'Should we be tough on crime or tough on the causes of crime?'

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Assignment 4 Research Report

'Should we be tough on crime or tough on the causes of crime?'

The group presentation was based on the topic 'should we be tough on crime or tough on the causes of crime?' This title is very broad and could refer to a wide scope of areas within the subject, so the topic was narrowed down, so our group focuses on Youth offending. Youth offending is a very familiar subject, local newspapers seem to be dominated by crimes committed by young people.

The aim of my part of the research was to explore the social trends in a delinquent's life to find out what causes young people to turn to delinquency, by providing reliable and valid information. The objective was to find out from this information whether 'we should be tough on the causes of crime', to see where the main problems are rooted.

From my preliminary reading on crime, I know that crime stems from economic inequality, that major violent crimes take place in inner city areas, mainly in council estates, committed mainly by young males aged 16 - 24.

The method of researching consisted of secondary source analysis (newspaper article; textbooks). The secondary source analysis entailed library-based research in order to identify relevant theories of youth offending in criminology. One other significant resource utilised in this research was the Internet, which was convenient for downloading newspaper articles and obtaining data from the Homeoffice website. Data from different sources were compared to find any trends, to see if there could be conflicting data and to check for any biases. Information was then gathered from these sources and constructed in to explanations for the purpose of our argument.

For my part of the research, I was also responsible for the conclusion, which meant that I would have to wait for other members to complete their part in order to summarise for the conclusion. I wanted to provide up to date evidence that would support our points made during the presentation. The best method to acquire this information was through searching on the Internet which is easier and instantaneous. I wanted to find important points, than supporting that point by providing example (evidence) and followed by explanation.
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The Guardian newspaper Website (www.guardian.co.uk) retains archive of articles and has a search engine of its own. Using their search engine by entering the date so that the results are set out in ascending order and their relevancy to the topic aswell. The articles provided useful and current news on issues surrounding the topic. On one particular article the writer, Batty, (Batty, D. May 29, 2002 'Youth justice: the issue explained') refers to the survey which was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found '11 to 16 year old school children in England, Scotland and Wales admit to ...

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