What Are the Major Issues That Cause Inner City Youth to Join Gangs and Become Delinquent? Discuss Whether the New Labour Government’s Policies Have Been Effective in Solving These Issues?
SOCIAL POLICY PROJECT
MODULE: SS3P02N
Question: What are the major issues that cause inner city youth to join gangs and become delinquent? Discuss whether the New Labour Government’s policies have been effective in solving these issues?
2010
Project by: Alice Mutumba
Student No: 05038460
CONTENTS PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Summary
The perception that gang culture in relation to youth crime is growing in the UK is intensified by the media, it is very rare to read a daily paper these days without coming across some mention of gang related crime. In order to understand why some of the young people living in the global city join gangs it is important to have a clear definition of what a gang is and to also investigate the role of the media in generating stereotypes or pre-conceived ideas about gangs. In a later chapter I will discuss briefly the role of the media as one of the causes of youth crime.
The issue of having one clear definition for the term ‘gang’ has always been a problem which is unlikely to be resolved, but it is important that there is a consensus on a working definition as this will ensure that youth projects from different agencies across the country and worldwide are investigating the same issues/ problems in relation to youth delinquency. It will also prevent the media and political commentators from exaggerating the problem by the use of stereo types.
In the ‘Delinquent youth groups and offending behaviour: findings from the 2004 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey’, Home Office online report the following definition of ‘delinquent youth group’ (DYG) is used:
“• Young people who spend time in groups of three or more (including themselves).
• The group spend a lot of time in public places.
• The group has existed for three months or more.
• The group has engaged in delinquent or criminal behaviour together in the last 12 months.
• The group has at least one structural feature (either a name, an area, a leader, or rules). “
(Home office report
MODULE: SS3P02N
Question: What are the major issues that cause inner city youth to join gangs and become delinquent? Discuss whether the New Labour Government’s policies have been effective in solving these issues?
2010
Project by: Alice Mutumba
Student No: 05038460
CONTENTS PAGE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Summary
The perception that gang culture in relation to youth crime is growing in the UK is intensified by the media, it is very rare to read a daily paper these days without coming across some mention of gang related crime. In order to understand why some of the young people living in the global city join gangs it is important to have a clear definition of what a gang is and to also investigate the role of the media in generating stereotypes or pre-conceived ideas about gangs. In a later chapter I will discuss briefly the role of the media as one of the causes of youth crime.
The issue of having one clear definition for the term ‘gang’ has always been a problem which is unlikely to be resolved, but it is important that there is a consensus on a working definition as this will ensure that youth projects from different agencies across the country and worldwide are investigating the same issues/ problems in relation to youth delinquency. It will also prevent the media and political commentators from exaggerating the problem by the use of stereo types.
In the ‘Delinquent youth groups and offending behaviour: findings from the 2004 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey’, Home Office online report the following definition of ‘delinquent youth group’ (DYG) is used:
“• Young people who spend time in groups of three or more (including themselves).
• The group spend a lot of time in public places.
• The group has existed for three months or more.
• The group has engaged in delinquent or criminal behaviour together in the last 12 months.
• The group has at least one structural feature (either a name, an area, a leader, or rules). “
(Home office report
Cited: in Home office report: Youth Action Plan one year on 2009). Please put all your bibliography into alphabetical order Anonymous (2002) Capital University News (Aug. 5, 2002). Retrieved May 1, 2003, from http://www.csus.edu/news/080502window.htm. Arthur, J. A. (1991). Socioeconomic predictors of crime in rural Georgia. Criminal Justice Review, 16(1) Barkan, S. E. (2006). Criminology: A sociological understanding (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Boudon, R. (2003). Beyond rational choice theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 29. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from PsycINFO database. Chester, C. R. (1976). Perceived relative deprivation as a cause of property crime. Crime & Delinquency Crouch, B. M. (1996). Looking back to see the future of corrections. The Prison Journal, 76(4). Retrieved April 27, 2007, from Sage Criminology database. Cohen, A.K. (1955) Delinquent Boys, the free Press, Glencoe. Cohen, A.K. (1966), Deviance and Control, Prentice –Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ DeFronzo, J Dotter, D. (2004). Creating Deviance: An Interactionist Approach. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press. Faggins, B. (2001). Temple University study shatters theory on neighborhood decline and criminal behavior. Book review: Breaking away from broken windows. Retrieved May 1, 2003, from: http://www.temple.edu/news_media/bf108.html. Greene, M. B. (1993). Chronic exposure to violence and poverty: Interventions that work for youth. Crime & Delinquency, 39(1). Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Sage Criminology database. Gilroy, P Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Lemert, E. (1951). Social Pathology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Liska, A. E., & Messner, S. F. (1999). Perspectives on Crime and Deviance (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Siegel, L. J. (2001). Criminology: Theories, Patterns, and Typologies (7th ed) Belmont, CA:Wadsworth. Smith, D. A., & Jarjoura, G. R. (1988). Social structure and criminal victimization. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 25(1). Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Sage Criminology database. Thornberry, T. (1987). Toward an interactional theory of delinquency. Criminology, 25. Webber, C. (2007). Revaluating relative deprivation theory. Theoretical Criminology, 11(1) Retrieved May 14, 2007, from Sage Criminology database. Williams III, F. P., & McShane, M. D. (1999). Criminological Theory (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Vold, G. B., Bernard, T. J., & Snipes, J. B. (2002). Theoretical Criminology (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Zafirovski, M. (1998). Socio-economics and rational choice theory: Specification of their relations. Journal of Socio-Economics, 27(2). Retrieved May 5, 2007, from Psyc INFO database.