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JSB372 (Youth Justice) Assessment 1 (Research report) due Friday 27 August, uploaded by 11.59pm. Word count = 1,500 Worth = 50%

1. Read the news article ‘Four teenage boys charged for theft of car at Williams Landing’, available at this link: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/laworder/four-teenage-boys-arrested-after-aggravated-burglary-andtheft-of-car-at-williams-landing/newsstory/28d52f3acfdfed7d0534b0e1cf448d9e 2. Read the online comments posted in response to this article (pages 8-16 below). These comments have been taken from the 7 News public Facebook page. These comments will form the ‘data source’ for this assessment. (While they obviously can’t be taken to represent the views of the entire public, for the purposes of this assessment, assume that they do.) 3. Read Maahs, J. & Pratt, T. (2017) “I hate these little turds!”: Science, entertainment, and the enduring popularity of Scared Straight program. Deviant Behavior 38(1): 4760 [Available electronically from the QUT catalogue]. This article can be used as something of a guide to this assessment.

4. Read Cunneen C, White R & Richards K 2015. Juvenile justice: Youth and crime in Australia, Fifth edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press (Chapter 2: Theories of juvenile offending, pp. 24-51) [Available as an ebook from the QUT library. Chapter 2 of any previous edition of this book would also suffice.] 5. Attend and/or listen to the recording of the week 1- week 4 workshops, which will cover, in part, theories of youth offending, implicit theories, and representations of children and young people, as well as provide an opportunity to have questions about this assessment answered. 6. Participate and/or listen to the recording of the online tutorial to help with this assessment on Thursday 12 August @ 6.30pm

Background While it has been well-documented that the public is concerned about youth offending (Maruna & King 2008; Pickett & Chiricos 2012; Piquero & Steinberg 2010), much research shows that the public favour preventative and rehabilitative measures for young people, and that they are more likely to support such measures for young offenders than for adults (see eg Piquero & Steinberg 2010; Piquero et al. 2010; Miller & Applegate 2015; see Gelb 2011a, Page 1 of 18

2011b on the Australian context). Such beliefs about what should be done about youth offending stem from beliefs about the causes of youth offending. As Vold (cited in Maruna and King 2009: 7) argues, ‘there is an obvious and logical interdependence between what is done about crime and what is assumed to be the reason for or explanation of criminality’.

With this as context, answer the following: 1. In the comments, how do members of the public implicitly theorise* youth offending? (In other words, what are the main academic theories of youth offending that are reflected in comments made by members of the public?) 2. How do these implicit theorisations accord with the literature on public opinion about youth offending? (In other words, how do the ways in which the public explain youth offending reflect or challenge what the academic literature shows about public opinion about youth crime generally)?

*I will cover the concept of ‘implicit theories’ in detail in the workshops. You can get a head start on this concept by taking a look at some of the readings listed below.

Key readings to support your answer (available online via the QUT Library catalogue)*: *You by no means need to use all of these. This is just a guide to get you started.

On theorising youth offending 

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Cunneen C, White R & Richards K 2015. Juvenile justice: Youth and crime in Australia, Fifth edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press (Chapter 2: Theories of juvenile offending, pp. 24-51) [Available as an ebook from the QUT library] White, R., Haines, F. & Asquith, N. (2015) Crime & criminology, Fifth edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press

On implicit theories 

Furnham, A. and Henderson, M. 1983. Lay theories of delinquency. European Journal of Social Psychology, 13, 107-120.

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Ó Ciardha, C. and Gannon, T. 2012. The implicit theories of firesetters: A preliminary conceptualization. Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 17, 122-128.

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Pfeffer, K., Bankole, C. and Dada, K. 1997. British and Nigerian adolescents’ lay theories of youth crime. Psychology, Crime and Law, 3 (1), 21-35.

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Hardiker, P. and Webb, D. 1979. Explaining deviant behaviour: The social context of ‘action’ and ‘infraction’ accounts in the probation service. Sociology, 13 (1), 1-17.

