Article 3 - Representing Youth

Violent youth crime up a third

The number of under-18s convicted or cautioned over violent offences rose from 17,590 to 24,102 - an increase of 37 per cent.

The evidence of rising youth offending comes amid public concern over youth crime following the murder of Garry Newlove, a father of three who was beaten to death as he stood up to a street gang.

Three teenagers were convicted of the crime last week amid revelations that the gang leader and repeat violent offender Adam Swellings, 18 at the time, had been freed on bail only hours before the killing. Helen Newlove, the victim's widow, said: "For too long, young thugs have got away with a slap on the wrist."

The youth crime statistics, uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph within Ministry of Justice reports, relate to offenders aged 10 to 17 who were either convicted in court or issued with a police caution. Total offences climbed steadily from 184,474 in 2003 to 222,750 in 2006, the last year for which figures are available - a rise of 21 per cent. But the increase in violent offending was steeper, while robberies rose even more dramatically, up 43 per cent over the three years. By contrast, adult convictions and cautions increased by less than one per cent.

More than half of young offenders were let off with cautions, whereby they admitted their offence but were spared a court appearance and were not punished.

It can also be disclosed that:

A police officer whose daughter was assaulted by Swellings claims the justice system has "lost sight" of its mission.

Three-quarters of all violent crime suspects are freed on bail while awaiting Crown Court trials.

Convictions of under-18s for carrying knives and other weapons doubled in a decade, from 1,909 in 1997 to 4,181 in 2006.

Police chiefs will launch plans this week to tackle young offenders and stop children turning to crime.

Gordon Brown has signalled a review of bail laws as pressure grows over Swellings and the case of Garry Weddell, a murder suspect also freed on bail who went on to murder again this month before taking his own life.

The Association of Chief Police Officers will publish its youth crime strategy on Thursday with an emphasis on prevention. It will call for truancy officers to be based in police stations, so they can visit the homes of children caught skipping

school and causing trouble. It will endorse the stationing of police officers in schools, where they can "nip in the bud" bad behaviour.

The report, It's Never Too Early, It's Never Too Late, will identify 24 "risk factors" such as family breakdown, underachievement at school and drug-abusing parents, which can lead children to crime. It will set out four steps for tackling youth crime - engaging with young people, supporting child victims and witnesses, helping those who may turn to crime, and responding to offences.

The conviction and caution figures for youth offending provide a precise measure because they include only "solved" crimes. The two "headline" crime rates - offences reported to police, and British Crime Survey findings - cannot distinguish between adult and youth offending because most crimes go unsolved.

Only 24 per cent of suspects awaiting Crown Court trials on charges of violence were held in custody at any stage in the proceedings during 2006, Ministry of Justice figures show.

Ministers released the figures after a parliamentary question by David Laws, the Liberal Democrat children's spokesman, who asked how many crimes were committed by young people. He called the answer "deeply disturbing".

A Home Office spokesman said: "There is no evidence that the number of violent crimes committed by young people is increasing. The rise in cautions and convictions represents better enforcement and an improved criminal justice response to violent crime."

Article 2 - Representing Youth

Toll of teenage drinking revealed

Preventing access to drink is said to be an "ongoing challenge" Teenagers are drinking an average of 44 bottles of wine or 177 pints of beer a year each, a study suggests. Almost 10,000 15-to-16-year-olds in the North West of England were questioned as part of the study into underage drinking and violence. The report, produced by Liverpool John Moores University, found as many as 40% of teenagers in poor areas binge drink. Recent high-profile murders in the region were carried out by teenagers who had been drinking heavily. On Thursday, Brendan Harris, 15, was convicted of murdering 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster in a Lancashire park after drinking two litres of cider, peach schnapps and lager. In February, three teenagers were jailed for life for murdering Garry Newlove, 47, from Warrington, in an act that the judge described as "drunken aggression" carried out for entertainment.  These figures highlight the sheer quantity of alcohol being consumed by under-age drinkers across the North West.  Professor Mark Bellis The latest report into teenage drinking was produced by the university's Centre for Public Health in conjunction with the Home Office and Trading Standards North West. Researchers also estimate that of 190,000 15-to-16-year-olds in England, 57,000 binge by drinking five or more drinks in one session. Just under half of those surveyed drank at least once a week, with 40% of girls and 42% of boys later involved in violence. The report also found that poor children were 45% more likely to be violent after drinking than children in affluent areas.

