How safe are teens wherever they go? Despite many people's attempts, teen violence is something that hasn't completely come to an end. Recently, 59% of students in grades six through twelve knew where to get a gun if they wanted one, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. The U.S. Surgeon General shows that each year, students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol, perhaps the cause of many violent crimes committed by them. Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice reports that from 1985 to 1993, murders committed by people between the ages of 14-17 increased 165%. Certain adult crimes on the other hand, have decreased. There are many organizations out there that help prevent teen violence, some which include the National Alliance For Safe Schools, Mothers Against Teen Violence, The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and more. Is there anything else though, that we can do to prevent teen violence from escalating to an even higher level?
The numbers are getting bigger and bigger. Since 1985, murder arrests of teens have jumped up 92%. In the year 2000, 2,369,400 youth arrests were made. Many which included violence towards others. In 2005, out of the 36,000,000+ inhabitants we have here in California, 2,503 were charged for murder, 9,392 for forcible rape, 114,661 for aggravated assault, and 692,467 for theft. Although crime here in California isn?t as high as it was around the ?90s, it is slowly increasing through the years. Statistics show that something needs to be done.
Increasing crime varies on crime type. For instance, between 2000-2004, Larceny has increased. Also, from 1999-2005 vehicle theft and burglary have increased dramatically. On the other hand, forcible rape in recent years is slowly decreasing. This goes to show that crime is unpredictable. It can look as if it is being prevented for a while, and suddenly increase, touching lives everywhere in a negative way. By 1991, crime rate was 313% the 1960 crime rate. Chances of being a victim of crime in 1960 were 1.89%, where in 1996, the chances of being a victim raised to 5.079%. Overall, crime is increasing. It can be local, or even across the nation, but we know that it is there and is on the rise. Approximately 5% of the U.S. population are victims of crime each year. That?s around 13 million people and is unacceptable. But out of all these crimes committed, which ones are of adults and which ones are of teens?
Recently, there has been a rise in criminal activity amongst the youth in Columbus Georgia. The percentage of juvenile criminals increased by almost 9.5% in the year 2012-2013(Chattahoochee Valley Struggles with Black on Black Crime). Many of the crimes committed involved adolescents as young as fifteen, and have become increasingly more violent. In 2012 a sixteen year old woman was shot and killed by her eighteen year old boyfriend, a few months later a nineteen year old boy was shot while walking to his home. (Chattahoochee Valley Struggles with Black on Black Crime). Due to the overwhelmin...
All this sounds like an abstract from some of today's action movies, but sadly enough, all these events are true and have plagued our nation for the past eighteen months. Not only have juvenile crime rates gone up in the past few years, but a heightened awareness of these crimes exists because of how violent natured these crimes have become. "Homicides committed by juveniles with firearms have tripled in number since 1983" (Jenson and Howard 324).
Gun violence in youth has become much more prevalent. Today’s youth are more likely to turn to guns to solve their problems with bullies or to help them to fight a mental illness. Kids are taking guns from their parents or are just going to the streets and buying the guns from random people. Although there are jurisdictions that have started to use gun violence programs to help combat these issues the programs are not found everywhere and are not going to work forever. One such program that we will learn about later on is Operation Ceasefire.
Crime rates across the U.S. for juveniles is at all time high. Juveniles across all demographic have been punished more severely than those of the past. Contributing factors including lower socioeconomic areas such as the Detroit Metropolitan Areas & Chicago. This paper will discuss the apparent issue within the system focusing on juveniles in urban areas.
In recent years, more and more people have become aware of crime and murder. It is something that has affected them, their families and neighborhoods. Just about everyone in the world knows someone who has become a victim of murder, rape, and or robbery. In most cases the suspects are heartless and have no remorse in regards to the crime they committed. Some individuals are repeat offenders who have received a slap on the wrist from the justice system or only faced small jail time. A recent report by the Senate judiciary Committee, called America the "most violent and self-destructive nation on earth", and it was noted that violent crime in America had increased by 516% since 1960 (Economist, 1992). Many individuals have tried to come up with solutions and scare tactics attempting to deter those who commit crime. It appears that solutions are failing.
There is no doubt that youth justice practises have changed throughout the years, these changes have been made to adapt to the new challenges that present themselves today. Crime in general, but particularly youth crime is a consistent problem for society.
Criminologist James Alan Fox predicted two outcomes. The optimistic: that the rate of teen homicides would rise another fifteen percent over the next decade. The pessimistic: that it would more than double...
