ABSTRACT
Young people and crime Young people are widely perceived as being unruly, anti-social and prone to participate in illegal activities. Indeed, while teenage lawlessness has long been the staple of the tabloid media, the study of youth has always had a strong focus on crime and deviance. Politicians are also keen to be regarded as tough on crime, particularly when it involves young offenders. While it is important to note that perceptions of crime frequently bear little relation to the underlying reality, there are a number of reasons why the terms youth
and crime are often juxtaposed. It is true young people are responsible for a high proportion of recorded crimes, although this is partly because illegal activities that involve large numbers of young people are both visible and targeted by the police. There has also been a long-standing tendency for the media to construct moral panics relating to youthful behaviour, often resulting in the reframing of criminal justice policy so as to capture and criminalize young people’s activities.
