Exploring the Social Construction of Childhood and the Rise of Crime

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They ways of learning from social world
Crime and childhood

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................... 2
Body.............................................................................................................................................. 2
Topic 1....................................................................................................................................... 2
Topic 2....................................................................................................................................... 3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................... 5
References..................................................................................................................................... 5
1

Introduction
Sociology includes the structure, development and function of human society and also the study
of social problems arises among human beings. In this essay writing the first part will include the
discussion on how childhood is socially constructed and features on the sociological perspective
on children by highlighting the position of children in the UK. Another part will include the
crime increasing in society day by day and how it's affecting society and value of the people.
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Body
Topic 1
That is seemed by the sociologist that Childhood is socially created and defined by society. The
differences between the ideas of childhood can be seen through culture, time and place. The
western idea of childhood can be compared by the different culture idea on the same. In modern
British society, Jane Pilcher highlighted that childhood occupies a separate status in society from
adults. The childhood is getting affected by crime, smoking and other activities which make a
negative impact on the wellbeing of the children. There are several laws determined by the
government to prevent the children from doing the things which are only adults allow doing.
Today many young children are working in mines and factories to fulfil the financial need of
their family and for that purpose, the government restricted them by determining some labour
laws (Wyness, 2011). Recently the government has announced that until the age of 18 children
will be kept in full-time education. The child protection and legislation welfare act are published
by the government such as the 1989 prevention of cruelty to children act which protects children
if they are found ill-treating and danger (Prout, 2016).
The government of the UK has defined an effective childhood protection system to protect the
children from abuse and neglect in the area of Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales.
The children may get harm by the abusing and for that purpose, each country has a legal
framework of practices and guidance to protect the children of the society. In the UK the local
authority of the country is entitled to support the children until they get 21 years old. There are
some laws defined by the UK government to protect the children from abuse or exploitation and
that states that under the age of 13 can never provide legal consent to involve in sexual activity.
Those children who are under 18, it is illegal to take the indecent photographs and pay for sexual
services of a child.
In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, the age of criminal responsibility are 10 years old it
means a child is capable enough to commit a crime at the age of 10 years. The international child
right is provided by the European convention on human rights and united nation convection on
the right of the child. They both have determined some rights of the children to protect their
childhood (NSPC, 2019)
The human right act 1988 states that the child can complain to UK court if their rights have been
broken and if their claim is rejected by them it is handled by the European court of human rights.
The rights of children include the right to keep safe from cruel and torture treatment, the right to
life, the right to a fair trial, freedom of slavery, the right to an education and the right to respect
for family and personal life (NSPC, 2019).
In 1990 the rights of the child signed by the united nation convection. This includes the rights of
children which help them to grow, survive, participate and fulfil their potential in the world. the
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convection set out some standards on health care, penal laws, education and the rights of children
in decision making which is relevant to them (NSPC, 2019).
The clinical commission group, police and local authority of England are working together with
other agencies. They need to ensure the effectiveness of the welfare of the children and work to
protect their childhood. Safeguarding and promoting the children is done by the protection of
children from mistreatment, prevention of children health and development, ensure that children
are growing with the provision of safe and effective care and also actions are taken by the local
authority to enable the children to have the best outcomes (NSPC, 2019).
Today, the position of the children in the UK is improving and they are more valued and cared,
educated and protected by society and its people. They have more rights than those of the
previous generation. Example today parents are investing more in their children emotionally and
finally and also the government support has great importance because they protected the children
by labour law and other child protection laws (James and Prout, 2015).
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Topic 2
Crime is an unlawful activity if committed by anyone can be charged, arrested and prosecuted.
For example, if a person is talking loudly on the phone in a library it is not representing any
deviant behaviour because it is just doing an act which is socially unacceptable but if he
committed any act like punching someone very badly which may harm a person physically than
it is termed as illegally deviant behaviour (Crawford and Evans, 2017). Crime is highly changing
across time and culture. Crimes bring society together to stop crime. Usually, people commit a
crime to achieve their social goals which cannot be done by legitimated means. For example, if
an employee does not get remuneration from their organization they may have a fight with the
