Dissertations / Theses 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’.

How can criminological theory assist in making sense of the youth subcultures that are involved in criminal activity of a violent nature in the contemporary South African context? - T.p. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-219).

This study is a content analysis of news articles of school shooting incidents that occurred within the United States between 1997 and 2012. This paper was designed to (a) address the current profile of school shooting offenders and offenses, (b) assess a proposed typology of school shootings, (c) consider common case processing characteristics for offenders of school shootings incidents, and (d) address the potential for offender and offense characteristics to affect the amount of media coverage an incident receives. The database of “Major School Shootings in the United States Since 1997” by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence was used to compile a sample of 101 incidents in which a single offender committed a school shooting. To the extent possible, media accounts were used to corroborate details of each school shooting incident. Data pertaining to the offender characteristics, case processing characteristics, offense characteristics, characteristics regarding a typology, and media coverage characteristics were examined. The current profile and typology were, for the most part, upheld. Six variables proved to be significantly related to the total amount of media coverage an incident received: mental health history, school-related mass murder type, offender/victim type, total victims injured or killed, region of the U.S., and year of incident occurrence. Of these variables, three remained significant in a regression analysis: the school-related mass murder type, region of the U.S., and year of incident occurrence were predictive of the amount of media coverage an incident received. Implications and limitations of this study are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

This study examines the social-psychological impact of of the Manson incident; which begins with the Tate-Labianca murders, continues with the arrest of Charles Manson and some of his followers, continues with the trial of Charles Manson and the co-defendants, and results in a popular image.

By 1960, television advertisers recognized the economic potential of American youth, and producers were expected to develop programs to attract them, while still maintaining appeal for the older audience members. This task was to prove difficult as the decade wore on. While continuing to link the nation's cold war concerns to the portrayal of good and evil, some shows, like 77 Sunset Strip, and The Mod Squad, explored alternative lifestyles, but still accepted American values. As the 1960s developed, crime programs continued to promote American hegemony but became increasingly more open to alternative reading strategies. This study examines the strategies developed to draw a youth audience to 1960s crime programs, while also supporting the dominant ideology of American society.

The purpose of this study was to assess practitioners’ views of service needs for juveniles involved with the justice system. In the United States, every year there are thousands of youth committed to detention institutions for delinquent acts. As a result, children as young as nine years of age up until adulthood have a difficult time integrating back into the community. In many instances, youth who have been involved with the justice system have a greater likelihood of recidivism due to their inability to adapt to their environment. Further, when youth enter the system, many times they are not receiving the adequate services necessary to decrease recidivism and in turn are faced with multiple encounters with the justice system and with untreated concerns and additional needs. This study used a qualitative design, conducting face to face interviews with ten justice involved youth practitioners. Participants were asked to explore areas such as, service utilization, recidivism rates, effectiveness of treatment, and barriers to service utilization. The results identified mental health and substance abuse treatment services as the most important needs of justice involved youth. Themes that emerged as important factors to the utilization of treatment services were meaningful relationships, parental support, and mentorship. This study found inadequacies with the process of assessing needs and services within the juvenile justice system. The results suggest a need for better treatment services and competent practitioners to reduce the likelihood of recidivism.

When incarcerated youth – those with and those without disabilities – face the prospect of reentering the community, they have many obstacles to overcome. Employment requirements are often associated with terms of parole or aftercare. Those who fail to obtain and maintain employment often reenter the juvenile justice system instead of successfully reentering society. Research shows employment is critical for successful transition from incarceration back in to the community. Limited information is available about programs that positively impact post-incarceration employment for juveniles, however. Practitioners face the challenge of selecting effective curriculum, interventions, or supports. Unfortunately, the current knowledge base provides limited guidance about teaching employability and social skills to incarcerated youth. This study evaluated one instructional program, Ready for W.A.G.E.S., that teaches competencies for employability and social skills to incarcerated youth for the purposes of easing reentry. This instructional program was evaluated using a quasi-experimental, wait list control design with a sample of 22 incarcerated youth in one long-term juvenile justice facility. The results are varied, with the standardized instruments showing no statistically significant findings, but the qualitative evidence showing significant impact. Changes were made to the Ready for W.A.G.E.S. instructional program as a result of this study.

