Youth And Alcohol: Drinking And Crime

Underage drinking is very common in the United States. Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug in the United States, even more so than illicit drugs (Marijuana, Cocaine, etc…) and tobacco. “In 2012 the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 24% of youth aged 12 to 20 years drink alcohol and 15% reported binge drinking. In 2013, the Monitoring the Future Survey reported that 28% of 8th graders and 68%

Throughout this essay, I am going to be looking at the topic of youth offending. I will be looking at what factors can be used as the predictors for youth offending and in particular I will be researching into how important social and cultural factors as predictors of youth offending. In order to do this, I will be looking at different sociologists theories as far as young offending is concerned and what evidence there is to support these theories. I will then conclude by discussing whether I believe social and cultural factors are important in determining youth offending.

“With such compelling information, the question is why haven 't we been able to do more to prevent the crisis of underage drinking? The answer is: rising the age to 25” is what Lucille Roybal-Allard once said, a U.S. Representative for serving in Congress since 1993. This statement has brought many to speculate of issues and debates. This expression opened the eyes of American people that often struggled to make this truth into a reality. It might be easy to believe that age laws lowered the deaths of the underage but there are still signs of its dreadful company in many pieces of American life. Families who choose to educate their children about underage drinking and driving, seem to have a higher chance of getting through with the child. These underage teens can face jail or death when they give drinking a chance and even attempt to drive, having a sexual intercourse or just plain out doing something out of the teen’s element.

If one is charged with a crime then the eighteen year old is no longer tried in juvenile court; he is tried as an adult. In reality, an eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year old can do just about everything that a twenty-one year old can do, except legally consume alcohol. Who is to say that en eighteen, nineteen, or twenty-year old is not mature enough to properly consume alcohol? Previous research suggests that when there is a more strenuous alcohol policy there will be lower alcohol abuse and consumption among teens (Grube, Kypri, and Paschall 1850). This actually causes teens to feel the need to rebel instead of the thought of teens abusing the privilege. This is a rather immature personality trait to have as a teenager, but there might actually be a reduction in drinking because teens are no longer being rebellious and breaking the law. The whole point of “becoming an adult” is to give them the ability to take responsibility for their own actions, so why should we not let them?

A study on teen drinking by the Joseph Raintree Foundation described underage drinking as, “a social activity usually undertaken by small groups of close friends, well away from the oversight of parents or other significant adults.” This kind of unsupervised drinking takes place because Americans place such a heavy emphasis on young people not drinking, catalyzed by zero-tolerance policies schools place on alcohol and a high MLDA. American youth are frequently told that with age, comes more freedom of choice and more responsibility, yet having a MLDA of 21 betrays that notion, almost encouraging young adults to reach for the so-called

Youth crime is an issue in Canada and it needs to be dealt with correctly. In Canada there is a law called the “youth criminal justice act”, the purpose of the YCJA is to hold youth accountable to their actions and give them meaningful consequences, as well as promote rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Several studies show that a young person's brain and an adult's brain are not the same, therefore youth cases and adult cases must be sentenced and dealt with differently. In this cartoon, it depicts a young child going through a pair of handcuffs labelled as “law”, suggesting that the YCJA is too easy for offenders to get through and it does not help them or society. The artist believes that the justice system does not punish youth

Youth crime is the crime committed by juvenile offenders. It is the common issue in Australia. The age group between 14-19 years old is the popular group of youth crime. (News 2013) Different age groups commit different types of crimes. (The youth court 2009) Also, there are many kinds of crime and crime method in the society, such as, drug offences, robbery, burglary, assault and violent offenses. The group of people who crime together that is called criminal group. It is a prevalence crime method and it is effective for crime. This question will focus on what is youth crime, the change of youth crime in recent year and the relationship between drug offences and the youth crime in Australia.

The United States leads the world in the incarceration of young people, there are over 100,000 youth placed in jail each year. Locking up youth has shown very little positive impact on reducing crime. Incarcerating youth have posed greater problems such as expenses, limited education, lack of employment, and effect on juveniles’ mental and physical well-being.

Louisiana has the lowest rate of arrests for liquor law violations with a rate of 12 arrests per 100,000 in the population; South Dakota has the highest rate with 561 per 100,000 (Wagenaar and Wolfson 39). Despite these numbers of arrests through appropriate law enforcement, underage individuals are still able to access alcohol in many areas. In a recent study, underage males successfully purchased packaged beer in 97 percent of attempts in Washington D.C., 80 percent in Westchester County, New York, and 44 percent in Albany/Schenectady Counties in New York. A similar study found that underage youth were refused alcohol sales in only one-third of 100 establishments tested in eight sights across the United States (Wagenaar and Wolfson 38). It is believe that this perceived leniency in the enforcement creates an environment that enables binge drinking among those that are underage.

subjected to the juvenile justice system, but an alarming number of youths are transferred to

Juvenile delinquency has been a problem in the United States ever since it has been able to be documented. From 100 years ago to now, the process of juvenile delinquency has changed dramatically; from the way juveniles are tried, to the way that they are released back into society, so that they do not return back to the justice system (Scott and Steinberg, 2008). Saying this, juveniles tend to

The criminal activities done by youth who are under age of eighteen is called youth crime. There are many types of crime which are done by youth. Property crime, drug offences, violent crime, common assault, mischief, break and enter, sexual assault, robbery all are included in crimes that youth mostly do. Mostly youth commit crime by involving more than one person. In this paper, I will discuss different type of crime that youth do, how Parental status effect youth to commit a crime, how government and police handle the situation when youth commits the crime and how Good education can help to prevent a youth for committing the crimes. Youth had a double crime rate than older adults aged 25 and over.

Every day, grandparents preach to their grandchildren about the challenges of growing up in the olden days compared to today. They give themselves more credit than they truly deserve. Growing up as a teenager in this day and age brings upon far many more difficulties than in previous generations. Nowadays, teenagers are faced with draconian crime laws, merely unattainable educations, and copious amounts of social problems. Living as a student in the present society is not as easy and rewarding as one would think.

It may seem shocking that America has one of the highest crime rates per capita compared to other similar industrialized nations. Over the years, there have been many discussions and efforts in order to reduce this problem. Perhaps one of the more sensitive issues when discussing crime in America is the problem of juvenile crime. Recently, juveniles make up 3% of all felonies committed each year and 6% of all violent crimes (criminamerica.net). These statistics have troubled politicians for decades as they have worked to find a solution. Starting in 1994 the Clinton administration started putting stricter punishment on juvenile offenders, but it was quickly realized that this harsh punishment may not be the best solution. Various studies and programs put into action have shown that early prevention in a child’s life is much more effective and more cost efficient in reducing crime. Because of these efforts, juvenile crime has reduced 68% since the violent boom of the 1990s. In light of these discoveries, it is important for states to focus on these results in order to reduce crime.

Youth crime and juvenile delinquency are very sensitive issues that are a concern in every society. The thought of criminalising people who are not even considered adults yet, and are not fully mature in cognitive development is a troubling issue. Yet, many societies are faced with the problem of young people committing crime. Many criminal justice systems around the world have schemes for juvenile delinquency and legal repercussions for the failure of young people to comply with the law.