On public opinion about youth offending and responses to it 

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Gelb, K. (2011a) ‘Alternatives to imprisonment: Community views in Victoria’, Melbourne: Sentencing advisory council, https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/201908/Alternatives_to_Imprisonment_Community_Views_in_Victoria.pdf Gelb, K. (2011b) ‘Purposes of sentencing: Community views in Victoria’, Melbourne: Sentencing advisory council’’, https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/201908/Purposes_of_Sentencing_Community_Views_in_Victoria.pdf Maruna, S. and King, A. 2009. Once a criminal, always a criminal?: ‘Redeemability’ and the psychology of punitive public attitudes. European Journal of Criminal Policy and Research, 15, 7-24. Maruna, S. and King, A. (2008) ‘Giving up on the young’, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 20(1): 129–34. Miller, R. and Applegate, B. (2015) ‘Adult crime, adult time? Benchmarking public views on punishing serious juvenile felons’, Criminal Justice Review, 40(2): 151–68. Pickett, J. and Chiricos, T. (2012) ‘Controlling other people’s children: Racialised views of delinquency and whites’ punitive attitudes toward juvenile offenders’, Criminology, 50(3): 673–710. Piquero, A. and Steinberg, L. (2010) ‘Public preferences for rehabilitation versus incarceration of juvenile offenders’, Journal of Criminal Justice, 38: 1–6. Piquero, A. et al. (2010) ‘Never too late: Public optimism about juvenile rehabilitation’, Punishment and Society, 12(2): 187–207.

Guidelines for this assessment 

You will need to make an argument to answer the two questions. You can answer them in combination or separately – whatever works for you. For example, your argument might be that: ‘comments posted by members of the public implicitly theorise youth offending as resulting from low socioeconomic status (ie strain theory) or from biological factors (ie biological positivism). These implicit theories reflect the academic literature, which shows that in the main, the public holds more lenient views towards young offenders than adult offenders, and believe that the cause of crime is outside the control of individual young people’. Or: ‘comments made by the public predominantly implicitly theorise youth offending in terms of classical theory. They theorise that young people commit crimes based on individual choice, and that young people make rational calculations about committing crimes in the same way as adults. This challenges much of the extant literature, because it suggests that the public believe young offenders and adult offenders are the same and should be treated the same’.

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Use quotations from the online comments to support your argument throughout your report. Eg ‘an example of this is one comment that “XXXXXXX”’. There is no need to pinpoint when specifically quotes appear in the comments document. Don’t worry about posters’ poor spelling and grammar. Just quote them exactly. Otherwise you might accidentally change their meaning. Please do not use people’s names. Instead you can say ‘one individual’, ‘one member of the public’, ‘one woman’, ‘most people’, ‘many commenters’, ‘most posters’ etc. You MUST incorporate academic references into your response. See guidelines on referencing below.

Formatting: 

You do NOT need to include a title page, graphics etc but it OK to if you like.

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Please include page numbers on your assessment to help us give targeted feedback.

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Subheadings are fine to use if you find them helpful. However they are not mandatory.

Word count: 

The word count for this assessment is 1,500 words +/- 10% (ie your assessment MUST be between 1,350 and 1,650 words). Marks will be deducted for reports shorter than the minimum. Markers will not read past the maximum.

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Your References List does NOT count towards the total word count

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Quotes and in-text references do count towards the word count.

Sources and referencing:

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The referencing style for justice units is APA: https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/qutcite.jsp#apa (Note to law students: No footnoting please!)

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Do NOT reference lectures or the ‘Unit Information Booklet and Study Guide’. You should, however, follow up references used in the lectures and read and reference those yourself.

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Students MUST reference the Maahs and Pratt (2017) article listed above, and at least nine other sources (ie students must have at least 10 references in total). It Page 4 of 18

would not be possible to adequately answer the questions with fewer references than this. 

