The issue I would like to discuss in my essay is the underlying causes of youth crime. The Young Offenders Act became law on April 2, 1984 but many changes have been made since then. The YOA which deals with people aged 12 to 17 has two goals: to protect the public from the unlawful behavior of young people and to encourage those who have committed a crime not to commit again. Much of the public and a growing number of elected officials have concluded that the juvenile court is incapable of responding effectively to juvenile crime and violence. In particular, critics of the juvenile court argue that much tougher measures are required, and I agree. .
Headlines often tell of school shootings, gang violence, home invasions and other serious crimes committed by youths. Although youth homicides declined by 68% between 1993 and 1999, and are at their lowest rate since 1966, 62% of the public believes that youth crime is on the rise. .
According to a recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, two-thirds of Americans think juveniles under age 13 who commit murder should be tried as adults. Also, in a 1995 survey conducted by Sam Houston State University, a majority of the public favoured sentencing many young offenders in adult court rather then in juvenile jail. .
I believe that youth crime is committed not because of Hollywood movies or rappers, but because many of the offenders are emotionally disturbed people. Provoked by some small or even imagined slight - a break-up or a look - the troubled boy gets a gun and shoots as many people as he can. Sometimes he is overwhelmed or caught; sometimes he kills himself first. Although no reliable figures exist at the present time on the number of juveniles with mental health needs, it is safe to estimate that at least one out of every five juveniles in the juvenile justice system has a serious mental health problem. Statistics show that 75 percent of all juvenile offenders have significant family problems, 52 percent showed symptoms of depression, and 51 percent appeared to have been abused by their parents.
