Youth violence is becoming an increasingly prominent issue within Australian culture. Youth violence is defined as “violence involving young persons, typically children, adolescents, and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24… Youth violence includes aggressive behaviours such as verbal abuse, bullying, hitting, slapping, or fist fighting. These behaviours have significant consequences but do not generally result in serious injury or death. Youth violence also includes serious violent and delinquent acts such as aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and homicide, committed by and against youth.” (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40049)
A 2011 report has shown that 15-19 year olds were more likely to offend, with
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(http://www.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids00/mexico1.html) Agency refers to “self-determination, volition, or free will; it is the power of individuals to act independently of the determining constraints of social structure.” (http://www.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids00/mexico1.html) Essentially, structure refers to something that is ingrained and immovable, and this represents the qualities of a society. Agency on the other hand is more individualised and is more about how people interpret and interact with situations and those around them.
There has been much debate regarding the influences that encourage violent behaviour in teenagers as well as the reasons why some adolescents are more prone to these behaviours than others. Teenagers are highly impressionable and observing aggressive, violent behaviour in others can encourage negative actions and responses of their own.
The media is regularly referred to when discussing the issue of youth violence. Adolescents are regularly exposed to media with aggressive, violent messages including television, movies, music and video games. The longer someone is exposed to these messages the more desensitized they become.
Socio-economic status is also a risk factor, with teenagers being more likely to commit violent crimes when living in lower socio-economic areas. (https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-violence.aspx) Reasons for this include lower rates of employment, higher crime levels and dysfunctional
Another is ifluence from media. Television, computers and other electronics have a huge impact on violence. Depending on what use it for, there is a good side and a bad side. Some use it for entertainment and education, which is great. But other times, theres killing, intense graphics and bad language. Violent content can affect a child to having agressive behavior.
For example, children who grow up in homes with parents or adults that display acts of aggression or violence are more likely to believe that such behavior is acceptable and exhibit those types of behaviors as they grow older. Television, movies, and video games can also have a substantial impact on the behavior of juveniles. The violence that is
In 1998, among youth ages 10 to 19 in the United States, there were 2,601
Lifestyles also play an important part in youth violence. Growing up in a divorced family as well as the way your parents raised you are major aspects that effect youth today. When children go through a divorce they experience tremendous pain and go through a lot of changes in their life.(chapter 9 impact of divorce) They experience behavioral problems, and less academic achievements. Adolescents in this stage can also experience aggression toward their parents as well as their friends and other family members due to the divorce. Every parent had there own parenting styles of raising their kids, however, some ways can lead to corrupt behavior. There are the authoritative parents whose children tend to be moody, aggressive, and have poor communication skills. Then there are the permissive and authoritative parents who are generally caring and sensitive towards their children.(chapter 9 parenting styles) Studies have shown that if you grow up in a family that shows aggression towards one another, then it is more likely that you as a young adult will be aggressive as well. However in recent studies,
The starting point of violence takes place in communities and at home--not at school. Youth take what they hear and see at home and in their communities to school. The environment in some communities and households are positive and the presences of protective factors outweigh the high risk factors. However, there are communities and households where there is a lack of informal social control and high risk factors exist more than protective factors--, which affect youth in a negative manner.
Violence shows it face in many forms. It is slowly taking over the youth of our society, and becoming more prevalent than ever. Is it really environmental factors that are the cause of violence in our youth today? Or is the increase in violence to be blamed on a group of variables, that together, create the perfect recipe for disaster? In the book, Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them, author Dr. James Garbarino discusses possible reasons that childhood aged boys are experiencing violence that is carried into their adolescent years. Also, Dr. Garbarino expresses a similar rise in violence in young girls in the book See Jane Hit: Why Girls are Growing More Violent and What Can be Done About It. He looks at elements from birth to adolescence, including cultural influences that may not play as big of a role as one may suspect.