This thesis is an exploration of the classed and gendered trajectories that lead to 'revolving door' incarceration for a group of men from working class backgrounds. Considering that men commit most crime and, in the UK, account for over 95% of the prison population, there is relatively little scholarship that explores the links between masculinity and crime and almost a dearth of ethnographic enquiry into the links between the social construction of masculinities and incarceration. In response, this study, employing qualitative in-depth life history interviews with thirty male prisoners housed in an East Yorkshire prison, examines the cyclical interrelations between cultural representations of masculinity, place, schooling, employment, crime and incarceration. Influenced by Connell's theoretical framework, including the relational concept of protest masculinities, and by the Teesside School's work on transitions and alternative careers, the main aim of this research is to examine if, and to what extent, significant cultural and institutional spaces were complicit in the construction and maintenance of versions of protest masculinities. The study reveals that masculinities negotiated over interconnecting sites of deprived neighbourhoods, inadequate children's residential 'care' homes and failing schools better prepared most respondents to serve time in prison than to work in contemporary deindustrialised labour markets. Formative teenage years spent negotiating impoverished prison regimes and living up to extreme prison masculinities contributed to many of the respondents spending more time inside prison than 'on the out'. The thesis concludes with recommendations for policy approaches to better facilitate crucial sites, such as schools and prisons, undoing, rather than reinforcing, troubling gender performances for young boys and men like these respondents. Reducing rising male prison populations, mainly made up of men from deprived neighbourhoods, might be more effectively tackled through innovative, gender informed, policy, ensuring that institutional spaces of learning, 'care', punishment and rehabilitation work harder to open up more positive avenues to doing masculinity.

This study examines changes over time in 40 different Sherlock Holmes films and 39 television series and movies spanning from 1900 to 2017. Quantitative observations were mixed with a qualitative examination. Perceptions of law enforcement became more positive over time, the types of crime did not vary, and representation of race and gender improved over time with incrementally positive changes in the representation of queer, mentally ill, and physically handicapped individuals. The exact nature of these trends is discussed. Additionally, the trends of different decades are explored and compared. Sherlock Holmes is mostly used as a vehicle for storytelling rather than for the salacious crimes that he solves, making the identification of perceptions of crime in different decades difficult. The reasons for why different Sherlock Holmes projects were created in different eras and for different purposes are discussed.

