It is well known that any society links with youth its fate, long-term development prospects, hopes for the highest achievements in all fields, or, on the contrary, if the moral health of young people is significantly undermined – the multiplication of intractable problems, new challenges and defeats. Therefore, always and everywhere the youth was the counterpoint of social policy. Educating the younger generation, the ability of the state and its institutions to keep young people from the conflict with the law, reasonable organization of a system of criminological protection of society from crime and the very youth – from different kinds of criminogenic effects – all this is one of the most important criteria of maturity of society, the wisdom of its power, stability and reliability, prospects of development of the country.
Meanwhile, juvenile delinquency and youth crimes around the world are one of the most pressing social problems. As the main causes of juvenile delinquency and youth crime experts consider youth unemployment, lack of certainty of young people in the future, dissatisfaction with the modern way of governance.
Youth crime – is one of the most studied and yet very complex and multidimensional phenomenon that has a philosophical, sociological, psychological, social, psychological, psychiatric, legal framework. It can be noted that in recent years, the young not just began to commit more crimes: this phenomenon obtained a new quality appearance. A whole new branch of science emerged – criminological juvenology comprehensively studying this problem.
Youth crime is one of the most ambitious and dangerous criminal phenomena. It occupies a significant part of the volume of crime in general, in most cases, different with high intensity growth, negative structural changes. Youth crime to a great extent determines for the years ahead trends of crime in all its mass and the majority of specific types of crime. Most often namely the young people commit the most serious and dangerous crimes. From of their number and with their participation the most organized, having criminal experience, armed criminal groups are formed, engaged in the most audacious attacks.
Youth crime, like all crime, is one of the chronic, eternal social ills of society, and therefore, probably, will never cease to be relevant efforts to find means to minimize the youth crime itself, and its large-scale socially significant consequences.
Juvenile delinquency is an integral part of crime in general, but also has its own specific features that allows to treat it as an independent object of criminological study. The need for such allocation is determined by the peculiarities of physical, mental and moral development of minors, as well as their social immaturity. During adolescence, young adulthood at the time of the moral formation of the person there is an accumulation of experiences, including negative, which cannot be detected externally, or appear with a considerable lag (Millie, Jacobson, McDonald & Hough 2005).
Inherent features belong to quantitative and qualitative characteristics of juvenile delinquency. This crime in comparison with adults crime is highly active, dynamic. People who have taken the path of committing crimes at a young age, are difficult to be corrected and re-educated and constitute a reserve for adult crime. Juvenile delinquency and adult crime are closely linked. One of the causes of adults’ crime is juvenile delinquency. Crime of adults is rooted in the time when the identity of the person being formed, produced his life orientation when pressing issues are education of personality in terms of the direction of behavior.
Characteristic features of juvenile crimes are violence and cruelty. At this minors often transgress the limits of violence and cruelty, which is in a particular situation would have been quite sufficient to achieve the goal. Teens in the process of committing crimes when at not favorable the circumstances commit such crimes as murder, grievous bodily harm, robbery. There is a tendency of “rejuvenation” of juvenile crime, increasing criminal activity in children younger ages. At the moment, there is a significant increase in female juvenile crime. In recent years, its rate has increased from 11 to 14% (Jacobson & Kirby 2012).
Among young people is spreading new types of crimes that previously were unique to adults: arms and drug trafficking; maintenance of rookeries, pimping; assaults on businessmen and foreigners; the kidnapping of hostages; various forms of extortion; violence to life and health of the victim, using torture and other cruel methods of treatment; fraud with currency and securities; computer crimes; trade in stolen goods; racket in their environment and others.
Multiply facts seize firearms and use it for resisting police officers and persistent disobedience to their legitimate demands. More and more young people get within the scope of international conflicts, due to the increasing number of extremist national-patriotic and chauvinist organizations and movements.
Growth of crimes committed by juveniles of both male and female on the basis of alcoholism, substance abuse and addiction is observed. There is a tendency of rejuvenation of “drunken” crime. Every fifth offense is committed by minors of alcohol or drug intoxication (Youth Justice Board / Ministry of Justice 2012).
There is increased proportion of pre-prepared, sophisticated and technically equipped juvenile crime. As a rule, such crimes are group. Each year, more than half of all juveniles commit crimes in groups. Groups characterized by high mobility, which greatly increases their risk of social and criminal activity (Youth Justice Board / Ministry of Justice 2012).
“Professionalism” of criminal juvenile offenders is growing. This is particularly evident in the presence of universal specialization, acquiring criminal skills. Criminal activity is for certain groups of juveniles becomes main way of leisure activities.
A significant number of crimes are committed by minors migrants who did not find for themselves conditions for living and working. In modern conditions, migration and related negative consequences in the form of crime are becoming increasingly important. This fact was noted even 10-15 years ago (Youth Justice Board / Ministry of Justice 2012).
Manifest interrelated trends of integration and differentiation of juvenile delinquency. On the one hand, a growing number of crimes committed by juveniles with adults, previous convictions, there is an active implementation of the “authorities” of the underworld among teenagers. On the other hand, there is a tendency to autonomy of juvenile crime by crime adults. As a result, the interests of the groups of juvenile offenders faced with the interests of adult offenders in racketeering, drug trafficking, prostitution, etc.