This neighborhood factor drives children to seek companionship amongst others on the already violent streets and causes them to follow suit. The final factor that may result in violence stems from the individual. For instance, children raised in a bleak and violent environment may develop low self-worth and feel little power over their future. Unable to break the cycle, they become a direct reflection of what they experience in their community and contribute to the ongoing violence.
Not only does it happen all the time, teen violence also starts at home. Parents and peers play a big influence in the youth of today, If a child is brought up around violence it is most likely that the child will end up turning to violence when they get older. Teens are seeing violence within there parents relationship and then partaking it in there own relationship. They are getting verbally and physically abused by there boyfriend or girlfriend starting as young as thirteen.
Juvenile crime statistics show that offenders under the age of 15 represent the leading edge of the juvenile crime problem. "Violent crime grew some 94% among these youngsters from 1990 to 1995- compared with 47% for older youth (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).
Over the past 100 years juvenile crime has had its ups and downs and has changed quite a bit. Not only has the types of common crimes changed over the years but also as the type of punishment teens are receiving. Juvenile crime has slowly shifted from theft and petty crimes to being much more violent, children are quick to imitate things they see from television and video games and in todays society where violence is one click away it is easy to see why this is the case. In 2008 about 60% of children who were surveyed in the United States were exposed to violence either through crime, or abuse in their homes, schools, and communities, and approximately 46% of these children were assaulted at least once in the past year (Crimesolutions.gov).
Juveniles are constantly being exposed to violence through movies, television, and video games. Young children, those age 13 and under, may find it natural to mimic these sources. Teenagers, fourteen and older, however, are beyond the stage of imitation. They no longer imitate actions they see on television or in the movies. They have reached a level of maturity that allows them to think and act for themselves. They are at an age where they can make up their own minds and decide for themselves to do things, such as bathe or prepare basic food items. These teenagers still need guidance in life, but no longer need someone to hold their hand.
“The number of under-18s convicted or cautioned over violent offences rose from 17,590 to 24,102 - an increase of 37 per cent” Telegraph, Leapmen. Youth crime has increased drastically over the years as it can be seen from the statistics given above in 2008 on the telegraph newspaper. Youth crime has been an issue for a long time now; however it is becoming a major issue as it is only getting worse with how many youngsters are committing crime as well as the seriousness of the youth crimes is increasing. Criminologists as well as sociologists try to find out the main reason behind children turning to crime and have managed to come up with a few theories as well as good reasons to why many children would consider committing crime. (Source
Teen violence is a term used to define collective behaviors by teenagers that are not acceptable by the society. These behaviors range from slapping, bullying, hitting, assault and even armed robbery. Teen violence has been affecting many societies and has destructive history to communities. Although many factors have been pointed out to cause teen violence, studies show that modeling behaviors are the most common causes of teen violence in the society. These include behaviors as seen in the movies, on the streets, on the video games and at home. Social engineering factors and psychology behind teen violence are some of the main challenges contributing to teen violence. Video games, in particular, have caused the prevalence
Lately there seems to be a great number of young adults making the news for causing harm to others. Unthinkable acts are being initiated by kids such as setting fellow students on fire, sexually assaulting an intoxicated and unconscious student, attacking and beating homeless people, and excessive group bullying leading to suicide.
From a scientific standpoint, however, defined causes for youth violence simply have not been found. In fact, a study of youth violence held in 2014, focusing around candid conversation with youths between the ages 14 and 22 who had been involved in violent behavior and fights about the causes of youth violence, found “...no predominant cause of violence emerged from the discussion” (Cheng, et al. 288). Simply put, evidence pointing out any primary cause of youth violence does not exist. With mental illness, poor lifestyle choices, hostile environments, ineffective parenting, and peer pressure all playing roles, one must consider whether violent media and entertainment are primary causes of youth violence. Even if sufficient evidence existed to prove violent media was a significant factor in causing youth violence, one cannot claim that it causes more youth violence than other