Chapter 4: The Social Face of Youth Crime

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. According to the text, besides self-report surveys, what other two methodological developments have further altered the face of youth crime for criminologists?

1. victimization surveys and ethnographic studies
2. ethnographic studies and longitudinal studies
3. correctional statistics and police statistics
4. police statistics and longitudinal studies

2. Why do federal statistics NOT provide public information on race and crime?

1. No police departments in Canada collect information on race or ethnicity.
2. Human-rights organizations have objected to the collection of justice statistics by race.
3. Information on race is not useful for researchers when developing justice policy.
4. It is not necessary to monitor court compliance with considering the “needs of Aboriginal young persons.”

3. Which of the following statements is supported by the gang research discussed in the text?

a. Youth gangs are not long-lived.

b. Aboriginal youth gangs are on the rise.

c. “Asian” youth gangs are primarily involved in drug activities.

d. Most youth gangs are made up of one particular ethnic group.

4. According to research highlighted in the text, which statement summarizes Aboriginal youths’ involvement with the justice system in Canada?

a. Aboriginal youth are more likely to be remanded.

b. Aboriginal youth receive more community-based supervision.

c. Aboriginal youth become involved with the justice system in late adolescence.

d. Aboriginal youth are less likely to be identified as offenders by police.

5. According to discussions in the text, which of the following characterizes youth under the age of 12 who are involved with the justice system in Canada?

a. They are responsible for 15 percent of all youth crime.

b. They usually share charges with an older accomplice.

c. They are most often involved in petty property offences.

d. They participate in more criminal activity than in the past.

6. According to police statistics, what charge is most common for both boys and girls?

a. theft

b. mischief

c. minor assault

d. bail violations

7. According to self-report studies, how do girls’ and boys’ criminal behaviour compare?

a. Girls are just as involved in property crime and aggressive behaviour as boys.

b. Boys are just as likely to run away or become involved in prostitution as girls.

c. Girls’ delinquent careers are longer than boys because they start at earlier ages.

d. Boys and girls are involved in different types of behaviours with the same frequency.

8. Which of the following is the best example of the “cycle of violence”?

1. Alex observes her parents in a physical fight and a year later Alex is caught stealing from a store and is charged with theft.
2. Alex’s parents collect welfare, and when Alex grows up and moves out she ends up collecting welfare.
3. Alex observes her father steal from a store and a year later Alex is caught stealing from a store and is charged with theft.
4. Alex observes her parents in a physical fight and a year later Alex gets into a fight at school and is charged with assault.

9. Which of the following statements is supported by youth victimization surveys?

a. Children are far more likely to be victimized than adults.

b. Boys are more likely to be sexually assaulted than girls.

c. The risk of victimization is highest for anyone 24 or older.

d. Girls are more likely to be killed or physically assaulted than boys.

10. According to the text, which term refers to children who have experienced a number of victimizations and who exhibit traumatic symptomology?

1. concentrated victimization
2. cycle of violence
3. polyvictimization
4. racialized victimization

11. According to Statistics Canada data from 1991–1994, which age group has the highest rate of homicide victimization?

1. those under 1 year
2. those 1 year to 11 years
3. those 12 years to 19 years
4. those 20 years and over

12. According to the RCMP Missing Children’s Registry, what is the most common status for the majority of outstanding missing children’s cases?

a. runaway

b. kidnapping

c. parental abduction

d. stranger abduction

13. The federal government set up a Cybertip.ca website for people to report online materials involving child sexual exploitation. What did the majority of reported cases involve?

1. sexual interference
2. child luring
3. child pornography
4. child prostitution

14. According to victimization surveys, where do the majority of sexual assaults of adolescents and children occur?

a. at school

b. at home

c. in a public place

d. in a vehicle

SHORT ANSWER

1. In Canada, should race be reported in justice statistics? Be sure to justify your answer.

No, race should not be reported

• Data cannot be exploited by white supremacists or other racist groups.
• Human-rights organizations have objected to the collection of this.
• Making data publicly available means that all data should be available.

Yes, race should be reported

• Potentially useful information is not available for researchers or for the development of justice policy.
• Court compliance can be monitored to ensure the “needs of Aboriginal young persons” is being considered.

REF: 121

1. What are some of the possible explanations for victimization surveys showing that female crime rates are lower compared to males?

