockingly England and Wales has more young people in custody than any other European country.
Content
There are two patterns of youth offending behaviour, ‘adolescent-limited’ and ‘life course-persistent’. Adolescent-limited offending is often a result of young teenage people being influenced by their peers that they are mixing with. Teenagers are particularly vulnerable at this stage because the ability to moderate risk-taking and thrill-seeking does not fully develop until their late teens. Life course-persistent is when anti-social behaviour manifests itself earlier on and is linked to risk factors that can operate much earlier on in a child’s life, like poor parenting, abuse and neglect, and medical conditions like ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). What this information suggests is that relatively few young people who commit crime when they are in their teens go on to become prolific offenders for the rest of their life. (Moffitt, 1993)
Criminal behaviour in adolescence is relatively common due to peer pressure and thrill seeking. Forty percent of offences are committed by people
This essay will critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the theory that young people offend because of their upbringing. The term ‘upbringing’ means the care and teaching received by the child from the parent throughout their childhood. There has been extensive research and controversial debate into upbringing being the root cause of youth crime and this essay will examine evidence to support this claim and evidence to dispute it. Although it is quite subjective as to whether a bad childhood is the cause of youth crime, the fact remains that a quarter of all reported crime is committed by young offenders between the ages of ten to seventeen. Home Office statistics show more than a half of all recorded robberies (51%), a third of burglaries (32%) and a third of vehicle crimes (31%) were the result of young offenders. (Home Office, 2012) Shockingly England and Wales has more young people in custody than any other European country.
Content
There are two patterns of youth offending behaviour, ‘adolescent-limited’ and ‘life course-persistent’. Adolescent-limited offending is often a result of young teenage people being influenced by their peers that they are mixing with. Teenagers are particularly vulnerable at this stage because the ability to moderate risk-taking and thrill-seeking does not fully develop until their late teens. Life course-persistent is when anti-social behaviour manifests itself earlier on and is linked to risk factors that can operate much earlier on in a child’s life, like poor parenting, abuse and neglect, and medical conditions like ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). What this information suggests is that relatively few young people who commit crime when they are in their teens go on to become prolific offenders for the rest of their life. (Moffitt, 1993)
Criminal behaviour in adolescence is relatively common due to peer pressure and thrill seeking. Forty percent of offences are committed by people
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