Youth crime is on the rise!

Or is it?

A common misconception, derived from moral panics set in motion by the media, is that youth crime rates are on the increase, however, the truth lies in the antithesis of this belief. Schissel (1997) & Anleu (1996) describe how the gulf formed between reality and perception, as discussed previously, results in this belief.
Anleu (1996, p.131) describes the public misconception, stemming from oversimplified media accounts, that youth crime is on the increase. However, an ecological fallacy (an incorrect conclusion based on one part of information which in fact is attributable to a second piece of information), and resulting media panic, is created, over the attention given to the small number of repeat offenders being regaoled, by the media. This is often simply reported as an increase of juvenile crime. [Interestingly, the number of youths coming into contact with established aid panels - an alternative to the covert system -
in the 1980’s stabilised and has since decreased (Ibid.). This is supported, somewhat, by Schissel (1997) who explains that “youth crime has not increased significantly, although the prosecution of youth crime has.”
Schissel (1997) further explains that when youths do break the law, “they victimise other youth who are like them”. That is, similar to the skateboarding incident described earlier in the paper, a moral panic is created and prejudicial and
discriminatory beliefs of the public become a factor in debates on youth crime and safety in the public domain. In other words, the media’s negative portrayal of the non-law abiding skaters creates a moral panic in the public domain so that when a law-abiding skater is seen, irrespective of what that person is doing, an assumed threat, stemming from prejudicial and discriminatory beliefs, is formulated for that particular youth.

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