In today’s culture, youth violence is a problem that needs to be addressed more urgently. The media, policymakers, and criminologists have given youth violence considerable focus because it is a complicated and multifaceted problem. In shaping public views and attitudes toward youth violence, the media is a crucial factor. The goal of this analysis is to critically evaluate a news story on youth violence that the World Health Organization (WHO) released on June 8, 2020. This study will use broader criminological literature on young persons and media representation. The analysis will examine how young people are portrayed in the newspaper story and the possible causes of this representation. Using appropriate criminological theory, this analysis will also examine the basic ideas and principles of media representation, youth, and youth crime. The significance of socioeconomic variables that support and contextualize media representations of juvenile offenders and youth crime will also be examined in this analysis.
The World Health Organization (WHO), on June 8, 2020, published a newspaper article named “Youth Violence” that gives a general overview of youth violence and its effects on youth and society. The youth violence described in the piece, which affects young people between the ages of 10 and 29, is a severe public health concern. It can manifest in various ways, including bullying and cyberbullying, as well as physical, sexual, and mental violence. For young people’s health and well-being, as well as for their families and communities, youth violence can have severe short- and long-term effects (World Health Organization,2020). The article emphasizes that youth violence is a serious public health concern and a leading factor in youth injury, disability, and mortality worldwide. The article also mentions that addressing youth violence requires a multifaceted strategy because it affects public health and criminal justice. The risk factors for adolescent violence are listed in the article and include poverty, unemployment, social exclusion, and exposure to violence. The paper also emphasizes the value of prevention and intervention plans that address underlying risk factors and assist children and adolescents at risk of engaging in violent behavior.
Young people are portrayed in the newspaper story as both violent perpetrators and victims. The article emphasizes that young people are more apt than adults to experience and participate in violence. The article also stresses that youth who are exposed to violence are more likely to participate in violent behavior themselves because violence is a learned behavior. The newspaper article’s portrayal of young people is consistent with the prevalent discourse in the media about youth and juvenile crime. Young people are frequently portrayed in the media as a problem and a threat to civilization. Young people are stigmatized and stereotyped in this portrayal, which can result in discrimination and marginalization.
Information is chosen, framed, and interpreted as part of the complicated process of media portrayal. The public’s views and attitudes toward youth and youth crime are greatly influenced by the media. Stereotypes can be created and reinforced by the media, resulting in prejudice against and isolation of young people (Harris and Jones, 2020). Inaccurate and sensationalized portrayals of youth and juvenile crime are common in the media. A distorted perception of the issue can result from the media’s propensity to highlight extreme adolescent violence. The media also frequently ignores the diversity found among youth groups and portrays young people as a monolithic group.
The public’s perceptions and sentiments toward youth and youth crime are significantly influenced by the media. It is essential to create images and representations of kids that shape how the general public views them. For the broader public, information about youth and youth crime can be found in the media. It can create images of youth that, based on how they are depicted, may be positive or negative. Young people can suffer harm due to inaccurate depictions of youth in the media (Muncie,2021, Pg 300). Young people are frequently portrayed as a problem demographic linked to crime, gang activity, and substance use. Young people may become stigmatized, discriminated against, and marginalized due to being wrongfully held responsible for societal issues out of their control. The media can create good representations of young people in addition to negative ones. The media can highlight young people’s accomplishments and valuable efforts, such as their creativity, tenacity, and activism. Young people can benefit from seeing positive images of adolescents in the media. It can boost their sense of worth and self-worth and motivate them to achieve their goals. There are significant policy and practice repercussions from the media’s impact on public perceptions and attitudes toward juveniles and youth crime. Media coverage of youth and juvenile crime must be accurate, fair, and representative of the diversity and complexity of young people’s lives.
The criminological theory offers a helpful framework for comprehending how youth and juvenile crime are portrayed in the media. In order to understand why individuals commit crimes and how society can stop and deal with criminal behavior, criminology is the study of crime and criminal behavior. The criminological theory provides a lens through which to examine how juvenile crime is portrayed in the media, enabling us to comprehend better the societal, political, and economic forces that influence these representations (Jones,2021). The media’s part in creating social reality is highlighted by social constructionist theory. According to the social constructionist theory, the media chooses, frames, and interprets stories about societal issues like youth crime. According to social constructionist theory, societal beliefs and values about young people, as well as the political and financial interests of media organizations, influence how juvenile crime is portrayed. A more critical viewpoint on how youth and juvenile crime are portrayed in the media is provided by critical criminology. According to critical criminology, societal power dynamics influence how juvenile crime is portrayed in the media. According to critical criminology, the media’s portrayal of youth crime promotes societal injustice and furthers the interests of the wealthy. Social learning theory is one of the essential criminological theories that can be used to explain how young people are portrayed as criminals in the media. According to this idea, people pick up behavior by observing and imitating others, especially those they view as role models. According to social learning theory, young people may pick up criminal behavior from the media representations of juvenile crime that they see. Research that links exposure to violent media with aggressive behavior in kids and teenagers lends credence to this hypothesis.
Youth crime is portrayed differently in the media due to socioeconomic variables. Youth crime in rural areas is frequently ignored by the media, which frequently focuses on juvenile crime in metropolitan areas. Additionally, the media frequently focuses on a juvenile crimes committed by young people from underprivileged backgrounds, which feeds into prejudicial perceptions of young people from disadvantaged areas. The larger socio-economic setting also affects how juvenile crime is portrayed in the media. Youth crime risk factors like poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion are more likely to be introduced to people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The likelihood of young people getting engaged in crime rises as a result of these risk factors. Additionally, political and economic concerns influence how youth crime is portrayed in the media. The media frequently portrays juvenile crime as an issue that must be resolved through harsher punishments, such as more policing and sentencing. This strategy ignores the fundamental socioeconomic causes of youth crime and strengthens the influence of the criminal justice system.
In conclusion, the media has a significant influence on how the general public views youth and teenage crime. Young people’s portrayal in the media has the potential to stigmatize them and perpetuate harmful stereotypes, which can result in discrimination and marginalization. The results of this analysis demonstrate that the portrayal of youth in the World Health Organization (WHO) newspaper story from June 8, 2020, is consistent with the media’s preeminent discourse on youth and youth crime. The criminological theory offers a helpful framework for comprehending how youth and juvenile crime are portrayed in the media. According to the social constructionist theory, the media chooses, frames, and interprets stories about societal issues like youth crime. The media’s portrayal of youth crime is examined from a more critical angle by critical criminology, which contends that it only serves to reinforce societal injustices. Youth crime is portrayed differently in the media due to socioeconomic variables. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are stereotyped negatively because of the media’s emphasis on juvenile crime in metropolitan areas and young people from those communities. Additionally, the media’s focus on punitive measures downplays the fundamental socioeconomic causes of youth crime.
References
Muncie, J., 2021. Youth and crime. Youth and Crime, pp.1-592. https://essaykitchen.net/essay/apa/social-sciences/uk-street-gangs-product-of-myth-and-moral-panic.php
Harris, J.W. and Jones, M.S., 2020. Shaping youths’ perceptions and attitudes toward the police: Differences in direct and vicarious encounters with police. Journal of Criminal Justice, 67, p.101674. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047235220300787
Jones, S., 2021. Criminology. Oxford University Press. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl
World Health Organization (2020). Youth violence. [online] Who. Int. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/youth-violence.
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