Submitted by Clebson Anjos (clebson.leandro54@gmail.com) on 2016-03-01T18:44:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2946161 bytes, checksum: 58605522d1981f58123f375eca5ce49b (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-01T18:44:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2946161 bytes, checksum: 58605522d1981f58123f375eca5ce49b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-26<br>Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES<br>This research analyzed how newspapers Correio da Paraíba and Jornal da Paraíba reported news about young adults who were victims of violent crimes, in Cidades and Últimas sections, throughout a sample of 2014. The objective was to identify the meaning behind the choices made by both media, verifying aspects as the importance given to this kind of article, the published content’s diversity, the sources heard by the reporters, the news character, as well as the perceptions regarding youth, criminality and the individuals judged as deviants. The Content Analysis was the method chosen because it can identify the news tendencies, turning the raw data (like texts and images) into clear and justified statistics. The quantitative aspect also makes it possible to have a qualitative analytical approach, evaluating the details observed through the frequencies. In order to do it all, authors from communication, sociology, anthropology and Content Analysis were essential, such as Cremilda Medina, Mauro Wolf, Mar de Fontcuberta, Émile Durkheim, Howard Becker, Roberto DaMatta, Pierre Bourdieu, Mario Margulis, Marcelo Urresti, Michel Foucault, Laurence Bardin and Heloiza Herscovitz, debating themes as news values, crime, deviation, violence, youth and the methodological viability. Achieving the goals of this research, it was verified that, in general, both media reported news similarly: there is no consensual vision about what being young is like, nor any differential because of how young the victims are; both newspapers focus on answering the journalistic lead paragraph (who did what, when, where, how and why), only describing the occurrences by what they heard from official sources; there is no photographs attached, nor any highlights on the covers of the gazettes; mostly, there isn’t almost any purposed reflections concerning what those reported cases mean beyond what it is stated. Therefore, the media reports follow a standard, as if the journalist only answered to mandatory questions in a form. This is why the victims could be exchanged among the reports without any need to make changes on news’ structures. It’s clear though that both newspapers have potential to get over this kind of bureaucracy related to the way the reports are written and go much further on their narratives, as seen in other news about different subjects. However, it’s believed that this situation is due to the fact that both media don’t think the victimization of young adults is newsworthy enough, but keep posting about them in order to reinforce their panoptic social surveillance.<br>Esta pesquisa analisou como são construídas as notícias sobre jovens vítimas de crimes violentos, nos cadernos de Cidades e Últimas dos jornais impressos Correio da Paraíba e Jornal da Paraíba, durante uma amostra referente ao ano de 2014. O objetivo foi identificar o sentido provocado pelas escolhas feitas por ambos os periódicos, observando aspectos como a valoração atribuída a esse tipo de matéria, a diversidade de conteúdo publicado, as fontes ouvidas, o caráter do noticiário, bem como as percepções dos media sobre a juventude, a criminalidade e os indivíduos juridicamente desviantes. O método empregado foi a Análise de Conteúdo (AC), por permitir que fosse possível identificar as tendências de apresentação dos acontecimentos, transformando os dados brutos, como textos e imagens, em estatísticas claras e justificadas. O aspecto quantitativo possibilitou ainda uma abordagem de cunho qualitativo, em que se avaliaram os pormenores identificados através dos indicadores numéricos. Nessa trajetória, foram essenciais as contribuições de autores da comunicação, da sociologia, da antropologia e da AC, como Cremilda Medina, Mauro Wolf, Mar de Fontcuberta, Émile Durkheim, Howard Becker, Roberto DaMatta, Pierre Bourdieu, Mario Margulis, Marcelo Urresti, Michel Foucault, Laurence Bardin e Heloiza Herscovitz, discutindo temas como valores-notícia, crime, desvio, violência, juventude, além da viabilidade metodológica. Alcançando-se os objetivos propostos, verificou-se que, em geral, ambos os veículos estudados constroem o noticiário de forma bastante semelhante: sem que haja uma noção consensual sobre o que é ser jovem nem um peso maior por se tratar de vítimas nesse momento etário, priorizam o atendimento do lead jornalístico (quem fez o que, quando, onde, como e por que), limitam-se à descrição das ocorrências a partir de fontes oficiais, não acompanham fotografias, não recebem destaque na capa e, sobretudo, não problematizam o que aqueles casos específicos representam. Assim, a construção midiática segue um padrão, como se o jornalista apenas respondesse a questões exigidas em um formulário, de modo que as vítimas poderiam intercambiar-se nas matérias, sem que fossem necessárias alterações na estrutura noticiosa. Constatou-se, porém, que os veículos têm potencial de ir além da informação burocrática, como se vê em notícias sobre assuntos diversos. Leva-se a crer que essa formularização se deve ao fato de os periódicos não verem o tema com grande valor-notícia, mas continuam a publicá-lo, para reforçar sua vigilância panóptica sobre o seio social.

Young people who are homeless experience adversity, but many are able to overcome the challenges of street life and transition back into housing. This exploratory, qualitative research draws on the narratives from interviews and focus groups with 35 young people who have experienced homelessness, as well as interviews and focus groups with 30 service providers working in youth shelters and a youth drop-in centre. Exploring themes of victimization, criminal offending, police involvement, and interactions with community services, this research highlights the capacities of young people to navigate around obstacles and negotiate to meet their needs. Integrating symbolic interactionism and social constructivist perspectives, this research explores the importance of micro-level interactions and perceptions, as well as the contexts that frame the decision-making processes of young people passing through homelessness. The implications of these perspectives are discussed within the framework of resilience discourse.

The purpose of this project is to ascertain the ways in which Orange is the New Black uses its platform to either complicate or reify narratives about the prison system, prisoners and their relationship to the state. This research uses the works of Giorgio Agamben, Colin Dayan, Michelle Alexander and Lisa Guenther to situate the ways the state uses the prison and social narratives about the prison to extend its control on certain populations beyond prison walls through police presence, parole, the war on drugs and prison fees. From that basis, this work argues that while Orange does challenge some narratives about race and sexuality, because of its reliance on “bad choices” as a humanizing trope and its reliance on certain racialized stereotypes for entertainment, the show ultimately does more to reify existing narratives that support state interests.