authorized person and this will result in a crime. Feminism forced thinking that the only male is
responsible for committing a crime and that is the question of masculinity with the society
(Akers, 2017)
The biological theory of crime states that some people are physiologically different from non-
criminals and they are born as criminals. The biochemical conditions, neurophysiological
conditions, intelligence and abnormality of an individual may locate the causes of crime. It
means those criminals are abnormal to everyone else. The sociological theory describes that
crime is shaped by social factors such as their experience with the peer group, family and
neighbourhood. Robert Merton’s theory of anomie described that there is no equal opportunity
received by everyone in the society to achieve their goals and that is resulting in the crime. For
example, low wage rate workers don't feel belongings in the organization in comparison with the
middle-class workers. The control theory initiated that people seek to crime because it is
profitable and enjoyable for them. The attachment, commitment, belief and involvement of a
person encourage him to do an unlawful activity (Cunningham, 2014).
The subcultural theory described that people feel a lack of respect from other and that turns them
to commit the crime for example status frustration may raise among low working class boys as
they represent low status in the society. Any person can be labelled as a criminal if he represents
deviant behaviour while interacting with another person like a fight between two young people.
It becomes difficult for a person to find employment if he ever labelled as a criminal in any
activity. Marxism theory of power and control states that the reason of crime is poverty,
inequality and economic status and crime can be reduced through decreasing poverty and
inequality among the people for example if a person is poor and cannot fulfil his hunger needs
then he may go for theft to earn money (Garland, 2012).
The number of crime in the UK is increasing day by day because more and more people started
living there. Crime has a negative impact on the society as they are exposed to the crime through
the social media, news, cinema and television etc. the risk of crime may occur through security
measures, advertisement and use of information technologies (Tompson et al., 2015).
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Violence is a kind of crime in the social phenomenon and this requires a victim or a group of a
victim to consider an action as violence. People in the society share their experience with each
other and it is shared values and experiences of the people which construct the culture of a
country. There are some forces presented in a society which enable a person to create violence.
In a family environment, it can be that violent male is enforcing a natural rule that he will direct
the activities of his wife and children and now this kind of individuals are mentally disturbed
(Stenson and Sullivan, 2012).
Today everyone wants to get success in life and this pressure comes from society and some
people use illegal ways to achieve their goals as Robert Merton’s theory represents. In the age of
modern internet technology, the internet provides access to a large number of users and people
look for a faster way to gain success and they are committing cybercrime through the illegal use
of internet technology. People are distributing illegal advertisement and false information over
the internet and committing fraud. Sexual harassment is also done by internet technology.
Cybercrime can be described as symbolic interactionism and phenomenology in which each step
cannot be inevitable or irreversible. In the UK cyber threats are increasing very fast in the form
of hacking, malicious software, phishing and DDOS (Taylor et al., 2014).
The crime can be reduced or decreased by the making individual aware and responsible as well
as punishable when it is needed. The punishment will discourage the individual to commit a
crime in future. An effective system may also help in reducing crime in society. Reduction in the
capacity of the offenders to re-offend in future may help in reducing crime through cutting their
hands and long term prisons (East and Muxloe 2011).
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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it may be concluded that childhood is affected by the negative
activities of the people and there are a certain set of rules and regulations determined by the
government to prevent the rights of the children and also prevent them from abuse and neglect.
Further, it is also concluded that crime is the result of various social activities and it is the society
which influences a person to commit the crime.
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References
Akers, R., 2017. Social learning and social structure: A general theory of crime and deviance.
Routledge.
Akers, R.L. and Jensen, G.F., 2017. The empirical status of social learning theory of crime and
deviance: The past, present, and future. In Taking stock (pp. 37-76). Routledge.
Crawford, A. and Evans, K., 2017. Crime prevention and community safety (pp. 797-824).
Oxford University Press.
Cunningham, H., 2014. Children and childhood in western society since 1500. Routledge.
East, L.F. and Muxloe, K., 2011. Crime Prevention….
Garland, D., 2012. The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society.
University of Chicago Press.
James, A. and Prout, A., 2015. A new paradigm for the sociology of childhood?: Provenance,
promise and problems. In Constructing and reconstructing childhood (pp. 6-28). Routledge.
NSPC, 2019, a child’s legal rights, online available at https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-
abuse/child-protection-system/legal-definition-child-rights-law/legal-definitions/ last accessed
on 3june2019
Prout, A. ed., 2016. The body, childhood and society. Springer
Stenson, K. and Sullivan, R.R. eds., 2012. Crime, risk and justice. Routledge.
Taylor, R.W., Fritsch, E.J. and Liederbach, J., 2014. Digital crime and digital terrorism. Prentice
Hall Press.
Tompson, L., Johnson, S., Ashby, M., Perkins, C. and Edwards, P., 2015. UK open source crime
data: accuracy and possibilities for research. Cartography and geographic information science,
42(2), pp.97-111.
Wyness, M., 2011. Childhood and society. Macmillan International Higher Education.
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