Youth and Criminal Cultures

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses youth criminology, explaining that it is complexly rooted in the idea that the youth are criminals not only through their choice of criminal behavior, but also because their refusal to conform makes their actions more likely to be criminalized by the powerful. The paper contends that in order to study youth criminology, it must be understood that youth are not like other criminals. In their unwillingness to blindly accept the dogmatic materialism and capitalistic system, youth are made criminals by a society that must paint all divergence as criminal activity. In this way, the society in power stays in power and maintains control.

From the Paper:

"Culture is ideological in nature. That ideology comes from socioeconomic realities that affect the behavior of individuals within the society. Dominant culture makes this ideology seem "natural" so that it can criminalize all other behavior and maintain status quo."

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