Adolescence

are exacerbating those risks, including rapid populationgrowth and urbanization, social exclusion and the risingincidence of drug abuse. Yet juvenile crime or violence isonly part of the story. It is important to recall that manyadolescents come into contact with the law as victims.Whatever the circumstances, effective social work withyouthful offenders and victims is generally lacking in manynational and local settings. Worldwide, UNICEF estimatesthat at any given moment more than 1 million children aredetained by law enforcement officials. 16 And this is likelyan underestimate. In the 44 countries with available data,around 59 per cent of detained children had not been sentenced.17 A 2007 report studying El Salvador, Guatemala,Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago found that adolescents15–18 years old – particularly boys – are the most at riskfrom armed violence and confirmed that children are muchmore frequently the victims of armed violence rather thanthe aggressors. 18 In prisons and institutions across theworld, adolescents are often denied the right to medicalcare, education and opportunities for individual development.19 Detention also exposes children toserious forms of violence, such as torture,brutality, sexual abuse and rape, as well aspoor conditions. 20The most disadvantaged adolescentsare at greatest risk of coming intoconflict with the lawThe adolescents most at risk of cominginto conflict with the law are oftenthe product of difficult family circumstances that mightinclude poverty, family breakdown, parental abuse oralcoholism. A large number of juvenile offences are actually‘status offences’ – actions, such as truancy or runningaway from home, that would be acceptable behaviour in anadult and are only outlawed on the basis of age. Anothervery large body of crimes, however, is much more seriousand tends to emerge from adolescents’ involvement ingangs. At their worst, gangs can act as precursors of adultcriminal groups and can effectively involve a ‘career choice’of criminality.“I wish for peaceand stability on theAfrican continent.”Kingford, 19, GhanaAdolescents in gangs, or groups tend to be hierarchicallyorganized but tight-knit, with a rigid internal code ofbehaviour. Many use violence as a routine mechanism forresolving interpersonal conflict, and this culture of violenceis likely to spill over and influence members’ behaviourtowards people outside the group as well, establishing a patternor likelihood of criminality. Territorial gang memberscommit many more crimes than adolescents who do notbelong to gangs, with the most frequent offences involvingviolence and extortion.Juvenile crime is much more likely to be committed bymales than females. In part this is because in some culturesgirls are more restricted by their families and the society atlarge as to what they can do, and many cultures are moretolerant of deviant behaviour among boys than among girls.In addition, aggression is often an established part of theconstruction of masculine identity in male-dominated societies.Though gang culture often does involve the rejection ofsome established adult values, it tends uncritically to importand apply very rigid gender roles.The majority of adolescents who come into conflictwith the law are still children, whose rights underthe Convention must be protected and respectedThe problem of juvenile crime tends to be exacerbatedby economic decline and focused especially in the poorerareas of big cities. Juvenile crime isprimarily an urban problem. It alsohas a relationship with the consumerlifestyle portrayed by the mass media,which creates a desire for products andexperiences that are materially inaccessibleto whole sectors of the populationunless they resort to illegal activities.Drug abuse is also a major factordriving juvenile crime, as addiction isvirtually impossible to finance with the incomes availableto adolescents. Adolescents from disadvantaged groups,including ethnic minorities and migrants, are disproportionatelylikely to offend. 21Most adolescents who come into conflict with the law arestill children, and they need to receive special treatmentfrom the criminal justice system that reflects their status.There are still too many countries where adolescents aresimply absorbed into the adult justice system, both to betried and to serve any eventual sentence. Adolescents whospend periods of pre-trial detention or serve prison sentencesalongside adults are much less likely to be reintegratedinto society when they are released and much more likelyto revert to criminal behaviour.While incarceration is clearly unavoidable in some circumstances,it is essential to explore alternatives to custodialGLobal challenges for adolescents 55