Youth Crime Essay

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The subject of youth crime has been one of much public debate over the last few years. Statistics demonstrate that many youths who resort to crime face serious social and economical marginalisation. Justice Action believes that major changes have to be made to the current youth justice system in order to combat these ongoing concerns. Continued funding should not be given to juvenile detention centres; rather, the underlying systemic inequalities that youth offenders face needs to be addressed. Tax dollars should instead be redirected towards furthering youth education; rehabilitation programs for young offenders; housing initiatives; and creating community centres and after-school initiatives, amongst various other things. This is the only way to combat youth crime before it starts. What Causes Youth Crime? As confirmed by The Australian Institute of Criminology's Trends and Issues, child abuse and neglect are often the precursors to youth involvement in crime. Australian Institute of Criminology Director, Dr Adam Graycar, maintains: "a growing body of research evidence drawn from studies of individual families suggests that economic and social stress exert their effects on crime by disrupting the parenting process." Dr Don Weatherburn, Director, and Ms Bronwyn Lind, Deputy Director, at the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research examined the relationship between economic stress, child neglect/abuse and juvenile participation in crime by analysing 261 postcode areas in the urban areas of Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. Their paper, Poverty, Parenting, Peers and Crime-Prone Neighbourhoods, discusses the effects of poverty, child-rearing and delinquency as well as the role of neighbourhoods in youth crime. Their analysis concludes that: - "Postcode areas with high levels of poverty tended to have significantly higher levels of parenting

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