The goal of this research is to explore the relationship between coercion and crime amongst street youths in Mexico. This research relies on Mark Colvin’s (2000) Differential Coercion Theory (DCT). Through semi-structured interviews with street youths in Mexico City, this research explores: (1) the various personal and structural factors that lead youths to the street; (2) the strategies of income generation used by the youths; (3) the youths experiences of victimization, substance use, criminal involvement and institutionalization; and finally, (4) the personal and structural reasons that contribute to youths’ inability to leave the street. Results indicate that in most cases youths experience some form of physical, sexual, verbal, and/or psychological abuse that prompts them to leave home. In other cases, youths simply witnessed the abuse of a significant other or become subject to neglect. Some youths are thrown out of the home due to familial conflict. Results also indicate that on the street, youths are encouraged to display violent behaviours to avoid victimization. Further, youths face a number of needs and are compelled to engage in legitimate or illegitimate sustenance practices. On the street, youths are subject to theft, as well as physical and sexual victimization from peers and police officers. The results also suggest that youths are dependent on various substances as a way to cope with difficult situations. Results also indicate that as a result of crime or drug use, youths are likely to experience institutionalization where physical, verbal, and psychological victimization is experienced. Finally, youths attribute the freedom provided by the street and substance dependency as reasons to stay on the streets. Overall, the results suggest that Mexican street youths experience coercion in various settings. However, to explain the relationship between coercion and crime more research is needed on other explanatory factors.<br>Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2013-10-28 16:29:18.922

MA (Youth in Development)<br>Institute for Gender and Youth Studies<br>High school crime has become a major problem all over the world including South Africa. The aim of this study was to explore the nature, causes and effects of youth crime amongst learners in high schools in Nzhelele East Circuit. Three high schools known for high crime rate were purposefully selected. A mixed method approach was adopted. Focus groups were conducted among the Life Orientation teachers in the selected schools to collect qualitative data, and questionnaires were administered to learners to collect quantitative data. Purposive sampling was used to sample Life Orientation teachers for the focus groups. Stratified random sampling was used to survey 40 grade 10 and 40 grade 11 learners from each of the three high schools (240 learners). Qualitative data was analyzed thematically and the quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics methods. Consequently, the results from the two methods were compared and triangulated. Ethical precautionary measures were taken to avoid harm to the research participants. The study found that a variety of family, economic and environmental factors contribute to crime in schools. Findings of this study assist the teachers, learners, parents and the Department of Education authorities in the Vhembe District to gain a better understanding of the nature, causes and effects of crime among high school learners. Only a multi-pronged strategy can be effective in overcoming crime which is plaguing many high schools in South Africa.<br>NRF

This research is a exploratory and descriptive study based on juvenile's perceptions with regard to shop theft. Secondary data sources were consulted to supplement the empirical data collected by means of a comprehensive questionnaire. Five hundred learners from grades 10, 11 and 12 in Mabopane were selected for the completion of the questionnaires. Shop theft was further elucidated by the application of criminological theories to explain research findings by highlighting their relationship with shop theft. Main research findings established that there are significant statistical differences with regard to the learner gender, age and grade as far as their views on shop theft were concerned. Recommendations based on the findings include teaching Criminology at secondary schools, the development of an anti shop theft youth oriented crime prevention program, shop theft educational and awareness programmes, and shoplifter offender prevention programs.<br>Criminology<br>M.A. (Criminology)

