SOCI 2520 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Moral Panic, Parenting Styles, Official Statistics

• School: York University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOCI 2520
• Professor: Fred Diamond

Document Summary

Youth generally refers to a transitional time in life between childhood and (cid:373)aturit(cid:455); o(cid:374)e is (cid:374)o lo(cid:374)ger a (cid:862)(cid:272)hild,(cid:863) (cid:271)ut is (cid:374)ot (cid:455)et a(cid:374) (cid:862)adult. (cid:863) There are significant differences between the perceptions of youth crime and patterns of youth crime: official statistics gathered through the ucrs reveal that both adult and youth crime rates increase between 1962 and 1990. One area where issues of youth and crime are certainly more problematic than issues of adults and crime is that of victimization. Children and youth are far more likely to be the victims of crime than adults are: those aged 18 and under comprise 61% of sexual assault victims and those aged 14-17 years old comprise 17% of robbery victims. The gap between the perceptions and patterns of youth crime come in part from moral panics: the concept of moral panic refers to exaggerated and sensationalized concerns of a particular phenomenon.