Are we "all to blame" for youth crime in this country?

Question

Are we "all to blame" for youth crime in this country?

Answer 1

If you mean Society as a whole then the answer is yes. Collectively we do not do enough. However I believe that the majority of youth is law abiding and good. The media only report, on the whole,  bad news about our youth because this sells newspapers. I believe that a lot of the trouble stems from the Thatcher regime. She said there was no Society and sowed the culture of "I want now and I will get whatever I want by any means whatsoever irrespective of the effect on my fellow man". This culture has now grown and it is how a lot of people lead their lives. Also all means of discipline have been thrown out of the window meaning people can do what they like without the fear of being properly punished. Instead of being involved in a community people now turn a blind eye to certain things mainly because of the fear of reprisals. You cannot blame them for this when you see the ever so lenient sentences given nowadays. The few youngsters who lead a life of crime and intimidation are not frightened by authority because they know it has become a lame duck. Discipline should begin at a very early age at home and there are too many parents who want to pass this responsibility onto anyone but themselves. We have got ourselves into a bit of a hole and more extreme policies must be introduced to readdress the balance.

Answer 2

Youth crime is the responsibility of the perpatrator.

Its growth is the desire of the Government.

Answer 3

no the P.C s and the`they are not understood brigade` along with the parents are to blame

Answer 4

As long as our young think being a thug is cool, youth crime will only get worse. Get to know your kids maybe you can have an influence on them.

Answer 5

Are we bu**ery all to blame! Blame the parents! Blame the kids! Maybe blame the social workers and the teachers!

But do please remember that statistically, youth crime is lower than adult crime - a smaller percentage of youths commit crime than do adults - we need to start to sort our act out before we can preach to the kids.

Answer 6

Yes. We have allowed the criminal lover lawyer on the bench to coddle these vicious predators. Thank a criminal lover lawyer for every youth crime. To the degree we let the criminal lover lawyer immunize these criminal, the answer is yes. If you love to be a crime victim, thank the criminal lover lawyer on the bench.

Answer 7

yes, but i cant be asked to explain myself in this ghostly hour.

Answer 8

Not at all, the main problem is yes I know we have more +cretins+ running around with guns and knives, not afraid to use them AND  THAT IS, THE CRUNCH. why are they not afraid because there is nothing to fear from the courts any more, in this country UK, Punishment to fit the crime that is a joke it does not happen. It is not the police  they do, what they can and very well. <It is the laws of this country and the judges> who need shaking up(I could have used another phrase but being a gentleman I wont)

Answer 9

No we are not.You can thank the people that took prayer out of our schools,you can thank the people that said spanking your child should not be aloud,and last but not least you can thank the Christians in this country for standing by and letting this happen,I include myself in this because when all this happened I stood by wiyh the rest of my generation and let it happen.To the children in this land,,,Im sorry for not standing up for you.

Answer 10

It's not everyones fault, Nor is it always the parents fault. I know plenty of people who good parents who lay down the law who still f*** up thier lives sometimes people are just s***w up but yes parenting is going out the window as states make every type of punishment in existence illegal.

Answer 11

which ever political party was in goverment and introduced a policy that if you were not married and had children the mother would automatically have parental responsability , if the couple split. i belive if the law gave both parents joint resposability married or not.it would save a load of bother for them and us and especially the kids.

Answer 12

In a way...  We maintain a welfare system that rewards child bearing for young single mothers.

Fatherless boys have no guardrails and often veer off the road.

Answer 13

Like David argued, as a society, yes, we are all to blame, but truth of the matter is, youth crime has gone on for centuries, the media just want to create a moral panic by saying ooh 'gang of thugs beat old lady'.. now while this story may be true, and disgraceful, the media make it out to be a weekly occurence, when in fact it's not...

There have been many theories on what is the cause of youth crime and juvenile delinquency, for example, one i've studied just last year what Robert Merton, who believed that there was a strong link between crime and poverty... The youth are not accepting socially approved goals and are rebelling...

I don't particularly agree with this theory myself because it doesn't account for various other crimes, because it basically suggests that people who live in poverty commit crime, but doesn't explain people in high power also commit crime..

The trouble is there's either no control, or too much control. there's no balance really..

You can't blame it all on parents, that's plain ignorant... Yes in some cases it is their fault, but then at the end of the day, it's the individual themself to blame in a lot of cases.. could be influenced by other youths n what not...

Children these days know they can get away with things? Why? Because of stupid PC people trying to ban smacking, etc... I don't promote violence, but I knew when I was younger not to do anything bad otherwise my mum would be after me with a slipper.. she never did this, but still.... now if a parent was to do this, they kid would shout abuse etc... even teachers can discipline properly because they've got to be careful what they say..