The number of crimes committed by juveniles with mental disabilities is also increasing. This is the so-called border states, not excluding sanity and therefore responsibility. These include various types of neuroses, moderate debility, psychopathy, alcohol abuse, sexual disorders. These disorders – it’s not heavy and persistent disease. In most cases they are not acquired as a result of family history, and because of the unfavorable conditions of life and education. This view is shared by many criminologists (Jacobson & Kirby 2012).
Often, being misunderstood by adults, teenagers are grouped together to form a teen subculture with its own values, norms, interests, language (slang), characters that are not always characterized by law-abiding. If as culture to understand specifically human way of life, providing a social inheritance, and as a way of life – a relatively stable typical of a particular society (group, class) forms of life, then the communities with a predominance of values, norms, patterns of behavior, different from the dominant society (“conventional”) form value-normative subculture (bohemian, drug, religious cult, criminal, etc.) (Chatterton & Hollands 2003).
Subculture formed as a result of the integration of people whose views, activities and lifestyles opposed (not match) the dominant society or proclaimed and adopted them. Socio-economic background of education subcultures – is social heterogeneity, inequality, injustice, “marginalization” of individuals. “Social disorder” refers to the discrepancy between personal characteristics, characteristics of the individual and the requirements of their social position occupied. Socially-psychological factors of formation of subcultural communities – people need to unite, psychological protection, the need to be “understood” to assert itself among similar (Chatterton & Hollands 2003).
Often, on the basis and under the cover of these subcultures emerge criminal communities. This is an excellent foundation for organizing groups. Common interests, common hobbies, and sometimes common grievances of the world, and without that are easily recklessness young people begin to commit crimes. Deviant subculture are characterized by their “antisocial” activities. This violates moral norms; violate the law, except for the criminal; pre-criminal and commit crimes (criminal or criminal) (Hogeveen & Minaker 2009).
There may be occasions when an organized group arises spontaneously. Ie initially commit collective crimes not been included in the intent of participants. It is necessary to speak about these groups, when the guys come together on the basis of any adverse interest. Unfortunately, a serious problem is teenage alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse. Become addicted, young people go to the crime to get another “dose”, a bottle, and make orderly, in their opinion, it is much easier and more efficient. Typically, the only case of such tricks are not limited, as “I want” more. Then there is a stable organized group (Duffy & Gillig 2004).
Rising of ethno-nationalism and anti-immigrant prejudices can also be noted as factors contributing to the growth of the youth organized crime.
Another significant change in the nature of crimes committed by young people is an increasing its involvement in the illegal trade in drugs and their use. According to recent studies in the region, drugs are a problem, the magnitude of which are growing, with young people as using drugs and committing related crimes (Millie, Jacobson, McDonald & Hough 2005).
Some importance in the genesis of juvenile delinquency have, and biological factors. For example, at puberty (from 11-13 years to 15-17 years) “adolescents once there is a strong desire for independence, … appear negativism and stubbornness. The teenager feels steady tendency of sovereign independence and ruthless negation of all hitherto existing” (Hogeveen & Minaker 2009).
In general, the list of factors that influence adolescent deviance is infinite and open for additions.
It follows that the problem of teenagers and youth crime (general deviance) is rooted in the socio-economic conditions of existence, that it cannot be “solved” only by criminal law measures prohibitive and repressive methods of the parent or the school education. It is important to mention that the juvenile delinquency and youth crime is characterized by interpenetration. This is reflected in the commission of certain crimes mixed-age groups include our teenagers and young people. Also, the high criminal activity of minors affects the growth of criminal manifestations among young people. It affects reproduction youth criminal experience gained as a minor. The increase in youth crime is directly related to high latency of juvenile delinquency, which is due to the usual practice, the shelter heads of educational institutions of the facts of crimes and offenses committed by minors, which generates a sense of impunity among adolescents and leads to the commission of repeated crimes (Hogeveen & Minaker 2009).
Public danger of the youth organized crime is much higher than other types of public danger of organized crime. This can be explained by the fact that in addition to public danger, she carries and the phenomenon of criminalization of the world, the consciousness of young people.
At the same time recognized by most authors for the prevention of impacts on the determinants of crime as a real decline in the crime rate is actually only an intermediate goal of preventive activity. Construction of youth crime prevention is one of the most costly, resource-intensive social programs of any society. This early prevention of crime and delinquency among young people is the initial task of the family, as well as schools and institutions of leisure. An important role in this respect also plays the promotion of healthy lifestyles. The younger generation has not yet formed the basic values of life and landmarks, he is a weak link, it is easy to manipulate, it is more likely to be tempted, without thinking about the consequences. As a rule, those who stumbled at an early age often become perpetrators in the future, so early prevention of crimes and offenses is an essential task for all those involved with young people – parents, teachers, coaches, managers and, of course, the state, as healthy, law-abiding and properly oriented younger generation the main pillar of the country.
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