Youth Unemployment and Crime

Youth crime is a growing epidemic that affects most teenagers at one point in their life. There is no question in society to whether or not youths are committing crimes. It has been shown that since 1986 to 1998 violent crime committed by youth jumped approximately 120% (CITE). The most controversial debate in Canadian history would have to be about the Young Offenders Act (YOA). In 1982, Parliament passed the Young Offenders Act (YOA). Effective since 1984, the Young Offenders Act replaced the most recent version of the Juvenile Delinquents Act (JDA). The Young Offenders Act’s purpose was to shift from a social welfare approach to making youth take responsibility for their actions. It also addressed concerns that the paternalistic

Young people have been a main focus in society. Since 1960 there has been an increase in youth crime which is the reason as to why there are major adult concerns (Newburn, 2013). “Government became more harsh and intrusive in dealing with young people who were seen to be a problem” (France, 2007, pg.19). Older generations perceive young people as having less morals and respect in comparison to what they did at their age (Newburn, 2013). In particular, society views the youth of today as troublemakers, lazy, untrustworthy and unreliable. There are different theories that provide an explanation between involvement in offending and different factors such as family factors and wider social factors which will be discussed below.

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.

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

Firstly, some people believes that the youth crime still increases in recent years. (The Australian 2008) However, there is a little evidence show that a decline when we look at the government statistics. Figure A illustrates that the juvenile and the adult offenders from 1996-97 to 2006-07.

“In early 2016, the ABS Labor force found that 258,000 youth aged 15-24 was unemployed” (ABS, 2016), accounting for over a third of total unemployment (721,400 people)” (ABS, 2016). There are several reasons youth unemployment exists in Australia, with the primary cause being low economic

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.

Young people represent the future of society. Consequently, they deserve respect and support while they develop in order to maintain a fair and just society. Therefore, it is the juvenile justice system’s responsibility to establish institutions and legislation to protect the important role that young people play in society. The system should also be driven by welfare and justice concerns as young people have special needs in regards to their age, and their physical, emotional and social development. It is essential that these welfare and justice concerns are addressed effectively by the system in order for young people to flourish. This essay will firstly assess the NSW juvenile justice system in regards to its treatment of young offenders in detention, in conjunction with its obligations under domestic and international law. Additionally, this essay will analyse evidence of welfare and justice concerns for youth offenders in detention in NSW. And furthermore, this essay will analyse the implications of youth detention on young offender’s and society. And ultimately argue that the NSW contemporary juvenile justice system is not driven by welfare and justice concerns. Given the fact that NSW has the highest rate of youth detention in Australia, and that there is overwhelming evidence to support the idea that youth detention carries detrimental physical and psychological consequences. Furthermore, the NSW juvenile justice system is not upholding the fact that young people

The federal government of Canada fifteen years ago, in 1984, the Liberal party changed the Juvenile Delinquents Acts to the Youth Offenders Act to have a “More human approach to the rights of young people before the law”(Leschild and Jaffe, 8:1991). In the present such as Premier, Mike Harris, of Ontario wants the federal government of Canada to scrap the Young Offenders Act. In 1999, the same party that came up with the act is making majors changes to the act. This report will look at the young offenders act at the present time, look at why kids commit crime, what is being done to improve the act, what has the province done towards teenagers and also a look at the United Sates youth system.

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.

Since the 2008 financial crisis and the recession that followed in 2009 there has been a high unemployment rate among the youth. Canada’s unemployment rate is sitting at an all high time of 11.8%. (TD Economics) The unemployment rate specifically for youth aged 15 to 24 years old has climbed approximately 24.4%. (TD Economics) The impact of youth unemployment is long lasting and can harm an individual’s career opportunities. Economists have conducted a research which determines that the period of unemployment in an individual’s life will negatively impact them in the future because they will earn lower wages. For example, if you are a college or university graduate in Canada who is in a recession the unemployment rate will rise by about 5%, that implies a loss in earnings of about 9% annually. (TD Economics) If the social

Unemployment is recognised as one of the most challenging social problems currently facing Australia. In the last two decades and more recently with the global recession high levels of unemployment have become an established feature of the South Australian social and economic landscape, with young people aged 15 to 24 years among those hardest hit by unemployment.

Crime and poverty often seem to go hand in hand in the modern world, or so is the perception. With poverty rates edging higher this is even more important in our modern day. The unemployment rate is one of the key indicators of the health of our economy. The standard of living for most people falls greatly once they have reached the poverty rate, which makes people live nervously, frantically, and gives greater incentive for them to commit a crime possibly just to get by. In 2007 when the major economic recession took place, the unemployment rate started to rise steadily, peaking at an annual average of 10% in 2009, which was 5% higher than the average the four years prior.1

Money is an important component that can help ones to function properly in this society. However, money defines our self-worth and value in this society. For decades, unemployment has become a big issue in our community. The younger generation are the one who suffers the most from the crisis. In 2009 alone, 6.7 million youths joined the ranks of the unemployed, and compare this with an average annual increase of 191,000 in the 10 years before the crisis 1997 to 2007(Elder,2010). Youth unemployment is a crucial issue in our society. Unfortunately, a lot of young people are going through that situation. When it comes to find a job, young people are the less fortunate for many reasons. For instance, some employers might be biased on ages and believes that young people do not have skills or enough experiences to perform at the level required for the jobs. The problem of youth unemployment has many causes and consequences in our society. Youth unemployment can affect the economy, family relationship, increase crime rates and, mental health.

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.