So basically, we are all to blame... we need stronger communities etc.. there's no good communication anymore, everyones afraid of eachother...

Answer 14

No we are not All responsible, it is lack of supervision and family morals that the youth these days are missing.

Answer 15

No. It's down to bad parenting. They don't nurture them and then blame everyone else for their bad behaviour. Youth crime happens because the parents teach their unfortunate off-spring that they don't care.. then the children don't care and society pays..... I think bad parents should be stopped from littering our streets....

Answer 16

Yes. We've to regulate youth energy through proper handling. Parents have bigger roles to play. Poor parenthood is mostly to be blamed for that. Next comes government's responsibility. Personally I may not be responsible for it. Collectively I too may be responsible for my role, say some young brat from my family going astray and I not having played my role.

Answer 17

I'm 54 years old. How in the h**l am I responsible for what a punk does????

I blame Razzle.

Answer 18

Why limit this question to "youth crime"?  Surely a crime is a crime no matter what the age of the criminal.

If you believe in chaos theory, then any contact between two people will, in some small but perhaps significant way, affect both of them.

If you see J B Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls", you'll find that he shows how a group of individuals each have a damaging effect on a young woman.  Separately, their actions all appear harmless and even trivial, but cumulatively they drive the girl to suicide.  

Individually, we might not directly lead someone to be a criminal, but because we are all part of society, then we do bear a portion of the blame, allbeit a tiny portion.

No one is born a criminal, they become disrespectful of others' rights through experience, or contact with others.  Sadly, as a social species, this will always be the case.

Answer 19

No we are not...i dont have kids....why am i too blame?

Answer 20

To a certain extent i think yes. I think it is a combination of the media and poor education. I also think it is because you have to have a two income family nowadays  just to be middleclass so there is nobody at home to guide children. Also, we can't dicipline our kids now for fear of going to jail. I don't have kids but I see the difference of how I was raised and how kids are raised now and they get away with way too much and then we act surprised when they commit crimes. The signs are already there before they get into trouble.

Answer 21

Not "All"..of course not...........but!..children are not born criminals, they DEVELOP into criminals, as a result of a complex blend of enviornment, education, parental influence, peer pressure, lack of worthwhile "role models", etc. etc......I could go on and on........but think of our youth today;  think of what and who they have been exposed to since around the Viet Nam era...and ask yourself this:......"...how would I have grown up, if this was the world I had been born into"......think of people and world events like the following:  1. Families where both mother and father are working to make ends meet..not home to check the homework or dish out a little love and a little discipline at the same time... 2. AIDS.... 3. Richard Nixon....   4. Bill Clinton (and I'm not saying what he did with that young female intern was right or wrong...I'm just saying:  think what a young person growing up might think about a PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.. caught with his hand in the cookie jar and then lying about it to the whole world on television).....5. Families with NO father.......6. Easier and easier access to drugs....7. Terrorism hitting here at home on Sept. 11th....(nothing like feeling safe in your own home, is there)....8. Films of beheadings by Muslims available on the internet.....9. Star athletes using illegal drugs ....10. Star athletes being paid millions......11. Pornography available on late night TV and the internet....12. Nuclear weapons in the hands of some very unstable governments....13. Ready access to firearms...14. Rap music stars with their gold necklaces,  and foul mouths and big cars and millions of $......15. Dishonest financiers and heads of corporations...16. Children being raised by 2 court-approved lesbians......17. O.J. Simpson.....18. Assasinations of JFK,  Bobby Kennedy....Martin Luther King...19. Priests in the catholic church sexually abusing children........20. Gutless, stupid judges.......etc...etc..............On the other side of the coin:  Look who the earlier generations grew up with:  1. Joe DiMaggio  (Was their EVER a greater gentleman, athlete and role model)......2. Ted Williams (the greatest EVER...and a U.S. Marine pilot, to boot, who gave up YEARS of playing baseball to fight in 2 wars and STILL set records)..... 3. John F. Kennedy.......  4. A "just" war...WWII.... (if there is such a thing).......  5.  Veterans who returned home to honors and adulation.....not curses and being spit at .....6. Astronauts who landed on the moon......7. John Wayne..........8. More often than not, a mother who stayed at home and cooked and watched out for them...a father who laid down the law and administered it.....9. Boards of Education with backbones........oh, do I have to spell it out any further?..............I feel for today's youth.....look again at THEIR role models.....I'm surprised that so many turn out as well as they do........and I grieve for the lost ones..........so you tell ME........... if WE are not to blame, who is?

Answer 22

I blame POLARIS

Answer 23

Of course not. Different things contribute to juvenile crime in this country, some can be changed, some cannot. Cultural influence definitely plays a huge part in it. Peer pressure, in my opinion, is one of the main factors.