NCJ Number
164190
Journal
Up2 Date Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Dated: (April/May 1996) Pages: 12-14
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the characteristics of media coverage of juvenile delinquency in Australia and how this can create a false image of the dangers of juveniles and lead to unwarranted increases in restrictions on juveniles and an increase in police powers.
Abstract
Repeatedly, Australians hear warnings in the media of "gang"-related violence and crime, high-speed car chases in stolen vehicles, or the "emergence of a North American style juvenile underclass." If such reports are to be believed, then Australia is now witnessing major increases in hard-core crime and an epidemic of recidivist juvenile offenders. Inserted in media reports are expert speculations about the causes. Typically, this is followed by corrective speculation, programs, and policies intended to rectify the problems. Such negative and pessimistic representations influence public consumers of the media, which in turn influences party politics and government policy. Rather than viewing popular images of youthful disorder, lawlessness, and juvenile deviance as something new, these media portrayals of youth are better understood as part of a persevering tradition that keeps presenting itself as new. Much of the contemporary distress about young people is linked to a popular uncertainty about the future, more than it is linked to the actual prevalence of juvenile crime. What is missing from contemporary media portrayals of juveniles is an historical awareness that popular alarm about "the troublesome nature of youth" have been rampant throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. A 9-item bibliography