There’s no need to reference the source of the online comments or the original newspaper article. These are sources of data rather than academic sources.

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There is no magic number of required references beyond this. The type of references used and the way in which they are used are more important than the number used.

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Use primarily ACADEMIC sources (eg readings listed in the Unit Information and Study Guide, key readings listed in this document, other journal articles and books you have searched for using library databases) rather than media or internet sources. Avoid Wikipedia etc.

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The important thing with referencing is to make sure that:

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you have included all the sources you have cited in your References List

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everything in your References List has been cited in your report

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your References List is in alphabetical order

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if the marker wanted to follow up an interesting source, they would have enough information to do so

These are far more important than getting commas in the right place!

Writing and style 

You may use first person or third person for this assessment. Eg ‘I will argue that XXXXX’ or ‘This report will demonstrate that XXXXX’. Whichever you are comfortable with is fine.

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You do need a brief introduction and conclusion for this assessment.

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Your introduction should briefly (ie 5 sentences at the most) introduce your report and state your argument.

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Your conclusion should very succinctly (2-3 sentences) restate your main argument and comment on the significance of this. Eg ‘This report has argued that the public principally adheres to the neo-classical theory of youth offending. Future research on this topic could build on this by doing bla bla”.

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Acronyms are fine and will help keep the word count down. For example, you might abbreviate ‘criminal justice system’ to ‘CJS’ or ‘Social Control Theory’ to ‘SCT’. Just make sure you spell it out in full the first time.

Submitting your assessment  

You MUST submit your report via the ‘Turnitin’ link under the ‘Assessments’ tab in Blackboard ONLY. If for some reason the link fails, simply email your assessment to the Unit Coordinator ([email protected]) and/or the School: [email protected]. If we receive your email before the due date and time, we will mark it as per usual.

*Late assessments without extensions will be given a mark of 0 in line with QUT’s Late Assessment Policy. Please apply for extensions via the online form well in advance of the due date. The Unit Coordinator does NOT have the authority to grant extensions, so please do not ask me about this. Go straight to the online form.

Suggested structures: You may structure your report in whatever way makes sense to you and helps you address the questions most effectively. You might consider one of these suggestions:

Suggested structure 1:    

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Brief introduction (outline focus of report; state your argument) Brief overview of academic literature on public opinion about youth offending Brief outline of what is meant by ‘implicit theories’ Main body: - discuss the implicit theory/ies that the public use in the comments. You may not need references in this section as this is your own analysis - discuss whether/how your analysis accords with the academic literature you overviewed in paragraph 2 Brief conclusion

Suggested structure 2:   

Brief introduction (outline focus of report; state your argument) Brief outline of what is meant by ‘implicit theories’ discuss the implicit theory/ies that the public use in the comments. You may not need references in this section as this is your own analysis Page 6 of 18

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Brief overview of academic literature on public opinion about youth offending, including discussion of whether/how your analysis accords with the academic literature Brief conclusion

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Specific assessment criteria Standard 7

Standard 6

Standard 5

Standard 4/3

Standard 2/1

Addressed questions clearly, in a concise and focused manner. Writing was concise, without extraneous information.

Addressed questions clearly with a minor lack of focus. Writing was mainly concise, without extraneous information.

Addressed questions but with a moderate lack of focus/writing could be more concise.

Some of the work addressed the questions but there is a significant lack of focus.

Fails to address the questions.

Content (15 marks)

Detailed and authoritative knowledge of topic with no inaccuracies. Demonstrates a nuanced understanding of theories of youth offending and public opinion about youth offending.

Detailed and authoritative knowledge of topic with only minor omission or inaccuracies. Demonstrates a sound understanding of theories of youth offending and public opinion about youth offending.

Sound knowledge of topics with some omissions or inaccuracies. Demonstrates some understanding of theories of youth offending and public opinion about youth offending.

Demonstrates knowledge of topics but there are significant gaps and inaccuracies.

