''Why are youth in Britain engaged in crime and violence?'' The answer lies in various sociological factors the root of which is the family
Last week we saw the recent shooting of a 15-year-old schoolboy in his home by two men. The shooting took place just a street away from where 10-year-old Damilola Taylor was stabbed to death in 2000. Neighbours said the father was attacked in his home on the weekend. But police said it was an "accident" and not connected to the shooting.
On Saturday night, a man of 21 was stabbed to death in the next street, a 40-year-old man was shot dead and another injured a mile away and James Smartt-Ford, 16, was shot dead at a Streatham ice rink.
We have heard and read about so many such cases over the last few years that we have become immune to them, unless the politicians get involved and the incidents are given the same coverage as the arrests of Muslims under anti-terror legislation.
A question is being asked by the media, politicians and society and that is, âWhy are British teenagers shooting each other and inflicting violence upon innocent people?"
In my opinion the point is being missed and it is wrong and unfair to make the colour of the perpetrators the main issue and focus for discussion. I recently saw a discussion on Hard talk and on News night which featured members of the AfroâCaribbean community and the discussion gave the impression that this problem exists only in the black community.
The problem of youth delinquency and violence exists within the white, Asian, Chinese, Turkish and every single community which resides in this country. The examples are too numerous to list, but a cursory glance of any newspaper from those communities will have scores of stories about their youth who have gone astray from the values of their parents generation.
So why then are youth in Britain engaged in crime and violence?
The answer lies in various sociological factors the root of which is the family. Many families nowadays are headed by a single mother, especially in the council estates and the children to do not have a father as head of the household to look up to. In fact many feel resentment towards their father, assuming of course they know who their father is and are in contact with him.
And many from an early age embark on the same type of irresponsible behaviour as their father by having children and not taking the responsibility that comes with it. Britain is ahead of Europe in terms of teenage pregnancies and single parent families.
So it becomes very natural for such youths to join a gang and feel a sense of belonging, camaraderie and family which they have been denied from an early age, and which we all as human beings need.
Also with globalisation there has been the closing of industries and many jobs re-located to third world and East European countries, which has led to high unemployment among the youth. Many hang around street corners with nothing to do.
The western popular culture is seen as the ideal to follow in the west and especially in developing countries whose middle classes cannot get enough of the films and music made in the west.
Most of those films contain scenes of gratuitous violence and irresponsible activities like sleeping around regardless of the consequences to oneself and society as a whole. Itâs all about living life to the max in pursuit of hedonistic material pleasures and dealing with the consequences later.
The Government feeling the pinch in terms of financial loss due to days off from work, burden on the NHS has chosen to use powerful TV ads to scare the youth into being responsible. So recent ads show the harm of drinking excessively especially driving, types of sexual diseases one can catch and by using a condom you are safe.
Films which contain excessive swearing, sex and violence are popular with youth and films such as Scar face, although made before most of todayâs youth were born still remain popular and iconic. Current films like, Kidulthood, Hustle & Flow and Bulletboy, provide a diet of violence, sex and drug use. With storylines which the youth can relate to such as crime, revenge, respect, gang brotherhood, contempt for authority, shooting etc.
It has been reported that a child before reaching the age of 10 has watched hundreds of murders, and thousands of scenes of violence and even more of swearing and irresponsible individualistic behaviour. Despite these films having ratings to prevent children from watching them they still manage to get hold of them.
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