Academic literature on the topic 'Criminology, youth crime, media and crime'

The principal aim of this doctoral thesis is to describe the evolution of juvenile delinquency as a social problem during the post-war period. Through its four empirical studies the thesis advocates an understanding based on a contextual constructionism, which represents a compromise position between the objectivist and constructivist perspectives that dominate the field of social problems. The first study (Chapter 2) comprises an analysis of the development of juvenile delinquency in Sweden after 1975. The study is based on official crime statistics, victim surveys, insurance statistics and surveys of the alcohol and drug habits of young persons. The analyses do not allow for an exact determination of the actual trends in juvenile crime, but the indicators suggest that at worst the number of juveniles offenders has remained more or less stable since the mid 1970s, whilst at best the number has diminished. Chapter 3 describes the trends in juvenile crime in ten European countries during the post-war period. The data comprise reports, articles, statistics and personal information from researchers in the countries analysed. The study concludes that in all the countries examined, juvenile crime increases sharply during the first decades of the post-war period (1950-75). After this point, however, these trends level off in most countries. By means of a content analysis of editorials, Chapter 4 deals with the attention focused on juvenile delinquency in the Swedish daily press during the post-war period (1950-1994). The study shows both qualitative and quantitative changes in the way the press portray juvenile crime. Most importantly, 1986 saw the problem of juvenile violence suddenly becoming the dominant issue. Chapter 5 deals with the development of, and the societal response to, violence in schools (1980-1997). A content analysis of a journal for school employees indicates that responses to problems of violence in school underwent a transformation at the end of the 1980s. A study of police reports shows that reported cases of violence in schools have increased considerably. The explanation for this rise is to be found in a change in the size of the dark figure. Besides the response-sensitive official crime statistics, there is very little to indicate any substantial change in the number of juveniles being subjected to, or subjecting others to violence. Chapter 6 discusses the main finding produced by the thesis – namely that there has been a change in the way society reacts to juveniles who commit criminal offences that cannot be explained by the crime trends. Three alternative explanations are discussed: the media and moral panics, the ”racialisation” of the crime problem and the structural crisis of legitimacy faced by the welfare state.

This thesis is an anthropological study of Internet sexual offending, more specifically the viewing of child abuse media. It is based on 17 months of participant-observation in UK group programs for individuals who had downloaded illegal child abuse media, semi-structured interviews with participants, program staff, and police, and staff focus groups. Through engaging directly with offenders and those managing them, it provides an in-depth, qualitative understanding of how Internet use and perceptions of online spaces play a key role in Internet sexual offending, while also asking broader questions about online sociality, morality, and effects on normative behaviour. The central argument posits that in moving beyond commonplace explanations for Internet offending, more attention must be given to Internet use, perceptions and constructions of online spaces, and effects on social norms to explain this phenomenon. It then follows to suggest that for some offenders, these elements can be instrumental in their sexualization of children and choice to view abusive media. The thesis specifically explores why and how some people in the UK engage with illegal child abuse media, with particular attention to notions of risk, childhood, morality, and the Internet. Employing Foucauldian and neo-Foucauldian theory, anthropology of the Internet, and constructionist theories of childhood, focus is placed on multiple areas: the potential social, emotional, sexual, and Internet-specific factors associated with offending; participants' relationships with the Internet and constructions of online spaces; participants' perceptions of childhood and children online and offline; and, societal and institutional efforts to respond to the above, including the larger justice system and fieldwork group program. The general research areas are social science of the Internet, childhood studies, human sexuality, group therapeutic processes, policy and law, and research methodology and ethics.

This thesis seeks to develop our understanding of the contemporary crime communication landscape. While this landscape is considered in its constituent parts, including specific features of current British politics, the evolving media sphere and the voice of the public, this thesis argues for a conceptualization of this realm that grasps its fluid and dynamic character. Original research is conducted through case studies of the 2010 UK General Election, the Phone Hacking Scandal and the 2011 Riots. Discourse analysis is employed in order to enhance our awareness of supralinguistic behaviour and of the play of power in the construction of crime narratives. This is contrasted with influential current accounts of ‘populism’ which, it is argued here, tend to be unduly deterministic and to err towards the dystopian. The research suggests that structural shifts in the media landscape, specifically the recent ubiquity of new media coinciding with an undermining of the singular tabloid narrative, have enabled a redistribution of power in the symbolic construction of crime which can make it harder for political actors to capture the crime question for populist purposes. Furthermore, this shift has empowered the public voice and has infused political debate with a chaotic plurality of views. Nevertheless, the symbolic weight of crime issues remains prominent in this landscape and Randall Collins’ Interaction Ritual Chains (2004) is employed to add a microsociological picture of the escalation from small scale narrative to broad righteous anger. This requires an adaptation of this model to address interactions that occur outside the context of physical co-presence. Such perspectives on the plurality of mediated communication today both broaden and update our grasp of the political communication of crime and in so doing argue for a degree of optimism concerning the scope for democratic debate about criminal justice issues.

