Juvenile Crime and the Role of Education

In “Juvenile Crime”, Albert S. Beckham seeks to analyze the factors that contribute to adolescent criminality. His discussion includes immaturity, group dynamics, sexuality, level and type of intelligence, success in school, gender, race, living conditions, and individual constitution of character. His analysis of the impact of the school environment is particularly insightful, and still relevant to understanding juvenile delinquency. He says, “Through the whole period of growth, during the whole course of his immaturity, he is held to be plastic, capable of infinite modifications... ‘The school as well as home...needs to undertake a more specialized type of training to prevent the delinquency and at the same time to eradicate the anti-social reactions that have been formed.’” Beckham seems to adhere to the “youth-as-dependents” and “youth-as-objects-of-saving-and-study” perspectives. He clearly endorses a Parens Patriae approach, insisting that the school must take on a particularly involved role to ensure the well-being of the child (especially when he or she exhibits social and/or behavioral problems). While his perspective is certainly an adult-centered on, Beckham recognizes that individual variation necessitates specialized attention and treatment, and that expecting all types of young people to thrive under the same kind of instruction is unrealistic. “The public school system concentrates on educational service for normal children...The problem child is lost in this mass instruction.”

The ability to succeed in an educational environment is of extreme value to any young person, and is especially critical in determining future potential. As was established by the Supreme Courts in Goss v. Lopez, students have a direct property interest in being able to attend school, in part because it bears so significantly on which opportunities will or will not be available to them during the course of their adult life. Considering Beckham’s perspective, this property interest is not only in being able to attend, but in at least having the opportunity to succeed. It would not be realistically possible to ensure that every young person graduate with a high school diploma or a stellar GPA (you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink), but Beckham is correct in his assertion that a standardized system of education disadvantages any child that isn’t “normal,” or that displays an aptitude for things outside the realm of traditional education, like mechanics and professions commonly taught in trade schools. While a more individualized approach to education and school discipline would not remedy juvenile delinquency entirely (as Beckham clearly states, it is a multifaceted issue), it could certainly minimize one part of the problem. 

Violent Video Games: Corrupting our Children?

Brad Bushman depicts media violence as one of the possible risk factors for violence among youth. When people are exposed to violent media, they become less impacted by it, to the point that it becomes normalized and increases violent behavior. Bushman argues that youth who are socially rejected due to aggressive behavior oftentimes find recluse in violent video games, which in turn can increase aggression, creating a “downward spiral” for the individual who is shunned by their peers.  Bushman’s depictions of youth demonstrate the adult centered perspective that invalidates the agency that youth have and views them as “youth as dependents”, who are also a danger to society.

            The notion that youth should be restrained from playing violent video games is reminiscent of “youth-as-dependents” due to the underlying assumption that youth are unable to make the right decisions for themselves.  According to this study, an adult, especially the parents, must be in charge of limiting the violence that youth are exposed too.  If they are unable to identify the violent media, Bushman and his colleagues suggest that there be better training for parents and a clearer rating system, like when the US surgeon general issued a warning on tobacco in 1964. The responsibility of the parent and the surgeon general is reminiscent of Parens Patriae, in which the nation holds the right to care for the child if the parent is unable to fulfill their parental duties. In this case, if the parents are unable to distinguish between the appropriate content for the children and the violent video games, then it is suggested that the government put in labels to help the parents make the right choice for their kids. The parental role of the government is continued in the recent tax reform bill, proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee, which ban violent video game makers from receiving their R&D Tax Credit. The fact that it is only violent video game makers and not other types of violent media demonstrates that this move is strictly based on the idea that violent video games corrupt youth. Since parental guidance has not kept violent video games away from under-aged youth, the tax reform bill would punish these companies to deter them from producing violent video games.

            There are also indications of youth as dangerous within Bushman’s study. Bushman mentions the violent shooting sprees that have been plaguing the media, specifically, the Columbine shootings in which the shooters mentioned that their actions would soon become well-known films. The notion that youth are shooting people to reach some sort of recognition by society implies that youth lack the ability to rationalize their thoughts and are instead led by their emotions.  The warning that aggressive youth who are rejected from society tend to gather with other aggressive youth, making them more aggressive, and therefore more dangerous clearly shows the persistent adult-centered fear of the super-predators that threaten society’s order. The efforts to restrict media violence, specifically video games, among youth demonstrates the continued belief that youth must be taken care of so that they do not lose their morality.

Bushman, Brad J., Margaret Hall, and Robert Randal. Youth Violence What We Need to Know: Media Violence and Youth Violence. National Science Foundation, 2013. Print.

Peckham, Matt. "Inane Tax Reform Bill Provision Would Sting Makers of “Violent Video Games”." Time. 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.