Police statistics in Australia have recently been released that indicate a major rise in crime amongst youths. And what is the culprit for this increase in crime?
Analysts are solely pointing the finger at social networking websites such as Facebook and YouTube, and to a lesser extent the use of alcohol amongst the young teens, according to newspaper
The Australian.
Paul Mazerolle, a director at Griffith University in the city of Brisbane who compiled the figures used for the report states, "We are seeing consistent trends indicating young people are becoming more violent."
Amongst the plethora of statistics linking crime and youths, the key statistics are that:
The number of violent crimes committed by offenders aged between 10 and 19 in the four states - NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia - rose from 17,944 in 1996-97 to 23,382 in 2005-06. Violent crimes were listed as homicide, assault, sexual offences, robbery and extortion.
However, users of these websites can rest knowing they aren’t fueling crime.
Despite all these statistics, there are not any statistics which truly indicate a relationship between these social networking websites and a rise in crime. It is only briefly insinuated that these websites “could” be having a negative influence on the young youths of today. It all seems to be a case of placing the blame on the easiest target.
However, it does go to show that these websites may be having a bigger influence on young teens than many people may believe.
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Social Crime Networking? Websites blamed for increase in Crime
