[BabylenTatarsky]

First of all, please don't take any offence or flame me or anybody else who posts in this thread.

Ok. My question is based on a report in today’s Sydney Morning Herald which states that 9.9% of all the 81,784 people born in the state of New South Wales in 1984 had a criminal record by the time they turned 21 years of age – that’s approximately 8,097 new criminals.

Approximately 33% of the convictions were for drink-driving and other motoring offences, 13% were for theft and 10% were for "acts intended to cause injury."

Of these 8,097 new criminals, 72% appeared before the courts when they were 18 years and over, whilst 61% of these people only offended once.

The director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics, Don Weatherburn, said that he was surprised that such a big proportion of people had criminal records. “It gives the lie to the proposition that criminals represent some tiny fraction of the community”, he said.

As this study was the first of its type, Mr Weatherburn said he could not say whether the proportion of people with criminal records was likely to be different for people born in other years.

So, do you think that young people are more criminally inclined today? Basically one in ten people from a particular birth year having criminal records seems awfully high to me. I’m sure that the rate must have been lower in my youth – I was born in 1960 by the way.

Or perhaps it’s a sign of the proliferation of newer (tougher?) laws which means that more people now fall foul of the court system.

PS: Let’s have no comments about Australia being full of criminals/convicts either. That goes without saying. I really should stop reading "foreign" 'papers online.

[dsdsdk]

Australia is full of criminals! :-D

I'm from 1981 and people from 1985+ seem more aggresive when in copenhagen-by-night-being-crunk ;-)

I think more preasure is exerted on them than us pre-85 generation. "Beauty", image, sex and so on is way more important now, than back then.. They become frustrated.
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I've been caught running on a turnpike (was lost....).. Only got warning.
Friend has faught with a policeofficer, slammed, 30 day :-D

[YAYitsAndrew]

I think once you hit a certain age the kids younger than you seem like hooligans and it just gets worse as you get older.

[OmegaRED]

I don't thing they are more likely to be criminals these days, though perhaps when it comes to digital theft or other technological "victimless" crimes I definately see a massive increase in todays youth.

[MiDri]

It is a cascading effect, Criminal/Negligent parents breed criminal/negligent children, I read a study a while back that said that most x-cons that had children ended up having 3 children on average. Two of which on average would continue down the criminal/negligent path.

[Calinerti]

Not sure if they are more criminally inclined or not, but I did hear someone say the other day that children today actually have a lower life expectancy than their parents for the first time in history.

[mtsaint]

its all the darn MSG and mind control flouride back firing.I think the world in general is a better safer place but thats cause i live in suburbia. there are a number of very large gangs in america some that stretch from canada all the way to brazil. no joke i saw a Nat'l geographic special on it some gang with 13 in the name.

[SFOSOK]

By Criminally Inclined you mean dumber?

Then yes

[mtsaint]

ah yes the offspring of a generation raised by drugz. more than half the population needs that first cup of coffee to get going in the morning. what was human genetics like before
we all started drinking the hot black stuff? Dumb maybe more likely slowly mutating

[LeanWolf]

it's all GTA's fault!

[Al_Vampyre]

Originally Posted by YAYitsAndrew

I think once you hit a certain age the kids younger than you seem like hooligans and it just gets worse as you get older.

Quoted for truth...

In answer to the question, I think there is a shift in attitudes towards criminality, people of a younger generation tend to look upon certain aspects of the law as old-fashioned and/or irrelevant. Motoring crime is an excellent example of this, as time and technology advance, laws regarding speed are still based on the performance of motor vehicles 30 years ago (well at least in the UK they are) so many people feel that they are obselete and tend to ignore them. Drinking and driving, and city centre speed limits are exceptions to this.

I think its also related to a sense of individualism, sociological bonds are not as strong now so many people don't see the need to pay attention to laws that are there for society's benefit rather than individual protection. Therefore you get a general downward trend in actual crimes against the person, for example assault or murder but an increase in crimes where there is damage to communal property, or general anti-social behaviour because the perpetrators believe that they have as much right to noise at 3 o'clock in the morning as their neighbours have to sleep at that time.

Drink driving is an interesting one, I think the reason there may be an increase there with young people is that its a preventative law i.e. its a law that sets out to prevent accidents so people believe it doesn't appply to them because they are far too good a driver, or they can handle a drink and still be able to drive.

[Tinkerhell]

I don’t know how things are in other parts of the world, but here in the USofA I think it is a truism that things are getting progressively worse.
Continually growing numbers of ignorant youth having kids and not taking responsibility of them (not that they are capable of taking responsibility for them), being forced to depend on the government or crime (and frequently both) to take care of them. Most situations are out of wedlock so zero family values being passed down (not that the parents had any values to start with…) and the whole thing is just a spiraling mess because those kids then turn around and are running the streets and boinking in the backseats of cars and doing/selling drugs & generally getting into trouble & then they end up breeding.

As soon as I achieve that whole god emperor status thing I’m going to implement mandatory reversible sterilization for all children. The reversal can’t be performed until such time as they can prove themselves mentally and fiscally and morally responsible/capable enough of taking care of children. Yes, I will be the one to determine the standards which everyone must meet to prove themselves worthy. I’ll also improve the education system so that hopefully in a couple of generations we will have a more intelligent & capable society all around.

[Geminiwave]

Originally Posted by Tinkerhell

I don’t know how things are in other parts of the world, but here in the USofA I think it is a truism that things are getting progressively worse.
[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Continually growing numbers of ignorant youth having kids and not taking responsibility of them (not that they are capable of taking responsibility for them), being forced to depend on the government or crime (and frequently both) to take care of them.

nevermind that most kids are being drugged into submission, especially boys. they CAN'T take responsibility because they dont have the capacity to. too many narchotics messing with their brains.

far too many people are "ADD" but not really add. just schools are saying "YOU MUST DRUG HIM!" if the parents refuse, they sic the CPA on the family. if they go to a doctor and the doctor says he doesnt need ADD meds, then the school sues for mal-practice. All the while drug companies are making bank.

now im not one for conspiracy theories...but think about it. drug companies make huge money...drug companies give huge money to government...and the public schools (aka government) is forcing heavy drug use among the kids.

and all the while these kids are on narchotics that force them to sit nicely and calmly at their desk with their hands folded.

its enough to drive anyone insane. most of my friends that were on it started flushing their pills...then they went nuts for awhile (which is what happens when you go off narchotics) and did insane shit.

so no, kids arent more criminally minded these days. they're just more drugged.