This doctoral thesis is intended to demonstrate that my research, scholarship and publications have made a significant and coherent contribution to the development of criminology as a popular discipline in the higher education sector. My growing interest and research into the relationship between the media and crime and criminal justice is reflected in the structuring of this thesis, with the major substantive sections being examples of my work in this area (chapters 2 to 8). This interest has also been driven by an essentially realist position and belief that crime is a real issue for both people and society. This submission consists of a brief contextualizing introduction to my research, scholarship, writing and publication in relation to my own career in higher education and to the development of the discipline of criminology plus a number of chapters containing specific examples from my publications. The final section continues from the commentary provided in the introduction, reviewing the body of my work in relation to my academic career generally as it moved from sociology to criminology as that discipline emerged and grew within the higher education sector. Here I have attempted to summarise my theoretical stance; this is not a straightforward task as I have been involved in scholarship, research, writing and publishing in sociology and criminology for well over thirty years, as well as teaching and developing courses and programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; and it is difficult to step outside of this work to envisage it as an academic journey. Nevertheless, I feel in recent years that my work has come to represent almost a complete circle, or at the least to have a recognisable path and pattern, which is really the impetus behind this submission. The submission is based around my more recent scholarship and writing on the media, crime and criminal justice; this work is a development and to some extent culmination of my academic career as a researcher, scholar, lecturer and writer. Although I have written quite widely on social theory, sociology and particularly criminology and criminal justice, my more recent research and writing has been to examine and analyse the importance of the media’s representation of crime and justice. In doing this, and in the body of my writing and publishing, there has been what might be termed a theoretical style or thread which I feel indicates a certain coherence and also provides a cogent case for this doctoral submission. Overall, my argument is that my work generally and as evidenced in this submission particularly, has helped to conceptualise how media representations have played a key role in helping develop a greater understanding of crime, criminals and justice. Furthermore, and while adopting an objective and critical approach, how such representations deserve to be accepted as real and therefore legitimate and important areas of examination. I have tried to argue that the academic study of crime and justice, in all its forms, should take account of the importance of the media, both historically and throughout its development, in helping an understanding of the extent and form of, and also the explanations for, crime and the control of it.

The following report examines the contribution my publications have made over the course of a twenty-year career in government departments (in Britain) and academic institutions (in Australia) to advancing scholarly inquiry in the areas of Youth Justice, Young People and Social Welfare, and Criminology. In the section dealing with Youth Justice publications I have given patiicular attention to a dominant and coherent area of study under the heading Families, Crime and Juvenile Justice. The conmmon thematic content of my publications focuses on the ways in which celiain individuals and social groups perceive and experience systems of social control. Additionally, the report highlights a range of allied pUblications that have dealt with the consequences of largely state-sponsored policies and practices in relation to a range of 'subject populations'. It is argued that my contribution to advancing knowledge in the above areas has been achieved in two primary ways: (a) through a range of original pubEcations based on theoretical and empirical studies, and substantial polemical and critical work; (b) through significant engagement in scholarly debate and discussion (including citation of my work in the publications of other academics) and facilitation of reflexive discussion an10ng social welfare practitioners and policy makers. Finally, the report attempts to contextualise my publications through a detailed discussion of the personal and intellectual origins of my work over the past two decades. The latter involves a general review of the sociological, criminological and social welfare literature relating to a prevailing concern with what I have broadly tenned the 'phenomenology of social control'.

This thesis investigates the practices and compositions of gangs in Greater Manchester, England. Primarily drawing from qualitative data gathered in two adult, men's prisons, it explores gang members' activities, how these practices develop on 'the street', and how they are later affected by imprisonment. The thesis also explores the links between race, geographical area and gang affiliation, analysing how a gang member's racial background and area of origin may relate to his gang. The results show the strong influence of gangs at the sample prisons, and how gangs affect the ways in which prisoners negotiate the carceral space: violent practices, gang allegiances and rivalries developed on 'the street' are regularly transplanted into prison. These high levels of gang 'importation' into the sample prisons result in the social and cultural significance of street gangs often penetrating prison walls. Area of origin and shared racial background are strong unifying 'banners' under which many prison gangs operate, and violence is an integral part of life in 'the gang'. However, reflecting the academic literature, gang members often contest the terminology around 'gangs', showing the polarized discourse around these topics. The thesis attempts to resolve some of these debates by presenting a comprehensive gang typology shaped by theory and prisoners' testimonies.

This study makes an argument for a constructionist understanding of crime in Antigua and Barbuda. Specifically, the study argues that the way in which members of the public and the news media talk about crime is important because understanding how crime is framed in terms of causes and remedies necessarily influences who we criminalise, what legislation we pass and how we allocate our tax dollars. As such, framing crime in ways that are tinged with hyperbole, or that run contrary to evidence is unlikely to result in effective policy responses. The way in which crime is currently framed in Antigua and Barbuda – as a relatively recent phenomenon that is spiralling out of control and is characterised by increasing violence, as a phenomenon that is perpetuated by predatory young people with individual pathologies, as a phenomenon that is increasing largely because police and politicians are corrupt and young people are being inculcated with foreign cultural values – has resulted in punitive policy and ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric that do not appear to have had a substantial effect on the country’s crime rate. However, this study finds that there might be room for more progressive crime policy – policy that is informed by an understanding of crime that does not have at its heart notions of law and order or getting ‘tough on crime’.