CRIM30011 – Young People Crime and Justice

Tips about tackling the essay topics and making sure you’re on the right track!

The following tips are based on feedback I’ve provided in response to students’ queries about the
essay topic they’ve chosen, and whether they’re on the right track. So that you all have access to the
same information, I’m providing these tips to elaborate what we expect in response to each of the
essay topics. If you have questions, or would like clarification about any of the following, please
check with your tutor.

1. ‘The minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) should be raised from 10 to 14 in Victoria.’
Discuss with reference to the effects of criminalising children’s behaviour.

This question asks you to take a position on two things:

1) whether the law regarding MACR should be changed in Victoria, and
2) whether the MACR should be raised to 14, specifically, or to another age (i.e. higher or lower).

In responding to this topic, you will need to:

 outline the Victorian context in relation to other states and territories in Australia, as well as the
global context (i.e. calls to raise the age around the world).
 ground and support your position by referring to a range of literature – from both here, in
Australia, and overseas – about the arguments for and against raising the age.
 account for the range of theories that are invoked in making these arguments, and you may wish
to indicate which are most compelling from your perspective – and explain why.

You will also need to consider issues including:

 The doctrine of doli incapax (what is it and why is it relevant?)
 The effects and implications of the criminalisation of children (what theories are invoked in these
arguments?)
 International human rights conventions, e.g. UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (what do
these mean for Australia?)

2. ‘Social control mechanisms that target the use of urban and public space disproportionately
impact young people.’ Critically analyse this claim. (Ground your discussion with a specific
example of at least one social control mechanism.)

This question asks you to do the following:

 Outline what is meant by ‘social control mechanisms that target the use of urban and public
space’ and identify a specific example of such a mechanism (e.g. Police ‘move on’ or ‘stop &
search’ powers)
 Think about these questions:
o Do these disproportionately impact young people? If so how and why?
o Do these mechanisms also impact other people/groups (e.g. homeless people, LGBTIQ+,
etc)? If so, how and why? If not, why might this be?
 Set out the arguments whether the impact is/is not disproportionate for young people
 Decide what you think, based on the evidence you’ve gathered (from existing research) and,
accordingly, draw your conclusion and explain how you’ve come to it.

3. ‘Differences in young men’s and young women’s violence can be wholly explained by theories
about social structural and neighbourhood factors.’ Discuss this statement, anchoring your
discussion in either a contemporary or historical context.

In responding to this topic, we are asking you to consider a range of things:

CRIM30011 – Young People Crime and Justice

1) Differences in young men and young women's violence (i.e. how young men and young women use
and/or experience violence differently);
2) Theories about social structural and neighbourhood factors (and what they tell can us about these
differences);
3) Other theories that can also explain these differences (and what they can tell us that the above
don’t adequately explain);
4) A particular context to focus on by way of example (either contemporary or historical, i.e. the
example you choose to use to illustrate your contention and ground your analysis can be one that is
current and local, for instance, or from the past and/or other places.)

4. ‘Moral panic theories enable us to explain contemporary responses to youth.’ Discuss with
reference to at least one example of a ‘contemporary response to youth’.

So first you need to identify the different elements of the question:

This question asks you to take a position on the question of whether moral panic theory alone gives us a
way to wholly explain ‘contemporary responses to youth’.

Note, this does not say ‘responses to youth crime’ or ‘to youth offending’, it says ‘responses to youth’, so
it’s about societal constructions of youth -- how we, as a society, perceive and respond to young people
as occupying that transitional phase between childhood and adulthood.

Then you’ll need to address these questions, in formulating your response:

 What is an example of a ‘contemporary response to youth’?

 How does moral panic theory help us understand and explain this response?
 What are the limitations of moral panic theory, i.e. what gaps does it leave? What does it not
adequately explain?
 What other theory/theories/theoretical perspectives might be useful in this respect, i.e. to help
address these shortcomings of ‘moral panic’?

5. ‘Young people of today have no respect for authority. Having police in schools is an effective way
of addressing this issue and reducing young people’s involvement in crime.’ Critically evaluate
this claim. In your response, consider any specific implications for the Victorian context.

To respond to this question, you need to pull it apart and address its key elements. It’s asking you to
consider a range of things, but most specifically: what having police in schools in Victoria is supposed to
achieve (according to its proponents), and what it might actually achieve; as well as what it might be
unable to achieve and its potential risks (and you might draw from other places/jurisdictions here).

You will need to:

 outline the scale and nature of the ‘problem’ of youth crime in Victoria
 critically engage with the following assumptions:
o that ‘young people of today have no respect for authority’
o that ‘having police in schools is an effective way of addressing this issue’
o and that having police is schools can have an impact in terms of ‘reducing young
people’s involvement in crime.’

So look at both sides of arguments posed about ‘police in schools’ programs in Victoria, and make a case
based on the evidence you can find about what you think, and justify your conclusions according to the
factors you think are most important.