Vulnerability of Young People to Crime

Crime is one aspect of the society that affects the young people more than any other demography. The young people are the most vulnerable to crime and the governments across the world realize this. Several factors contribute to the young people being vulnerable to crime and antisocial behaviors. Some factors include the low self-image and self-esteem in the young people. Further, the young people who do not have a proper family also become vulnerable to crime. Some young people flee home due to the disturbances and fall prey to the criminals. Apart from being victims to crime, young people also become vulnerable to committing crimes. This in turn also makes them vulnerable to crime especially from those in the law enforcement authorities.

Running head: VULNERABILITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO CRIME
VULNERABILITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO CRIME
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VULNERABILITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO CRIME
Introduction
Crime is one aspect of the society that affects the young people more than any other
demography. The young people are the most vulnerable to crime and the governments across the
world realize this. Several factors contribute to the young people being vulnerable to crime and
antisocial behaviors. Some factors include the low self-image and self-esteem in the young
people. Further, the young people who do not have a proper family also become vulnerable to
crime. Some young people flee home due to the disturbances and fall prey to the criminals. Apart
from being victims to crime, young people also become vulnerable to committing crimes. This in
turn also makes them vulnerable to crime especially from those in the law enforcement
authorities.
The present essay discusses the main challenges that the young people face as victims
within the criminal justice system and beyond it. At first, the essay will provide discussion on the
vulnerability of young people to crime in Australia and the world. Then, the essay will try to
explain the reasons for the vulnerability of the young people to crime. Further, the essay will
highlight the key challenges that the young people face as victims.
Discussion
The statistics on young people in detention in Australia is quite scary as the numbers
continue to rise. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, between 2014 and
2018, 980 young people were in detention out of which, 90 percent were male and 54 percent
belonged to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community (Aihw.gov.au, 2019). These
figures reveal that the condition of the young people especially boys in Australia related to
vulnerability to crime is serious and in need for immediate intervention. It is important to

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understand that young people from certain sections and communities are more vulnerable to
crime and its influence than the ones in a privileged position. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people are more in danger of crime being committed to them or them taking the path of
crime than are the non-Indigenous people. The disproportionately increased level of Indigenous
juvenile crime especially amongst those aged between 10 and 17 years and 18 and 24 years poses
a major challenge for the Australian government (Aihw.gov.au, 2019). The Council of Australian
Government’s Closing the Gap initiative has been started to stop the increase in Indigenous
youth crime. However, the tragedy is that the rate of Indigenous young people are most likely to
be imprisoned today than at any other moment post the Royal Commission into Aboriginal
Deaths 1991 (Aph.gov.au, 2019). According to Muir et al., (2019), only a minority of young
people become victims of crime although this also influences their health and wellbeing
negatively. The author claims that mostly men, Aboriginal young people and young people with
disability are the most vulnerable to crime. These young people are mostly affected by crimes
especially those that are violent. In contrast to this, Powell and Henry (2014) find that young
women are most likely to be victims of crime especially sexual abuse in both online and offline
platforms. The authors provide evidence of non-consensual ‘sexting’ where the violence is
perpetrated mostly on young women.
Macourt (2014) observes that young people irrespective of any community to which they
belong are the most vulnerable to crime because their voices go unheard. The author states that
the governments must realize that it is important to listen to the voices of the children because
ignoring their voices would further make them vulnerable to crime. Several reasons are there that
make the young people vulnerable to crime. One of the prime reasons for young people being
vulnerable to crime is there young age and the level of maturity they have. Dowse et al. (2014)

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however state that the young people are not mostly aware of the influence people could have
over them at this age. They become easy targets for the adult, serious offenders. Another reason
for the young people to turn into offenders is the negligence at home by their parents. Often, the
parents tend to ignore or neglect the children who then resort to crime. Furthermore, drug addict
parents, abusive parents also cause the young people to become vulnerable to crime. Once they
enter the criminal world, they are made to face the criminal justice system that often alleviates
their criminal behavior. The next section shall discuss the challenges that young people face
within and beyond the criminal justice system.
Within the criminal justice system, the young people as victims are made to go to the
courts, visit prisons and asked questions that sometimes could be uncomfortable for them. Many
young people have expressed that they feel intimated by the court, the police, the judges, social
workers and court officers. They stated that they mostly look down when they visit the court
(Humanrights.gov.au, 2019). Further, the children stated that they did not have any clue as to
what they would be asked or what they are expected to do. When asked about going to courts to
young girls, they also shared similar fears although the worst part for them was the shame they
associated to going to courts. According to some girls, they felt ashamed at the way people stared
at them in the court. Papatraianou, Levine and West (2014) however, claim that there are many
more challenges are there that the young people face as victims within the criminal justice
system. Sometimes, those young people who have not committed any crime are put in detention
centers for welfare purposes. This mixing of criminal ad non-criminal children in the detention
centers leads to negative exposure. Young people are also at risk of being exposed to the
influences of crime. As Wikström, Mann and Hardie (2018) hold, young people’s exposure to
criminogenic places and situations causes them to jump into the field of crime at a very small