• Men may be too embarrassed to report having been victimized by a woman.
• Similar acts may be interpreted differently depending on whether they are committed by a male or female.
• Police have a considerable amount of discretion, and police and prosecutors are more inclined to charge and prosecute girls under 16 than they are older girls.
• Boys are more likely to begin their delinquent careers at an earlier age, and boys are more likely to extend their careers into their adult lives.
• Girls’ delinquent careers are not only shorter than are boys’ but also involve less serious offences.

REF: 137-138

1. Why are estimates of children and youth victimization by family members, friends, and acquaintances likely to be underestimates?

• The younger the victim, the less likely the offence is to be reported to police.
• Children are more likely to report offences to other officials (adults other than police).
• Complaints from children and youth may be less likely to be taken seriously than complaints by adults.

REF: 145

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Outline how the media contributes to the racialization of youth gangs. How does this compare to findings from gang research?

Media contributions to the racialization of youth gangs

• In the early 1990s, the Canadian media identified four groups of youth as problematic: Asian, Vietnamese, Latin, and Black.
• The race of minority youth who participate in gangs is usually reported but Caucasian youth gang activities are never linked to the race of the perpetrators.
• The terms used in the media are broad, generic identifiers such as “Asian,” which serve to brand all visible-minority individuals who are perceived to fit the category.
• Gang articles often racialize youth through content and visuals, and they are often “highly condemnatory and fear inducing” and they mask very real issues of “poverty dispossession, social inequality, judicial unfairness, and social isolation” (Schissel, 2006, p. 91).

Findings from gang research

• Youth gangs and street gangs are usually multi-ethnic; Gordon’s (1993, 1995) research on gang members in jails in British Columbia found that 68 percent of gang members serving prison sentences were Canadian-born.
• Youth gangs are not long-lived- Gang research conducted by Joe and Robinson (1980) found that none of the gangs that existed in Vancouver’s Chinatown in 1975 were still active by 1979.
• Defining the children of immigrants as particularly troublesome is not a new phenomenon as in the 1920s and 1930s, Winnipeg’s youth crime problems were blamed on immigration.
• It is important to not overlook skinheads, a white youth gangs. They are normally regarded as a hate group or “political terrorists” but they nonetheless engage in criminal activity related to crimes of hate and violence.

REF: 122-124

1. Until recently, most public attention has been focused on young people as offenders. Discuss what has been learned and the important findings by examining youth as victims of violence and the relationship between victimization as a child and later criminality.

• Research has shown that there is a cycle of violence; data from the United States shows that victims of childhood abuse and neglect are more likely to be charged with criminal offences than other youth and their offences are more likely to be violent in nature.
• Canada does not conduct child victimization surveys, but surveys from the United States report that children are far more likely to be victimized than adults.
• Canadian figures on child and youth victimization from police statistics and the General Social Survey, which have remained fairly consistent from 2004–2008, show that youth and young adults are victimized more than any other age group. Six of ten sexual assaults reported to police involved a child or youth under 18 years. Physical assaults account for three-quarters of violent offences against children and youth.
• Some of this higher rate of victimization is attributable to lifestyle, as rates of victimization are higher for students and those who spend time away from home in the evenings.
• Among child victims of homicide during the 1974–2004 time period, the age group with the highest rate of victimization was infants under 1 year of age (Dauvergne, 2005, p. 11).
• The risk of victimization is not “random”; rather, age and sex determine to a great extent who will be victimized and how (Johnson and Lazarus, 1989).
• For the last 10 years, police statistics report that two-thirds of physical assaults against children under 6 years of age are committed by parents, and mothers are more likely to physically assault daughters and fathers to assault sons. Girls are more likely to be physically assaulted by family members, and boys by someone outside the family, most often peers (Ogrodnik, 2010).
• While a great deal of attention has been paid to “stranger danger,” according to the RCMP Missing Children’s Registry, in 2003, only a very small number of reported cases involved child abductions, and nearly 80 percent of cases involved “runaway” children.
• Public information campaigns designed to educate parents about “streetproofing” children can create the impression that children are more likely to be victimized by strangers when in reality studies in Canada and the United States indicate that youth are more likely than adults to be victimized by family members, friends, or acquaintances.
• Canadian data on crimes known to police show that two-thirds of sexual assaults occurred in homes.
• Living on the streets puts young people at great risk of physical and sexual victimization.

REF: 140-150