Article 1 - Representing Youth

Youth gangs triple child murder rate

• More than half of killings are believed to be gang-related.

• Children as young as five are joining gangs.

• Youths are killed for going into the "wrong" postcode area.

• A sixfold increase in the number of gangs in some parts of London since 2000.

The study, by researchers from Channel 4's Dispatches documentary, comes after a week in which police chiefs published a strategy to steer children away from crime - as first revealed in The Sunday Telegraph - and in the wake of the brutal killing of Garry Newlove, who was kicked to death by three teenagers.

The Home Office will this week publish figures for homicides in which both victim and prime suspect were under 18, which is expected to confirm the research.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "These tragic figures demonstrate both the dreadful complacency of the Government and the desperate need for action to be taken on gun crime, knife crime and the causes of this disaster - drugs crime."

Among the 37 killed by other youths last year were Kiyan Prince, 15, a striker for QPR's youth team; Ben Hitchcock, 16, stabbed to death in Beckenham, a leafy London suburb; and Rhys Jones, 11, who was gunned down by a boy in a hood, believed to be 15. The count includes cases where the prime suspect is under 18, if no one has yet been convicted.

Last week the Old Bailey heard how Paul Erhahon, a 14-year-old schoolboy, was stabbed to death outside his home just so that a gang of youths - some as young as 13 - could "earn their spurs".

Four teenagers have already been killed this month, with a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl arrested in connection with the attacks.

In surveys carried out for Dispatches, at least a third of under-18s questioned in London and Glasgow admitted to being gang members or having committed serious violence against other youths. In London, about half said they had suffered serious violence at the hands of other youths, while one in 20 claimed to have been shot.

One Lambeth gang member says in the documentary to be broadcast tomorrow, Why kids kill: "Every area, someone has to have a gun - you can't be in a crew [gang] and not have any sort of weapon.That's the best protection."

The number of gangs in Lambeth is estimated to have risen from five in 2000 to 30 last year, while Brixton has one on every housing estate.

Teenagers said that they faced being killed for nothing more than venturing into the wrong postcode district. They were afraid to accompany their parents to shops or visit leisure centres outside their area.

In a bid to combat the growing problem of gang crime, the Association of Chief Police Officers last week announced plans to give more schools a full-time police presence, identify and help youths likely to become offenders, and create a network across government agencies to track potential young tearaways.

Crime experts and police have warned that many of the several hundred gangs spread across the country have started to recruit members from the age of 10 -called "tinies" or "babies" - to back up the gang leaders. However, youths interviewed by Dispatches claim that children as young as five are throwing petrol bombs.

The Home Office said violent crime as a whole was down 31 per cent since 1997 and homicides were at their lowest level for eight years. "We recognise there is still more to do," said a spokesman.

An action plan to be announced soon by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, would set out "an overall strategy for youth crime reduction, including new youth crime prevention methods, early interventions and family interventions".

Media Clips Representing Youth

2 Media Clips - Representing Youth

How could passive audience effects models be applied to the representation of youth in the media?

The cultural effects model argues that media coverage in particular issues results in most people believing the media’s views being correct. For example, media coverage of unemployment and single parent families, give the impression that they are ‘scrounging’ and claim benefits.  This also affects the elderly with people having the beliefs that they do not claim the benefits that they are rightfully entitled to. The media use something described as the hypodermic syringe theory, which means that the media ‘inject’ ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience.

The media is often full of stories over exaggerating about the youth culture. For example, the media will describe anybody who wears a tracksuits and their hood up are automatically a ‘thug’ and a danger to society and scare the older generation into avoiding them completely. The media gradually gains ideological values, which are transmitted over a long period of time. It has only been in the last few years that people are now associating teenagers who wear ‘hoodies’ are automatically trouble; this has slowly become more and more exaggerated by the media, therefore causing the passive audience to be afraid of this image. The more media being consumed by the audience, the more they begin to believe things, this is called the cultivation theory.

Post Modernism

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