Cette étude s’inscrit dans le cadre plus large des travaux menés par le groupe de recherche Drug, Alcool and Violence International (DAVI) qui cherche à préciser la nature des liens qui se tissent entre l’alcool, les drogues et la violence chez trois groupes de jeunes - étudiants, décrocheurs, contrevenants - des villes de Montréal, Toronto, Philadelphie et Amsterdam. Elle explore plus spécialement les dimensions du capital social, familial, individuel et délinquant comme étant des voies d’explication possibles de la relation constatée entre la consommation d’alcool et de drogues et la manifestation de gestes de violence chez les jeunes de la grande région montréalaise fréquentant le milieu scolaire secondaire. Trois objectifs spécifiques de recherche sont poursuivis soit : 1) déterminer, à travers une recension des écrits scientifiques, les modalités formant les dimensions du capital social, familial, individuel et délinquant; 2) cerner empiriquement dans les données, quelles sont les modalités à disposition permettant de rendre compte de la contribution du capital social, du capital familial, du capital individuel et du capital délinquant dans l’explication de la relation alcool/drogues et violence chez les jeunes; et 3) vérifier si les dimensions à l’étude influencent a) la consommation par les jeunes d’alcool et de drogues; b) la manifestation par eux de comportements délinquants, et plus spécialement de comportements violents, et c) la relation entre alcool, drogues et violence chez les jeunes fréquentant le milieu scolaire secondaire montréalais en fonction de ces dimensions. L’échantillon de type aléatoire est composé de 995 répondants (garçons et filles ) qui se répartissent dans huit écoles secondaires francophones et deux écoles secondaires anglophones provenant des secteurs public ou privé et de milieu favorisé ou défavorisé se trouvant sur les territoires des villes de Montréal, Laval et Longueuil constituant « la grande région de Montréal ». Les participants devaient répondre à un questionnaire composé de 138 questions dont la grande majorité sont fermées. Les données sociodémographiques caractérisant le jeune et son environnement, ses rapports avec sa famille, ses amis, l’école, son quartier, sa consommation d’alcool et de drogues, l’existence dans sa vie de comportements violents dont il aurait été auteur ou victime, la manifestation de gestes de délinquance ou de troubles de comportement sont les principales dimensions de la vie du jeune sondées par le questionnaire utilisé. D’entrée de jeu, spécifions que peu importe les substances consommées, très peu d’étudiants en font un usage problématique et que l’on ne note aucune propension à la délinquance chez la majorité des élèves de l’échantillon En somme, les analyses amènent à conclure à l’existence de relations statistiquement significatives entre la consommation d’alcool, de marijuana et de drogues dures et la propension à la délinquance et aux troubles de comportement, ces relations étant de force variable allant de modérée à forte. Toutefois, il faut bien noter que ces relations ne touchent qu’un petit nombre des élèves du secondaire participant à notre étude, comme ce fût le cas dans d’autres études. Plus spécifiquement, le capital familial paraît influencer seulement la consommation de marijuana. Ainsi, plus le degré de supervision parentale diminue, plus la fréquence de consommation de marijuana augmente. Le capital individuel produit un impact plus important sur la consommation d’alcool, de marijuana et de drogues dures, les troubles de comportement, et la propension à la délinquance. Ainsi, plus le capital individuel est affecté négativement, plus la consommation d’alcool, de marijuana et de drogues dures de même que la propension à la délinquance et aux troubles de comportement seront importants. Le capital social, quant à lui, explique davantage la consommation de marijuana que la consommation d’alcool et de drogues dures ou encore la manifestation de troubles de comportement et la propension à la délinquance. Finalement, le capital délinquant paraît influencer la consommation d’alcool, de marijuana et de drogues dures. Son influence se fait ressentir également, mais dans une moindre mesure, sur la manifestation de troubles de comportement et la propension à la délinquance. À notre grande surprise, la dimension du capital familial qui se révèle être particulièrement influente dans les écrits scientifiques ne ressort pas dans nos analyses comme nous l’avions envisagé. Nous attribuons cet état de fait aux limites imposées par l’utilisation d’une banque de données constituée initialement à d’autres fins que celles visées dans notre étude, et dans laquelle les facteurs reliés au capital familial, identifiés dans les écrits, n’étaient pas tous présents. Nul doute à que la consommation de substances psychoactives et la propension à la délinquance et aux troubles de comportement sont des comportements présents dans la population juvénile. Les modèles généralement utilisés pour expliquer les comportements déviants à l’étude ne produisent pas de résultats probants en ce qui concerne les écoliers, une population de jeunes d’ailleurs rarement étudiée à cet égard. Le modèle d’explication au cœur de nos analyses, mettant à contribution les dimensions du capital social, familial, individuel et délinquant, paraît prometteur surtout en ce qui concerne le capital délinquant, et ce, en dépit des limites imposées par la banque de données utilisée. À la lumière des résultats obtenus, il semble que l’explication de la cooccurrence de la consommation de substances psychoactives et de la propension à la délinquance et aux troubles de comportement soit multifactorielle. Les principaux facteurs contributifs sont ceux du capital délinquant pour la consommation d’alcool, de marijuana et de drogues dures de même que pour la propension à la délinquance alors les troubles de comportement se révèlent davantage expliqués par les facteurs composant le capital individuel. Nous estimons que la combinaison des dimensions du capital familial, individuel, social et individuel constitue une voie d’explication prometteuse de la relation alcool/drogue et violence chez les jeunes. Il nous apparaît dès lors qu’un instrument de collecte de données spécifiquement conçu pour en explorer le potentiel explicatif devrait être à la base de prochaines recherches en ce sens.