Youth Violence Is Becoming An Increasingly Prominent Issue...

Youth violence is becoming an increasingly prominent issue within Australian culture. Youth violence is defined as â€Å"violence involving young persons, typically children, adolescents, and young adults between the ages of 10 and 24†¦ Youth violence includes aggressive behaviours such as verbal abuse, bullying, hitting, slapping, or fist fighting. These behaviours have significant consequences but do not generally result in serious injury or death. Youth violence also includes serious violent and delinquent acts such as aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and homicide, committed by and against youth.† (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40049) A 2011 report has shown that 15-19 year olds were more likely to offend, with†¦show more content†¦(http://www.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids00/mexico1.html) Agency refers to â€Å"self-determination, volition, or free will; it is the power of individuals to act independently of the determining constraints of social structure.† (http://www.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids00/mexico1.html) Essentially, structure refers to something that is ingrained and immovable, and this represents the qualities of a society. Agency on the other hand is more individualised and is more about how people interpret and interact with situations and those around them. There has been much debate regarding the influences that encourage violent behaviour in teenagers as well as the reasons why some adolescents are more prone to these behaviours than others. Teenagers are highly impressionable and observing aggressive, violent behaviour in others can encourage negative actions and responses of their own. The media is regularly referred to when discussing the issue of youth violence. Adolescents are regularly exposed to media with aggressive, violent messages including television, movies, music and video games. The longer someone is exposed to these messages the more desensitized they become. Socio-economic status is also a risk factor, with teenagers being more likely to commit violent crimes when living in lower socio-economic areas. (https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-violence.aspx) Reasons for this include lower rates of employment, higher crime levels and dysfunctional