Juvenile Crime Among the Middle-Class

We often hear about middle-class Americans fearing crime. They are the ones who will live behind fences, install security systems in their homes and cars, and clutch their purses tightly as they walk down unfamiliar streets in the city. Crime commission, however, does not differentiate between social classes or age groups; it can be found everywhere, committed by almost anyone. Very rarely talked about is middle-class crime, committed by individuals who are not poor, but in fact, well off. Adults and juveniles considered members of the middle-class are those who are making it in the world working legitimate full-time jobs and being able to pay most of the bills.

The values of the middle-class are vastly different than those of the lower-class, and the crimes they commit also exemplify these differences when compared to other crimes commonly committed by a different social class. Middle-class people use crime to their advantage, not for their next hit of drugs or to pay the bills stacked up on the table, but instead, to better their already fortunate lives.

Computer crime has been primarily linked to middle-class individuals based on the belief that these are the people who have the means to afford a computer (Armstrong & Rodriguez, 2005). Now that the Internet is so commonly used in middle-class homes, new types of crimes are being committed with a click of a button. The attraction of computer-based crime is obvious. It is much easier to leak, manipulate, destroy or steal electronic data than it is to go out and risk being seen committing a crime. However, as in the physical world, cyber-criminals leave their "electronic fingerprints" all over a technological crime scene. With the new advancements in technology, the tools available to catch the criminal have become just as sophisticated as the criminal's crimes themselves. Many businesses have spent billions of dollars on technology security to protect their networks from outside threats such as fraudsters, virus writers, and hackers (Janes, 2006). Business owners these days must realize that it has become relatively easy to sabotage or steal company information and property, and they now must employ a set of procedures to deal with incidents before they turn into a bigger problem. Now-a-days, even something as simple as downloading a song off an Internet search engine, without paying for it is considered a crime. This task is extremely easy to do, and it is reported that 65% of American juveniles obtain their music this way (Janes, 2006). There is a very low risk of being caught, and middle-class Americans often rationalize the behavior as being a victimless crime. Since many middle-class teenagers have easy access to a computer, and often one of their own, Internet crime among juveniles has risen over the past decade (Janes, 2006). Juveniles find it relatively easy to retain and process information when it comes to technology, and therefore, often surpass adults in these areas, making it easier for them to get away with many of their crimes (Janes, 2006).

Some empirical evidence can be found in the article by Ruethling(2006). Internet child pornography is prevalent in the middle social class. Ruethling (2006) writes about a child pornography sting that took place by setting up a fake online profile of a teenage boy by police investigators. Through this profile they were able to access 'kiddie" porn sites and enter chat rooms such as "Kiddypics" and "Kiddyvids." Authorities described live images and video of children being molested on these sites, one of the victims being 18 months old. The investigation began in May of 2005, and when it concluded, twenty-seven perpetrators were arrested and face child pornography charges (Ruethling, 2006).

Other research written about by Vandiver (2006), examines 61 juvenile female sex offenders in terms of their offending patterns, demographics, and victim characteristics. These outcomes are then compared to 122 juvenile male sex offenders. Through sex offender registration data and criminal history records, research is conducted to assess the differences between the males and females. The findings showed that the females were typically younger than the males at the time of their arrest for a sex offense. Female offenders chose male and female victims pretty equally, while males were more often chose female victims. "Logistic regression analysis" exposed two important predictors of the offender's sex: length of sentence and the victim's sex (Vandiver, 2006).

Child sexual abuse is usually perpetrated by male members of the middle-class, some who are juveniles, and does not need the use of a computer (Mead, 2000). The perpetrators are usual charismatic, good-looking, charming, loving, and respectful. Their victims are usually children from lower-class or single-parent homes. They seduce their victim over a relatively long period of time, carefully gaining their trust and friendship, and perhaps, even the trust of the parents. It is after this trust is gained that the offender makes his move. It is not unusual for the child to be left alone with the offender now that he has the trust of the family. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics website (2005), ninety percent of all victims under the age of twelve years old, knew the offender.

Cody Posey, a middle-class fourteen year old, shot and killed his allegedly abusive father, as well as his stepmother and sister, and hid their bodies in a manure pile in 2004, at the family's home on ABC newsman Sam Donaldson's New Mexico ranch. The defense claimed the deaths were self-defense after Posey had suffered years of physical and mental abuse. According to defense witnesses, Cody likely suffered a stress disorder after witnessing the death of his mother in a highway car crash when he was ten years old. He was sentenced as a juvenile to a detention center until the age of twenty-one, lenient in comparison to the life sentence he was facing if he were charged as an adult ("Boy", 2006). This case proves that violent crime can be committed by juveniles of the middle-class, and is not limited to the lower-class, if certain circumstances are present.

Social Conflict Theory focuses on the role of the government and the wealthy people of power and how they shape the law to maintain the results they want (Senna, Siegel, & Welsh, 2006). Middle-class juvenile crime relates to this theory because it shows that when there is a competitive struggle to achieve more than what one already has there are consequences. Little personal relationships due to working parents and technology improvements may appear along with other qualities of capitalism and middle-class delinquency can erupt. Through the lack of supervision of a teenager, delinquency in the form of computer crime, sex crimes, or violent crime can emerge. Because middle-class parents are so focused on "being the best" and "keeping up with the Jones'" they fail to notice the lower-class people who are suffering below them, and are truly only focused on how to achieve what the upper-class has, because it is obvious through Conflict Theory that the upper-class controls and suppresses the other classes with the idea that "as long as they are fighting each other, they aren't fighting us."

References

Anonymous, "Boy Convicted of Killings on Newsman's Ranch," The Los Angeles Times, 8 February 2006, sec. A. 12.

Armstrong, G. & Rodriguez, N. (2005). Effects of individual and contextual characteristics on preadjudication detention of juvenile delinquents. Justice Quarterly, 22 (4), 521.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, 31 August 2005, www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/.html> (20 April 2006).

Janes, S. The effective response to computer crime. Computer Weekly, 30-32.

Joseph J. Senna, Larry J. Siegel, and Brandon C. Welsh, Juvenile Delinquecy: Theory, Practice, and Law ( Toronto: Thompson Wadsworth, 2006),132-3.

Mead, E. (2000). Reflections on crime and class. Social Justice, 27 (3), 11.

Ruethling, Gretchen, "27 Charged in International Online Child Pornography Ring," New York Times, 16 March 2006, sec. A. 18.

Vandiver, D. (2006). Juvenile female and male sex offenders: a comparison of offender, victim, and judicial processing characteristics. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology,50 (2), 148.