<br>The topic of this study joins the wider frame of the works led by the research group Drug, Alcohol and Violence International (DAVI) which tries to clarify the nature of the links between alcohol, drugs and violence amongst the youth (students, dropouts, offenders) from Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia and Amsterdam. The study investigates more specifically the dimensions of social, family, individual and delinquent capital as being possible ways to explain the relationship between alcohol and drug consumption and the demonstration of violence amongst the youth from Montreal frequenting a high school environment. To do so, we pursue three specific research objectives: 1) to determine, through a review of the litterature, the modalities of the social, family, individual and delinquent capital; 2) to empirically encircle in our data, which modalities can be used to account for the contribution of social, family, individual and delinquent capital in the explanation of the relationship between alcohol/drugs and violence amongst the youth; and 3) to verify if the studied dimensions influence a) the consumption of alcohol and drugs amongst the youth; b) the emergence of delinquent behaviour and more specially violent behaviour, and c) the relationship between alcohol, drugs and violence amongst the youth frequenting Montreal high schools. Our random sample consists of 995 respondents (boys and girls) from eight French-speaking and two English-speaking schools from both the public and private sectors and from privileged and underprivileged environments in the cities of Montreal, Laval and Longueuil, also called the Greater Montréal. Participants had to answer a questionnaire consisting of 138 questions, the great majority of which were closed. The sociodemographic data characterizing the youths and their environment, their relationships with their families, their friends, their school, their district, their alcohol and drugs consumption, the existence in their life of violent behaviour (being the aggressor or the victim), the demonstration of criminal gestures or behavioural disorders are the main dimensions of their life sounded by the questionnaire. From the outset, let us specify that regardless of the substance, very few students use them in a problematic fashion and that no inclination to crime was noted in the majority of our sample. In fact, our analysis brings us to conclude the existence of statistically significant relationships between the consumption of alcohol, marijuana and hard drugs and the inclination to crime and behavioural disorders, these relations being of variable strengths, going from moderate to strong. However, it is necessary to note that these relations touch only a small portion of high school students participating in the study, as was observed in other studies. More specifically, family capital appears to influence only marijuana consumption. So, the less parental supervision is present, the more marijuana consumption increases. We notice that individual capital produces a more important impact on alcohol, marijuana and hard drug consumption, on behavioural disorders and on the inclination to crime. So, as individual capital is negatively affected, the more the consumption of alcohol, marijuana and hard drugs as well as the inclination to behavioural disorders and crime will be important. The share capital, better explains the consumption of marijuana than that of the alcohol and hard drugs or better still, the demonstration of behavioural disorders and the inclination to crime. Finally, the delinquent capital appears to influence alcohol, marijuana and hard drugs consumption. Its influence is felt also, to a lesser proportion, on the demonstration of behavioural disorders and the inclination to crime. To our surprise, the dimension of family capital which is particularly influential in scientific papers does not stand out in our analyses as we had envisioned it. We attribute this to the limits of the data bank used which was established for purposes other than those aimed in our study, and in which factors connected to family capital were not all present. There is no doubt that the consumption of psychoactive substances and the inclination to behavioural disorders and to crime are found amongst the youth. The explanatory models, generally used to explain deviant behaviours, do not produce convincing results for high school students, a population of young people rarely studied in this respect. The model at the heart of our analyses which puts to contribution the dimensions of share, family, individual and delinquent capital seems promising, especially with regards to delinquent capital, and this, in spite of the limits imposed by our data bank. In light of the results, it seems that the incidence of the concurrence of the consumption of psychoactive substances and the inclination to behavioural disorders and to the crime is multifactorial. The main contributory factors are those of the delinquent capital for the consumption of alcohol, marijuana and hard drugs as well as the inclination to behavioural disorders and to crime which are better explained by the component factors of the individual capital. We consider that the combination of the dimensions of family, individual, social and individual capital constitutes a way of explaining the relation alcohol / drug and violence amongst the youth. It appears to us that a data collection instrument specifically designed to investigate the explanatory potential should be at the basis of the next research.