Adolescents’ Beliefs About Why Young People Commit Crime

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Skrzypiec

The aim of the study was to obtain adolescents’ perspectives about why young people offend. Twenty-four Australian male and female offenders and non-offenders offered insights about what, according to them, motivates young people to become involved in crime. Without the use of sophisticated language, participants offered explanations that were well-aligned with the ‘big three’ theories suggested by Cullen and Agnew (2003) as major criminological theories — namely, control, differential association, and strain theories. Participants also provided explanations that corroborated Carroll, Houghton, Durkin, and Hattie's (2009) reputation enhancing goals theory. Participants’ explanations were consistent with empirically supported criminological theories, suggesting that young people involved in crime, or associated with known offenders, have insights about the causes of crime. An extrapolation of this notion would suggest that they might also have some insight into what measures could be taken to reduce or prevent offending. Notwithstanding further research, it is proposed that young people should be given more voice in criminal justice matters.

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Cameron McKay

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century penologists began to explore the possibility that environment and upbringing, as opposed to individual choice, were the causes criminality. The Prison Commissioners for Scotland, the devolved body who administered prisons north of the border, were not immune to this wider trend. Smith has argued that from the 1890s onwards the Commissioners began to accept that criminality was caused by social problems, namely alcoholism, but also parental neglect, poor education and poverty. In their efforts to test these new criminological theories, the Commissioners began to make more careful enquiries into the backgrounds of their charges. From 1896 to 1931 the Commissioners interviewed a sample of prisoners each year and included the findings in their annual report. Although the main focus of these interviews was on the upbringing and drinking habits of prisoners; by the 1900s the Commissioners seem to have added irreligion to the growing list of etiological causes of crime, and from 1903 onwards prisoners were asked to give details on their religious habits. Although it is debateable how much the Prison Commissioners revealed about the relationship between religion and crime, they did however provide a useful insight into the religiosity of the average prisoner.


Youth Justice ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 147322542110305
Author(s):  
Alexa Dodge ◽  
Emily Lockhart

While responses to non-consensual intimate image distribution (NCIID) often highlight criminal law remedies, little is known about how young people are choosing to respond to this act and whether they perceive legal intervention as a useful tool. Drawing from interviews with 10 teenagers and survey responses from 81 adult supporters, we provide insight into how young people perceive the supports available to them for responding to NCIID. We find young people may avoid seeking support from both the criminal justice system and adults in general due to fears of adult overreaction, victim blaming and shaming, and self/peer criminalization.


Youth Justice ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Ellem ◽  
Kelly Richards

The interactions of police with young people with cognitive disabilities (YPWCD) have seldom been considered in research, even though this group is over-represented in the criminal justice system. This article presents the results of a qualitative study into YPWCD’s experiences with police in Queensland, Australia. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with service providers who work with YPWCD and YPWCD themselves. The procedural justice perspective was used as an analytic framework to provide an insight into YPWCD’s relationships with the police. Findings point to ways in which police can better respond to YPWCD in procedurally just ways, as well as to the role that family and service providers might play in supporting this outcome.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-143
Author(s):  
Alison Frater

Starting with a personal perspective this piece outlines the place and role of the arts in the criminal justice system in the UK. It paints an optimistic picture, though an unsettling one, because the imagination and reflexiveness of the arts reveals a great deal about the causes of crime and the consequences of incarceration. It raises questions about the transforming impact of the arts: how the benefits could, and should, be optimised and why evaluations of arts interventions are consistent in identifying the need for a non-coercive, more socially focused, paradigm for rehabilitation. It concludes that the deeper the arts are embedded in the criminal justice system the greater the benefits will be, that a more interdisciplinary approach would support better theoretical understanding, and that increased capacity to deliver arts in the criminal justice system is needed to offer more people a creative pathway out of crime.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillipa Louise Brothwood ◽  
Julian Baudinet ◽  
Catherine S. Stewart ◽  
Mima Simic

Abstract Background This study examined the experiences of young people and their parents who attended an intensive day treatment programme for eating disorders online during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Online questionnaires were completed by 14 adolescents (12–18 years) and their parents (n = 19). The questionnaires included a mixture of rating questions (Likert scale) and free text responses. Free text responses were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Three main themes were identified: 1) New discoveries, 2) Lost in translation and 3) The best of a bad situation. This study provides insight into the benefits and pitfalls of online treatment delivery in the adolescent day programme context, which has rapidly had to become part of the everyday therapeutic practice. Results indicate that there are advantages and disadvantages to this, and that parents and young people’s views differed. Conclusions This study suggests that the increased accessibility provided by online working does not necessarily translate to increased connection. Given the importance of therapeutic alliance in treatment outcomes, this will be an important consideration for future developments of online intensive treatments.


2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562110089
Author(s):  
Melissa L Kirby ◽  
Karen Burland

Current research investigating the functions of music in everyday life has identified cognitive, emotional, and social functions of music. However, previous research focuses almost exclusively on neurotypical people and rarely considers the musical experiences of autistic people. In addition, there is limited research which focuses explicitly on the musical experiences of young people on the autism spectrum. Current research exploring the functions of music may therefore not accurately represent the experiences of the autistic community. This article aims to explore the function of music in the lives of young people on the autism spectrum through a series of interviews. Eleven young people on the autism spectrum age 12 to 25 ( M = 19.4) were interviewed about the function of music in their lives. An adaptive interview technique, utilizing multiple methods of communication, was employed to account for the participants’ broad communicative and personal needs. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four key functions of music in the participants’ lives: Cognitive, Emotional, Social, and Identity. Collectively, these results provide a unique insight into the musical experiences of young people on the autism spectrum.


1996 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Barringer

Atalanta, devotee of Artemis and defiant of men and marriage, was a popular figure in ancient literature and art. Although scholars have thoroughly investigated the literary evidence concerning Atalanta, the material record has received less scrutiny. This article explores the written and visual evidence, primarily vase painting, of three Atalanta myths: the Calydonian boar hunt, her wrestling match with Peleus, and Atalanta's footrace, in the context of rites of passage in ancient Greece. The three myths can be read as male and female rites of passage: the hunt, athletics, and a combination of prenuptial footrace and initiatory hunt. Atalanta plays both male and female initiatory roles in each myth: Atalanta is not only a girl facing marriage, but she is also a female hunter and female ephebe. She is the embodiment of ambiguity and liminality. Atalanta's status as outsider and as paradoxical female is sometimes expressed visually by her appearance as Amazon or maenad or a combination of the two. Her blending of gender roles in myth offers insight into Greek ideas of social roles, gender constructs, and male perceptions of femininity. Erotic aspects of the myths of the Calydonian boar hunt and the footrace, and possibly also her wrestling match with Peleus, emphasize Atalanta as the object of male desire. Atalanta challenges men in a man's world and therefore presents a threat, but she is erotically charged and subject to male influence and dominance.


Author(s):  
Leanne Dowse ◽  
Therese M. Cumming ◽  
Iva Strnadová ◽  
Jung-Sook Lee ◽  
Julian Trofimovs

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