JST204 - Young People and CrimeAssessment 1:Length: 1,500 wordsRationaleThis assessment task will assess the following learning outcome/s: be able to provide a general overview of the statutory frame
Running head: YOUNG PEOPLE AND CRIME IN AUSTRALIA 0
Young People and Crime in Australia
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Nature and Extent of Youth Offending
Over the decades, law and order have been the baseline for a peaceful and stable society. The rule of law has built the social system and interactions of humankind. Generally, the legal system agencies in most countries formed as per the duties and functions to the population. The juvenile system is the birch lane for the most crime committed in the social setting (Shaw & McKay, 1942). However, Australia is one of the establish country system in dealing with crime rates from the young generation. Psychological behavior of young people with criminal activities in this country has been influenced by the social, cultural setting of the Australia people from a different state.
Young People and Crime Delinquency in Australia
The jurisdictional system in Australia possesses the responsibility of ruling the juvenile fairness to the young ones. Although each state and territory has a different policy of minor ruling, the criminal record has declined over the years. According to the Australia Criminal Justice Statistic Department of the Attorney-General (ACJSD) as of 30 June 1981, the ratio shows 64.9% of 100,000 young people (1352) have been in the juvenile detention (Shaw & McKay, 1942). As a result, the government of Australia established the Young Offenders Act of 1997, to help deal with children under the age of 18 years, committing crimes. Currently, the Juvenile Act is based on pre-cautioning, warning, and conferences from the justice sector. Creating this kind of system to the young generation has substantially helped to reduce crime cases in the states like Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia (Cunneen& White, 2011). In the first quarter of 2018 young detainee were recorded to be 980 less than in 1352 as per the Australia Criminal Justice Statistic Department. The psychodynamic view clearly explains the concept of responsibility of the implemented acts to influence child behavior in the future.
Institutional Framework
The young justice framework in Australia drafted from ancient laws and history. The justice process has influenced the children court in the Australia legal system. The ruling process conducted varies from one state to another. The Juvenile system of Australia per the Crime Justice Department; in New South Wales, Australia Capital Territory, and Northern Territory range from 10 to 18 years unlike in Victoria, where the age ranges from 10 to 17 years the same case in Tasmania State. However, Aboriginal children are more represented in juvenile justice, unlike non- aboriginal natives. The cultural, psychological behavior under this age act, have shaped the drafted policies by the governing system to the juvenile court system (Cunneen& White, 2011). The social and political reign play a crucial role in managing young people through a different judicial system and educate them on the juvenile Acts. Hence, the aspect provides a clear understanding of the criminal system and the expected social practices.
Impact of Juvenile ruling in Australia
The decline in crime from young people, according to ACJSD in 1981 from 1352 to 980 in 2018, shows the influence of the Juvenile correction system together with the court system. Moreover, exercising of acts passed by the governing body is the duties are as a result of the legal intervention (Mak, 1993). On the other hand, the children and young people judicial intervention has relatively impacted their social behavior in all spheres; in helping the less represented and the psychologically affected.
Theoretical Framework and Youth offending
The psychological perspective in most fields has been closely related to ancient or modern theorist. The early scholars set out various researches as the foundation of human behavior concerning social progress and political welfare. The understanding of crimes concerning young people requires the knowledge of this founding father of psychological response. Human behavior in the society consists of three theoretical frameworks as a mental, biological, and sociological framework.
Psychological Behavior Perspective Framework
The social context of human behavior has a link to early childhood behavior. Typically, the nature surrounding young people like exposure, knowledge, and cultural experiences has influenced the kind of individual one can be. According to Sigmund Freud co-founder of psychodynamic perspective, human behavior and emotions shaped at childhood (Westen, 1998). Freud argued that the psychosexual energy to the complex brain concerning cognitive functioning to criminal activities, influencing social behavior. Between the age of 10 to 18 years and the age of adolescent, most youth experience physic growth and pride; this result in social offensive towards other individuals. Sigmund Freud argues that moral control to social, ration, and logical behavior response to environmental changes. The Freud model explains the characteristics of ego and superego to individual behavior, play a fundamental role in mental and physical defense strategy. The repression process involves the moving of a conscious mind to the unconscious.
