UNDERSTANDING YOUTH AND CRIME. BY S. BROWN (BUCKINGHAM, OPEN UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998, £17.99)
             Sheila Brown's 'Understanding Youth and Crime' illustrates effectively the history of criminology spanning from the 18th century to present day, and also, more importantly, the causes and effects of everyday stereotypes associated with youth crime. It begins explaining how society builds up stereotypes of people based on age, and that when people deviate from these expected stereotypes, 'a sense of social order is subtly outraged.' These stereotypes are culturally produced and sustained through the media, academia, politics, life, history and other environmental factors. Henceforth, these socially produced notions of age-appropriate behaviour and identity are sustained. These stereotypes can be said to be representations not of how we do feel, but rather how we should instinctively feel. She goes on to analyse crimes in terms of age – those associated with childhood, middle age and elderly criminals, questioning why and how crimes are committed and what causes can be attributed to them. Other issued on her agenda are the progression of the Criminal Justice Act, the ideology surrounding the stereotype of youth as 'villainised' and not 'victimised' and the relation between politics and youth crime. She also mentions crimes which go relatively unnoticed, for example girl crime, crime against youth, child abuse and masculinity theory. Focusing primary on the public preconceived idea of 'youth crime', the book realigns this preconception to fit in with reality, and how that reality is clouded by varying factors. Brown also illustrates the differences between the progression of British studies of criminology relative to American studies, outlining chronologically the key events and points referring to psychologists and criminologists alike such as Durkheim, Merton, Garland, Mu...