Issue Around the world: Youth Violence/Juvenile crimes

Today I came across a really interesting letter on Today Online titled: "A new code for youth crime". Juvenile crime as we know in general is on the up and up and that when we read the news these days, we will probably read about a couple of news a day about it.

Is this new?

The historian Geoffrey Pearson quotes a 60-year-old named Charlotte Kirkman, who lamented that, “I think morals are getting much worse... There were no such girls in my time as there are now. When I was four or five and twenty my mother would have knocked me down if I had spoken improperly to her”. Kirkman was speaking in 1843, as part of an investigation into the bad behaviour of contemporary youth. Lord Ashley, speaking in the House of Commons in the same year, argued that “the morals of the children are tenfold worse than formerly”.

Past generations, then, have been just as convinced as we are that the “youth of today” were misbehaving more than ever before. Pearson has suggested that such fears about youth are a way of expressing more general uncertainties about social change and recur with each generation. (Wills, n.d)

So what is the Issue?

Why out of the sudden we are seeing so much crime in the last decade alone?

According to a United Nations report, Statistical data in many countries show that delinquency is largely a group phenomenon; between two-thirds and three-quarters of all juvenile offences are committed by members of various groups. Even those juveniles who commit offences alone are likely to be associated with groups. According to data from the Russian Federation, the rate of criminal activity among juveniles in groups is about three to four times higher than that of adult offenders. Juvenile group crime is most prevalent among 14-yearolds and least prevalent among 17-year-olds. The rates are higher for theft, robbery and rape, and lower for premeditated murder and grievous bodily harm. (UN, 2003)

The issue in my opinion seems to be the influence from the peers around us. As we grow up, we would be easily influenced by the people around us and these make it even more important to mix around with the right choices of people.

However, I am also wondering if it goes deeper than just the mixing of friends or does it even come down to whether a moral degradation.

Now back to the letter that I mentioned above, it states that current system in Singapore is too soft and that it is sending a signal which is wrong and that the true lesson will not be learnt. He also further added that with a harsher approach, such as sending juveniles to a special rehab home.

I feel that if we have to come to such a state then we are literally pouring ‘kerosene into fire’. I feel that we need to nip this issue at the bud and not let them commit their first crime so that we can implement such measure to counter act them. I believe that parents play a vital important role in the upbringing and development of a child and that the child will mimic the behaviour of the parent.

In my next blog post, I will look into the other factors that could affect juvenile crimes and what in my opinion can be done to counter those other issues.

Works Cited

UN. (2003). Juvenile Delinquency. World Youth Report, 191.

Wills, A. (n.d). Youth culture and crime: what can we learn from History. Retrieved from BBC History Magazine: http://www.historyextra.com/feature/youth-culture-and-crime-what-can-we-learn-history

London Riots: My Point of View

It was a week ago when I was horrified to know that there were riot going on in London, It all started with a man getting shot and then 'all hell broke loose' and everybody started looting and creating violence. It is reported that some inciting of this violence started due to social media site such as Facebook and Twitter and that there were a number of young people who were arrested recently such as a young man by the name of Jordan Blackshaw who is 21.

Now why is this happening?

Why would people whom are in this age group better known as Generation Y do such things?

It is because there is now a lack of moral value and standard that has been eroding our society over the past few years. This has led to the very reason as to why we are now having this type of issue and trouble with young adults who have trouble even following rule. An often-mentioned quote 'Rules are meant to be broken' would be a very apt way of describing why they would do such things and very often do not feel guilty about their actions. We have seen this during the riots in London when people would loot shops and later justify that 'we are doing this to get back at the rich'

FACT of a point is that 2 wrongs do not make a right!!

So What Next?

As this rule has been circumvent, we are no longer living under a structure that has been set where our borders are clearly marked out. We are now living in a time whereby, we are exploring what can be done without the security of a clearly marked out border which states what is right and wrong. This has led to the line being blurred between what is right and wrong and thus this has led to moral degradation in our current society.

To Be Continued in my Next Post..

Watch this space...