Limited knowledge of topics demonstrated or profound misunderstanding of content area.

Critical thinking (10 marks)

Outstanding critical thinking on topics. Presented a coherent and sophisticated argument demonstrating deep engagement with the topic.

Excellent critical thinking on topics. Presented a coherent argument and demonstrated sound understanding of the topic.

Sound critical thinking on topics. Made a coherent argument but lacks nuance or sophistication.

Only some critical thinking on topic/argument not apparent or unclear.

Lacks critical thinking on topics/lacks argumentation.

Use of academic material (10 marks)

Used numerous relevant and appropriate sources in a sophisticated way. Used 10+ relevant academic sources, including some of the listed key readings.

Used many relevant and appropriate sources and demonstrated a solid understanding of these. Used 10+ relevant academic sources, including some of the listed key readings.

Used some relevant and appropriate sources and demonstrated an emerging understanding of these.

Used minimal relevant and appropriate sources and/or did not demonstrate an understanding of sources.

Did not use enough relevant and appropriate sources and/or was unable to demonstrate an understanding of sources used.

Clarity of expression (5 marks)

Very fluent writing style, and grammar and spelling accurate throughout.

Language mainly fluent, grammar and spelling accurate throughout.

Language mainly fluent, grammar and spelling mainly accurate.

Meaning apparent, but language is not always fluent, grammar and/or spelling contain errors.

Meaning unclear and/or grammar and/or spelling contain frequent errors.

Referencing (5 marks)

Consistently accurate.

Sound attempt but some problems (eg not all sources cited).

Some attempt at referencing but major problems. Sources would not be able to be located by the reader.

Referencing is absent.

Attention to purpose (5 marks)

Mainly accurate, with only minor errors.

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7NEWS Melbourne · Follow July 11, 2016 · 7 News | Teens arrested Four teenagers have been arrested in Carlton after a police pursuit overnight. www.7news.com.au #7News

Comments Minhha Nguyen They got caught by police but once they go to the court, they just got slap in a hand then free on street again to cause more troubles, our criminal justice system sucks Poleina Phil You don't know that though do you ? some of them are serving 6 months to 1 year in a juvenile centre so please educate your close minded generalising self. Warren Lawns These punks will enter the wrong house one day and find a mad man ready to deal with them

Bev Thomson Totally agree one day hope sooner than later

Diane Lee Unfortunately the mad man will end up doing time for protecting what is his, not the little weasels that break in and put fearing into us.

Eman Ali Hope so. Its getting annoying. Ricky Kharor Melbourne crime is getting out of control Joe Ibrahim These four should be made an example off by giving them the harshest penalty available (dogs or should I say wanna be gangsters)

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Ahmed Arabi Theyre too young. These little turds know that nothing will happen to them due to their age.

Garry Jacobs And they were all b--------- m-------------, I'm offended by their lack of gratitude to this country but not suprised

Kim Thoa Bui Sorry strip them down their citizenship if they have any kick them back where they come from none of these cowardly act should be existing in Australia. Waste of taxpayer money.

Arek Duang Guess what they are not going anywhere, die slowly

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Poleina Phil They're not going anywhere and neither are their families You unhappy ? Leave ? This isn't your mother country either so please take several seats ! Kim Thoa Bui This is not racial,this is for all race.Asian/black/white wherever People come from.Australia open arm to us therefore this isn't what We should do to repay. I shouldn't be the one leaving I didn't do anything wrong. I work I pay tax (I have two job) … Akima Achol Kuol U and ur stupid small eyes need to to have some sit. I'm not from Australia nor do I know what's going on there but ur comment made me comment so I could tell u how stupid u look. Star Squad Well the judges need to harden up on this fashion .... and the cops need to work more..certainly the communities need to get together on this crap... Hanan Tee What idiots Fatima Badra Amnah Jawad I need to buy myself a bat lol so scary, so close to you Amnah

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Amnah Jawad This...