Here is some food for thought. I study this shit.
The social disadvantages that affect these individuals are unemployment and lack of money, which would push those affected to crime so they might afford everyday necessities. These underprivileged people who become entwined in the justice system have a myriad of rehabilitation options offered to them to help them with problems such as drug abuse, alcoholism, violence and anger management (Day, Davey, Howells, Heseltine, Sarre, 2004). The most important aim of these programs and the continuing rehabilitation of offenders is the protection of the community. Nearly all jurisdictions (each state has their own criminal justice system) have programs that aid violent and sexual offenders and attempt to reduce the risk of re-offending (Day, Davey, Howells, Heseltine, Sarre, 2004). Without these programs to help offenders who are at risk, it has been shown that re-offending is more than likely to occur, along with re-incarceration (Bonta, Andrew, 1998; Hollin, 2002). Without these programs, our prisons could become overpopulated and become a burden on the countries economy because it is the tax payers who foot the bill of keeping criminals inside prison. If these offenders can be rehabilitated and be educated it will lessen the pressure on society and the country as a whole. Considering that over 82,000 people received aid from correctional services in Australia throughout 2001, it shows how important rehabilitation programs are to reducing re-offending and helping those at risk of recidivism (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002).
The majority of criminal behaviour perpetrated by adolescence is not of a serious nature, such as stealing from shops and residential homes (Hayes, Prenzler, 2009). Figures from the Australian Institute of Criminology for the years between 1995 and 2004 show that Australians between the ages of 15 and 19 make up the majority of convictions and the rates of offending for persons aged 25 years and older were lowest. In comparison to more serious crime, such as assault and robbery, adolescence aged 10 to 17 had a higher arrest rate for property crimes, motor vehicle theft. It is also recorded that all types of criminal offending declines during the mid-20s (Hayes, Prenzler, 2009). This evidence shows how the offenders learn the criminal behaviour and that the perpetrating of crime decreases during adulthood. This can be attributed to the offenders learning behaviour that does not result in criminal behaviour and surrounding themselves with people who refrain from criminal behaviour.
Criminal behaviour is more prevalent when an individual is unemployed, living in poverty or socially disadvantaged. Unemployment within Indigenous people in 2004-2005 (12.9 percent) was three times higher (4.4 percent) than that of non-Indigenous people (Hayes, Prenzler, 2009). In the same years the rate of assault causing hospitalisation was 17.3 times that of non-Indigenous people, and in the following year, the likelihood of Indigenous people being sentenced to prison was 12.9 times higher than non-Indigenous persons (Hayes, Prenzler, 2009). These figures show that even though the Indigenous population of Australia is just 2 percent, the crime rate is much higher because of the unemployment and social disadvantages within the community. The Indigenous people represented in these statistics have a high reliance on welfare and many have strained relations with authority, which highlights how social disadvantage and circumstances can lead to criminal behaviour but it is not only Indigenous people who are at risk of committing crimes when socially disadvantaged.
Individuals who are brought up around violence in the household or that are abused as children are more likely to be violent and have criminal tendencies as an adult because the violence learned as a child is seen as a common behaviour. 17.6 percent of males and 22.2 percent of females who had been subjected to violence in adulthood by their partner had experienced physical abuse during their childhood. 5 percent of males and 4 percent of females who experienced violence as a child did not experience violence from a partner, which shows the contrast between results. The evidence provided shows how being subjected to violence during childhood results in either being violent or experiencing further violence as an adult (Hayes, Prenzler, 2009).
