Children and Crime

• NCJ Number: 73656
• Journal: Police Surgeon Dated: (April 1978) Pages: 62-67
• Author(s): K G Oxford
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Version of a paper presented at the Autumn Symposium of the Association of Police Surgeons of Great Britain, Liverpool (UK), September 1977

Annotation

A paper presented by a British police official discusses juvenile involvement in automobile theft, burglary, and vandalism and comments on preventing and controlling juvenile crime.

Abstract

In 1976, approximately one-third of all persons convicted or cautioned for serious crimes in England and Wales were juveniles between 10 and 17 years old, although this age group represented only about 11 percent of the population. The theft of motor vehicles is one of the most disturbing areas of juvenile crime, principally because of the traffic accidents caused by teenagers joyriding in stolen automobiles. It is remarkable that manufacturers of high powered vehicles cannot provide security devices capable of outwitting young people and that owners of valuable cars leave the keys in the ignition. Juveniles are disproportionately involved in burglaries, with about one-half of all persons arrested for this crime being under age 17. Vandalism committed by young people is dangerous and costly but often goes unchecked by indifferent adullts. Examples of this crime include hurling lumps of concrete on vehicles from an overpass, removing street lights and road signs, and marking graffiti on walls. Theories which attribute juvenile crime to rapid social change, decline in moral standards, and the breakdown of the family have little real meaning. In general, nondelinquency appears to be related to a stable home environment. However, many young people through no fault of their own have not benefitted from this type of upbringing, and society has failed to compensate for these economic and social deprivations. The cautioning procedures established by the Children and Young Persons Act (1969) should not be overused but applied only when an offense is not particularly serious and when proper background investigations have been completed. Because some young people need discipline and punitive, secure conditions, more detention alternatives should be available to the judiciary. Also, more punitive measures which can be imposed on parents of young offenders are required. In the longer term, the decline in birth rates should allow parents and schools to provide a more caring, controlled, and disciplined environment for children with a consequent decrease in juvenile crime.