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age. Furthermore, young people do not develop the capacity to bear the influences of crime such
as depression, trauma and anxiety and this causes them to incur severe mental illness.
The young people face challenges outside the criminal justice system as well that include
their overall health, shelter, positive personal relationships, and economic security. When the
young people are made victims of any crime, they have to go through a long legal process. This
puts stress on their mental health as they have to go repeatedly through trials and procedures,
face the offender and watch people stare at them, ask them uncomfortable questions. When such
a thing happens, the young people find it difficult to cope with it and go into depression or suffer
from anxiety. Apart from the legal process, the trauma of the crime committed against them also
takes a toll on their health. Kinner et al. (2014) conducted a study on the children who have faced
sexual abuse in childhood and found that it largely affects the mental health of the children. The
study found that those who had faced childhood sexual abuse were more likely to experience
pain and overall general and mental health. Moore et al. (2014) on the other hand, found that the
children experiencing peer aggression at a young age of 14 years were more likely to go through
depression and other internalizing symptoms. The study also found that those facing criminal
offences against them at the age of 14 and 17 have more chances of developing mental health
issue and substance use problems. It is also noted that young people with disabilities are the most
vulnerable sections in the Australian society towards crime. The disabled youth faces increased
risk of crime. Within the youth justice, the young people with disability face abuse of both
physical and sexual forms. This not only risks their physical health but also their mental health.
Furthermore, as the statistics demonstrate, there are more Indigenous young people in the
juvenile justice system than there are non-Indigenous youngsters (Agd.sa.gov.au, 2019). The

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Indigenous children further face the risk of being harassed and exploited physically and sexually
due to their position in the society.
The problems that the juveniles face in the society include constant victim blaming by the
society. The victim blaming is especially directed towards the female victim. In a study, it has
been found that majority of Australians involve in victim blaming when they are told about
young girls and women’s experience of aggressive and disrespectful behavior from male peers.
This causes distress among the young victims who find it difficult to come back to normal life.
They face the challenge of transitioning into a normal life after being victimized. Miller and
Hefner (2015) state that the most glaring challenge the young people face within the criminal
justice system is whether the offenders should be given procedural justice or restorative justice
(RJ). While procedural justice refers to fairness in the process of dispute resolution wherein the
offender is given due punishment as per the justice system, RJ refers to the system where the
offenders are given opportunity to rehabilitate. The authors find that RJ helps in correcting the
harms that the formal criminal justice system has created and hence, satisfies and even improves
the procedural justice for both the offenders and the victims. Suzuki and Wood (2017) on the
other hand, find that most victims do not find RJ as beneficial or meaningful as it does not lead
to fair punishment of the offenders. The dilemma that the young people face as victims is that
their offenders might also be young and to punish them without giving them the opportunity to
improve would not be fair as well. The young victims face the challenge of whether to agree to
the rehabilitation of the offenders or to go against it. Apart from the challenges faced within the
criminal justice system, young victims especially those in the lower strata of society face
everyday challenge of living. In the views of Coles et al. (2015), the young offenders with
mental health issues involved with the criminal justice system, often face the challenge of

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homelessness. The authors state that homelessness is common amongst those who face trials,
accusations of crime and offence and often go in and out of prison. This poses a challenge for
them because this increases the risk of committing a crime again. Hence, it is evident that the
young people are the most vulnerable to crime and the influence of it.
Conclusion
To conclude, it could be stated the challenges for the young people as victims are diverse
and complex. The reason is that within the criminal justice system, the young people constitute
not only the victims but also the offenders. In this essay, the Australian criminal justice system
from the perspective of young people as offenders and as victims was analyzed. The analysis
found that young people are most vulnerable to crime and its influence. The young people as
offenders go through several challenges as has been found in the essay. Furthermore, the essay
also found that the young people commit crimes due to several reasons but the challenges they
face in the legal process is more severe. They have shared their experiences as feeling
intimidated and ashamed while going to court and facing the offenders. Further, they also face
the challenge of going into the society where the trend of victim blaming is high. The essay also
talked about the issues with restorative justice (RJ) and procedural justice and the problems these
pose to the young offenders and victims. It was found that while restorative justice provides
opportunities for young offenders to rectify their mistakes, it also causes problems for the young
victims who often do not like to participate in the RJ system.

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Agd.sa.gov.au 2019. Vulnerable young people with complex support needs and the criminal
justice system. [online] Agd.sa.gov.au. Available at:
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Aihw.gov.au (2019). Youth justice Reports - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. [online]
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May 2019].
Aph.gov.au (2019). Chapter 2 Indigenous youth and the criminal justice system: an overview –
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