In today's society juveniles are being tried in adult courts, given the death penalty, and sent to prison. Should fourteen-year olds accused of murder or rape automatically be tried as adults? Should six-teen year olds and seven-teen year olds tried in adult courts be forced to serve time in adult prisons, where they are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to become repeat offenders. How much discretion should a judge have in deciding the fate of a juvenile accused of a crime - serious, violent, or otherwise? The juvenile crime rate that was so alarming a few years ago has begun to fall - juvenile felony arrest rates in California have declined by more than forty percent in the last twenty years. While California's juvenile population rose by a half a million since the middle and late 1970's, juveniles made up less than fifth-teen percent of California's felony arrests in 1998, compared to thirty percent in 1978; according to the Justice Policy Institute. The juvenile arrests have dropped back, even as the population of kids between ages of ten and eight-teen has continued to grow, and the number of kids confined in the California Youth Authority (CYA) has fallen. With all the progress our society has made in cutting back in juvenile crimes there is still a very serious problem. But if locking kids up is the best way to address it, how do we explain a drop in crime when there are more teens in California and fewer in custody? First we must look at the economy around us. With so many job opportunities available more and more teenagers find honest ways to keep busy and make money. Our generation has a brighter future than the generation a decade ago. Next we look at successful crime prevention efforts: after-school programs, mentoring, teen outreach programs, truancy abatement, anti-gang programs, family resource centers. There is evidence that these programs are beginning to pay off. Sending more, and younger teens through the adult court system has been a trend across the country in reaction to crimes, such as school shootings and violent rapes. Yet evidence shows that treating youth as adults does not reduce crime. In Florida, where probability wise more kids are tried as adults then in any other state, studies found that youth sent through the adult court system are twice as likely to commit more crimes when they're release...
There was a decline in crime during the 1990s. Our country enjoyed seven years of declining crime for the period 1991-98, the most recent data available. During this period crime declined by 22% and violent crime by 25%. These are welcome developments, particularly following the surge of crime and violence of the late 1980s. This decline occurred during a time when the national prison population has increased substantially, rising from 789,60 in 1991 to 1,252,830, a 59% rise in just seven years and a 47% increase in the rate of incarceration, taking into account changes in the national population (Mauer 21-24).
Many theories, at both the macro and micro level, have been proposed to explain juvenile crime. Some prominent theories include Social Disorganization theory, Differential Social Organization theory, Social Control theory, and Differential Association theory. When determining which theories are more valid, the question must be explored whether people deviate because of what they learn or from how they are controlled? Mercer L. Sullivan’s book, “Getting Paid” Youth Crime and Work in the Inner City clearly suggests that the learning theories both at the macro level, Differential social organization, and micro level, Differential association theory, are the more accurate of the two types of theory.
Many factors may have led to the decrease in crime, but there are five very plausible explanatory factors as causal to the crime decline. The first is the demographic change, specifically referring to the changing composition of the population (Rosenfeld, 2011). Crime is a young mans game, and the aging of the baby boom generation is an important factor behind the drop, because older populations generally commit fewer crimes (Rosenfeld, 2011).
Traditionally, there has been little research on or interest in the impact of female crime in modern society. In addition, juvenile crime rates are on the rise, which combine for a void of research or information on female juvenile offenders. In general, crime rates for women offenders have risen since the 1990's. Increasing numbers of young women are also offending at higher rates. In a 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Report, the number of arrests of young women had doubled between 1989 and 1993. Twenty percent of all juvenile arrests were committed by girls, an increase of 87 percent. However, according to The National Study of Delinquency Prevention in Schools, males are far more likely to admit to criminal involvement than are females. For example, 12 percent of males and 4 percent of females reported carrying a hidden weapon other than a pocketknife in the past year (Wilson, p.150). There are several theories for this rise in crime proposed by modern feminists, including that the introduction of women into traditional male roles prompted women to commit increasingly dangerous and violent crimes. However, this paper will rely on Meda Chesney-Lind's theories from The Female Offender.
The problem of juvenile violence has become one of the most overwhelming problems of our time for Texas and for the United States. The problem is spread throughout the United States. The serious crimes are usually thought to be problems of the urban city, but this is no longer a problem just for the inner city. The problem has spread through the suburban areas of the city in cases just like the first example. Citizens are spending tons of money trying to fight the problem on their own. They purchase everything they can to combat crime. Women have mace, cars have alarms, houses have burglar bars and alarms, and many schools have metal detectors to try to control the overwhelming effects of violence (Defending 93). However, these efforts are not enough to overcome the effects of violence, such as man pictured below with an automatic weapon in the streets of his neighborhood (Gest p.29). All jail and court information leads to the outcome that there is a wide diversity of criminals in jail. There is no longer a predictable profile for a juvenile criminal. However, most of the criminals still come from the inner city. Due to a 21% estimated rise in the number of 15 to 19 year olds by the year 2005, the problem will get worse without a better plan. The American juvenile justice system is supposed to be the system that prevents juveniles form committing crimes, but the system was designed over 100 years ago to prevent minor crimes from occurring (LaCoya 12/2/94). The current system in Texas and throughout most of the United States allows juveniles to receive a less severe penalty than an adult who is convicted of the same crime. The current Texas system does not allow juveniles to be prosecuted as an adult until they are eighteen unless...
impacts all members and processes of a social structure. Delinquency refers to a set of behaviors that are not in line with the collective practices and/or ethics of the dominant social group. Essentially, these behaviors deviate from societal norms and more specifically they violate established criminal codes and laws. Juvenile delinquency
Recently there has been several incidents that've been discussed on the news about gangs and young teens fighting; although fights are commonly known to most people as using your fist and only your fist, teens today involve weapons which can have very deadly consequences. These gang fights usually occur when policemen are obscure or at late hours in the evening. In some areas in the U.S where curfews are not reinforced community vandalism is present. Vandalism is at an all time high among teens; vandalism includes damaging property, stealing street signs, egging homes or cars,