Youth crime in the Australian state of New South Wales has been lash in the last two ten . Seemingly out of nowhere , there ’s been an unprecedented drop in youths being arrested for drug offenses , violent crimes , boozing - drive , burglary , you name it .
agree toa government account , this is n’t just because of new policies or surveillance engineering science , it ’s because the teenagers are all at household watch Netflix and scrolling through Instagram .
New research from the Australian National University ( ANU ) has taken a look at crime rates of mass between 10 to 21 years old who were born in 1984 compared to those hold in 1994 . Over this decennium , they found that fierce offenses decline by 32 percent , attribute offenses pass up by 56 percent , and drug offenses declined by 22 per centum . On top of that , there were important decrease in fomite theft ( -59 pct ) , property theft ( -59 percent ) , and drink - driving ( -49 percent ) .
So , in the words of the report , “ Where have all the new wrongdoer gone ? ”
The account did n’t explicitly calculate at the youths ' medium use , so this rest largely bad until it ’s confirmed by further research . However , imbibe on previous subject area , the criminologists on the fount debate that the trend is most likely explained by the vast ethnic shift brought by the net and societal media .
The researchers also argue that increase CCTV , better policing , and improved awareness about security could also explain the declines . However , since drops in offend were get wind across the gameboard encompassing all societal backgrounds and genders , they claim it points to this wider ethnical shift key .
" Young people are expend less time in unsupervised environments where opportunistic offending may be more attractive , such as ' hanging out ' on the streets , " Dr Jason Payne of theANU Research School of Social Sciences sound out in astatement .
" An increased use of home entertainment and social media is also boil down chance for traditional forms of criminal offense . "
Nevertheless , Dr Payne notes it might not be as uncomplicated as saying Facebook means kids get into less problem . While digital culture might reduce some view of traditional crime , young defiance could manifest in a way of life that ’s presently hide by official statistics .
" Those aboriginal to social medium may explore antisocial and criminal behaviors online which at present pull far less examination from parent and authorities , " Dr Payne suppose .
The gist of novel media and crime has n’t yet been widely studied by scientists . On the few occasions it is researched , criminologist appear to be dissever on the topic . In March this twelvemonth , experts claimedthe online existence fuels violence and gang culture among immature people . On the other hand , another studyfound that TV game - playing nipper stay out of trouble . In fact , it get hold that for every 10 percent growth in the routine of violent games sell , the crime pace dropped by 1 percent .
As the old cliché goes , further inquiry needs to be done before any conclusions are settled on .
