Twenty- First Century Childhood

This essay will be based childhood and crime. It will examine aspects of crimes committed by children as well as children as victims of crime. I will be exploring both aspects of crime as there are many incidents that children have been involved in. However the main factor which will be focused on is child abuse, there are many important cases that had been highlighted throughout the years which had an impact within the society such as Victoria Climbie and James Bulger case. Also will be exploring how mediaaffects children being in crime and how they are portrayed in society.
Crime can be defined in many different ways, as some crimes which may not be law breaking within the society(McLaughlin & Muncie, 2012). The concept of crime brings together how an individual or set of group are linked with the society and within that they may or may not show solidarity within it (McLaughlin & Muncie, 2012). Furthermore, crime may be difficult to define due to various definitions within the society, but there are some crimes that are taken more seriously such as abuses, murder and fraud. Individuals have various logic of crime which makes it problematic to broaden the meaning within the society (Henry and Lanior, 2001). Within the society child abuse is something which is highlighted linked in with crime as the society emphasises that child abuse is important to take into account of. Child abuse has been going on since the 1960s as it is shown through newspapers and television reports, it has been the subject in the media that shows child abuse and protecting children from it (Kay, 2003).Abuse can be defined major or minor causes such as physical, sexual or mental harm. It is important when looking at child abuse as they are vulnerable and may not understand what the situation is when being abused (Philpot, 2009). However some cases of abuses may be difficult to notice as it may not be visible on the child. It can be a long term or a short term abuse throughout children’s...