Reflection # 3

During Dr. Karen Foster's lecture in class, she spoke at length about the concept of risk. Analyze the category of "at risk" youth using Foster's discussion as an entry point. 

In Dr. Karen Foster’s in class lecture, she shared many experiences with us about “at risk” youth. She told us stories about several youth and how different individual’s experiences lead them down certain paths in life. Dr. Foster told us that it’s not all about the statistics, charts and tables but rather, about the personal experiences, and choices, which cause “at risk” youth to become criminally deviant. She said that it is difficult to predict whether or not an “at risk” youth will become involved in be criminal behavior.  Many young people will develop resiliency and grow up to be successful, educated adults, but we associate people in this category as destined to become criminal. We are setting them up for failure.

What categorizes one as being “at risk”?

Some important factors that place a child at risk are chronic poverty, living in a single parents situation, poor grades, negative peer influences, and drug use by the youth or the caregiver. However as Dr. Foster told us, not all youth who fall into these categories are “at risk” for criminal behavior.  According to Dr. Grayson Randell in “At Risk Youth and Resilience Factors”, the factors that put youth at the greatest risk of becoming criminally active are those who use hard drugs, teenage mothers, those who have dropped out of school and those who have been in prison.

Hard drugs can be detrimental in several different ways. It is illegal to both use and/or sell any types of hard drugs. If you are a drug user you are associating with criminals who sell or use the drugs as well. When you are high on hard drugs you are more likely to make poor decisions. You can become addicted and dependent on the drugs and the need for drugs may lead you to theft and eventually negatively alter your everyday lifestyle. Addicts can become irritable and will sometimes do anything (become criminally active) to get their next fix.

Teenage mothers can be at great risk for many reasons. They may have lower education, resulting in lower paying jobs. Not having enough money to support themselves, let alone a child can cause any one to be desperate. When people act out of desperation they tend to justify the crimes they commit. A mother might turn to prostitution, stealing or performing any other crime in order to provide food for  her child and to pay the bills. 

Dropping out of school can be a trigger for criminal activity. Very similar to the teenage mothers, dropping out of school results in lower education which in turn can result in a lower paying job. Again this could result in criminal behavior due to a lack of money to pay for the necessities for survival. An out of school youth might also get caught up with the wrong crowd. Gangs often recruit young, male, idle adolescents. This could result in a wide variety of different crimes, from using or dealing drugs to violent crimes like assaults and murders.

Those who have previously been in prison are considered “high risk” because of several different factors. Prisons can be looked at as “crime-colleges” where young inexperienced petty criminals go in and come out as an experienced, more knowledgeable criminal. In prison, a youth may meet and become friends with criminals who they later associate with on the “outside”. Youth’s previously jailed may also have trouble obtaining a good job because of their past criminal records and this can impact the person for the rest of their life. When people cannot get a good job, they may turn to what they already know, which could be crimes such as dealing and or theft.

But although these risk factors are concerning, it is impossible to predict whether or not an individual will ever engage in “high risk” criminal activity. Of course,  their chances increase with the more factors they are living through.

How can we help prevent youth from becoming criminals?

Why are some youth resilient to becoming criminals and some cannot? Dr Grayson uses five main factors.  The first is family. Just having the presence of a caring adult can help reduce one’s chances of becoming a criminal. Other components within the family unit such as having cohesion and a peaceful, low stress environment help reduce chances as well. The second factor he looks at is personality. Youth with higher self-confidence, self-esteem and independence are at a greater advantage of resiliency. Having a sense of hope and having better social skills are also important factors in avoiding the crime. Those with poor social skills may be considered outsiders and are often bullied for being different. The impact of constant bullying or depression can cause one to harm themselves and or others. The third factor is genetics.  We inherit over one half of our personality characteristics from our parents. Those with mentally healthier and happier parents will be at a higher chance of resilience. On the other hand, if your parent is mentally ill and if you have inherited the same genetics, you could be higher risk to commit crime. The fourth factor Grayson looks at is friends/mentors. Those with positive friends and role models could be more likely to be involved in positive activities. If your friends and or role models do drugs, likely you will succumb to peer pressure or do drugs to try to fit in. The last factor that is looked at is community. Communities with positive, after school programs, safe enjoyable activities and with strong religious ties can all help reduce the chances of participation in criminal activity. The more outlets and opportunities there are in a community too keep the youth off the street and involved in safe activities the better. When youth are left up to there own devices, the more time they have to hang out, unsupervised and the more opportunity there is for criminal and deviant behavior to take place.

           

Reference:

Grayson, R. At Risk Youth and Resilience Factors. Retrieved from www.visionrealization.com/...Devel/At-risk_youth_presentation.pdf