On the other hand, Kohlberg explains the psychological perspective on moral development from childhood consist of preconvention, convection, and post convection. As at pre convectional, the young people sense of righteous based on authority control. The control based on the teacher or parents, making them be obedience to the superior(Westen, 1998). Convection stage involves the understanding of the social setting and the environment; the child moral control, by the belief of consequent of social order. At this stage, the child is still under the authority control attained in the pre convection. While post convection the moral behavior is expressed from the inner value and principle. Both theories viewed under this perspective is seen as behavior formed as a result of environmental interaction and growth from young people.
Biological Framework
The biological understanding of the human body to his or her behavior provides the knowledge of offenses committed by most young people. The organic framework explains the individual physically as the link to social dominance in society (Rafter, 2008). The countenance of an individual is characteristically intertwined to the behavior as one feels more superior to the other. This psychological dominance gives young people the courage to criminal activity or offenses. According to Lombroso's perspective; he argued that criminal behavior inherited from the parents to the offspring at birth (Wolfgang, 1961). The criminal Act could see through the phrenology study of the young ones. Phrenology study involves the understanding of the shape of the individual skull. The behavior observed from two identical twins is close, similar than two siblings. Biologically, the twins tend to take parents feature in terms of biosocial influences. Genetically, the genetic inheritance of parent's distinctive trait is due to the hormones and other DNA related characteristics. As a result of these genes, the crime or offensive behavior socially built as the child grows since it is not biologically constructed. According Australia Criminal Justice Statistic Department in the 1981 Australia juvenile cases recorded were 1352 declining to 980 in 2018; the negative 372 juvenile cases from those 37 years. The juvenile system creates caution, warning, and minor conferences have insignificantly favored the growth of criminal activity to the young people. Thus, biological motive influences personal behavior, either negative or positive.
Sociological Framework
A sociological framework is basically, the relationship between criminal activities and the social organization of the people. Society is built up by various economic and political events that influence people behaviors. The integration of commercial success and social life leads to the movement of an individual to urban areas in search of social comfort (Warr, 2002). The psych in urban or city centers increases the population level to a level of group dependency. Group dependency is the situation where young people or the unemployed individual tends to take their comforts from a well-established person in terms of economic level. According to Sutherland, a sociologist; various association in the social setting lead to different social inputs like crime and psychological growth. Sociologically, not every individual is luck after all urban life cannot accommodate everyone (Rosenberg & Turner, 1990). Some people cannot secure financial support from all corners of the city. As a result, urban areas grow in a concentrated model as per the business of the downtown section. Ecological structure in the metropolitan towns pushes young people with no jobs or financial comfort to be involved in the crime activates. Thus, behavior becomes collective efficacy as people either controlled by the rule of law or the crime lords in the streets.
Conclusion
Interrelationship developed between young people and crime and the environment surrounding, or forces predetermine behavior. The aspect involves psychological, biological, and sociological effects as outlined by most scholars like Sigmund Freud and Sutherland. As a result, these forces the country likes Australia to from Young People Offender Act of 1997, to create a cohesive understanding of criminal activities in all the states. The Act provided the young native with the caution, conference awareness and warning, reducing the juvenile system the burden of multiple cases. The system in the society has spearheaded the juvenile policies has clearly shown law and order largely control community. Therefore, this social and collective motives established in each state in Australia has played a vital role in helping the juniors to learn and stop crime and offenses to their fellow friends or neighbors.
References
Cunneen, C., & White, R. (2011). Juvenile justice: Youth and crime in Australia. Oxford University Press.
Mak, A. S. (1993). A self-report delinquency scale for Australian adolescents. Australian journal of psychology, 45(2), 75-79.
Rafter, N. (2008). The criminal brain: understanding biological theories of crime. NYU Press.
Rosenberg, M., & Turner, R. H. (Eds.). (1990). Social psychology: Sociological perspectives. Transaction Publishers.
Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas.
Warr, M. (2002). Companions in crime: The social aspects of criminal conduct. Cambridge University Press.
Westen, D. (1998). The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 124(3), 333.
Wolfgang, M. E. (1961). Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1825-1909). J. Crim. L. Criminology & Police Sci., 52, 361.
