Introduction
Kelly reviews the youth in today’s society as risks to be ‘Artifacts of Expertise’. He claims that the youths are prone to risks simply due to their limited knowledge. In the paper, Kelly suggests that:
The messiness of human experiences and existence requires knowledge practices in the social sciences that can rethink what counts as truth. These interests – which are grounded in the knowledge practices that frame the work being undertaken in a large scale, qualitative investigation of the cultural drivers shaping the alcohol practices of 14 to 24 year old Australian’s (Kelly, 32)
Example from a novel
In reviewing Tim Winton’s novel ‘Breath’, Kelly suggests that Winton’s key characters in the novel sought for things that could make their lives less ordinary.
Youth discourses especially about risks often mobilizes a form of normalizing, scientific, probabilistic thinking, about certain preferred adult futures and the present behaviors and dispositions of Youth (Kelly, 22-33). Kelly argues that these practices often cause a variety of immoral activities like indulgence in sexual activities, abuse of alcohol and other drugs, absenteeism from school and many others. These activities comes with dire consequences like unwanted pregnancies, abortion, arrests, dropping from school, lack of attentiveness to diet and physical activity. Kelly argues that all kinds of behaviors can be learnt partly or wholly through modeling. The politics of such discourses can be either good or bad according to the sort of reinforcement they attract (Kelly 22-33). The learning of aggressive behavior, which can be addressed using the social learning theory (used to predict and analyze delinquent behaviors among youth), is the best way we can use to think about this form of social regulation.
Kelly asserts that delinquent youths have in their mind various activities that they may engage in and one way or the other what they choose is indicative of their psychological condition. Violence and aggressive behaviors are acquired from the people they associate with. He argues that when an aggressive behavior holds no adverse consequences, the observer is likely to indulge in it with relish.
Criminal behavior
Delinquency among the youth is fuelled through modeling from close associates who have created a great impact on the individual. Most of the time such models are; parents who have engaged in violent behavior as the adolescent watched or parents who have inflicted pain and suffering through violent behavior to the adolescent, and also friends of the adolescent who engage in subversive behaviors which are rewarded and not punished. This is normally referred to as, peer influence. The reason why parents hold such significance in the social learning process is that; they are the primary care takers of the adolescent and are charged with the responsibility of guiding, instilling, and directing good behavior on their children. Therefore, the children look up to them for guidance on what is right or wrong. Consequently; what a parent justifies as right is considered right in the eyes of the child.
Through such reasoning, the child ends up acquiring bad behaviors. Such minor acts of aggression like, shoving, teenage fighting, or even play-acted military combats can also precipitate aggressive behavior in an individual. Criminal behavior can also be accelerated by the expectation of rewards. The types of rewards and their urgency however, determine the learning of behavior. Most of the time criminal acts have several characteristics. Firstly, they provide instant fulfillment of one’s desires, Secondly, they are found to be simple by the criminal and require minute planning, thirdly, they are quite adventurous and more often than not quite risky, fourthly, they have no long-term accruals and lastly, they often cause discomfort to the victim. Adolescent delinquents involved in criminal behaviors have less or no self-control and often succumb to the temptation of immediate satisfaction (Kelly 22-33). Therefore, they are unable to appreciate the benefits of their actions in the end. This lack of self-control only increases their vulnerability and consequently they become more susceptible to crime. Exposure to different learning experiences creates the differences in self-control between individuals. In accordance to this, a child who grows up in an environment where people’s feelings are disrespected and their rights violated end up having no self-control. Instead, such individuals do not restrain themselves when it comes to satisfying their desires.
Drug addiction creates a high dependency and more often than not, when addicts have exhausted their sources they take up criminal activity to acquire finances for purchasing more drugs. The social learning theory puts strong emphasis on the learning and maintenance of aggressive behaviors. Nevertheless, it considers such drives like frustrations and hatred as conditions for enacting the behavior. The theory also recognizes the biological factors in the display of aggressive behaviors. Continued familiarization and experience with aggression makes individuals form a mental impression of the societal rules and then use them to guide their behavior. In a society where domestic violence and aggression is prevalent, individuals tend to comply with this norm. They will not expect to be questioned or reprimanded for such traditional behavior. Over time, this behavior develops into a habit, which leads to the individual developing a form of script, which contains strategies to use in dealing with any interpersonal or social conflict.
Consequently, the individual will end up retrieving the script when the need arises. Especially, when dealing with future conflicts. Recalling of a past script is most likely to occur if the individual is presented with similar conditions like those from the past. Learning of criminal behavior mainly occurs in intimate groups, like families, peer groups, or even social groups. Such groups provide different perceptions on how people react or interpret the law. Due to this, individuals may encounter confusing perspectives on the interpretation of laws. This is because, how people define right and wrong changes according to the social context. Some societies or cultures may value the law to the extent of obeying and adhering to it, while others may be keen on identifying loopholes, which make it possible for them to break the law. Volatile individuals in such a setting may be faced with a dilemma on how best to interact with the law. Following this, an individual may become a criminal, when they conclude that they will gain more from obstructing the law than they will from obeying it. They determine this; by examining how past law offenders have been treated and if they recognize that the said model was not punished for their crime but instead gained from it, they will end up engaging in criminal acts.
Kelly is emphatic about the social learning theory and he discusses in length how it provides solutions to the problem of criminal behaviors. The same theory, which explains how criminal behaviors are learnt, is used to explain how individuals can use the learning process to acquire behaviors that will prevent them from succumbing to criminal activities.
Conclusion
It is important to learn how the youth develop their personal traits and behaviors. Learning through observation and imitation is a concept witnessed from children all the way until old age. Criminal psychology therefore, forms a perspective of people’s learnt behaviors. Never the less, if solutions for adolescent delinquency are to be effective, then it is paramount to address the behaviors in line with the social learning theory. The therapeutic goals should be focused at the use of models, targeted to influence learning of good and conforming behaviors. With this in mind, finding solutions to the issues of delinquency and criminal behavior will not seem so elusive. Moreover, if this concept is inculcated in the practice of criminal psychology, it will be influential in the rehabilitation of all sorts of criminals. It is also fundamental that the public is enlightened on their role in influencing young people’s perception of the law.
Works Cited
Kelly, Peter. “Youth at Risk: Processes of Individualization and Responsibilization in the Risk Society.” Discourse: Studies in the cultural Politics of Education.. 22.1 (2001): 22-33. Print.