The real reasons for teenage crime in the 21st century are poverty, home issues and acceptance. These factors contribute to teenage crime because they need to steal simply to survive. Teenagers try to forget about the traumas at home by doing other things that could be just as bad, like binge drinking. They want to be accepted by their peers, who could already be a criminal.



Many families nowadays are very poor and will get poorer, from the rising of interest rates and many other things. This will cause the poor to become even poorer, with less chance of making their way up the ladder without needing to steal. These teenagers do not even have the basic needs such as food or shelter, and so of course they will result in things like stealing. Otherwise, they simply will not be able to survive. Many students come to school everyday without even having a notebook or pens or paper. Some, who are slightly more fortunate, cannot pay for the many excursions that schools have. Those who do not have those simple everyday things will simply need to steal or carjack. These families truly need things which they do not have. These families often live in poorer parts of the cities, where more robberies and stealing will exist. Micheal Raper from Welfare Rights, CEO, said, “The more money you’ve got, the more you spend on things like health care and child care, the more you get back.” The article, Middle Class gets Welfare as Poor Families Struggle, states that middle class families get lots of money back from different companies and from the government, whereas poorer families do not get any help. Many middle class families are paying no tax at all. This is causing larger issues for those that are poor. However, there is no other option for those poor families. By being in a less prosperous home, you are without doubt going to need to steal, simply to survive each week and so that you can go to school or work.



The rate of divorces has also gone up dramatically during the last decade. More and more families are going through these hard times. Many teenagers go to school, worried about their home life and what will happen to them. Those teenagers would be considered lucky compared to others, because some teenagers don’t even have a home to live in. Hundreds of teenagers face numerous challenges at home, such as things like not keeping up to their school and parent’s academic standards which seem small to events like divorce or even becoming an orphan. The teenage crimes suddenly appear to increase because most of these teenagers are trying to forget about the traumas at home, by doing things that could catch their parent’s attention or simply trying to rebel and forget about their home life. This could be doing things like binge drinking or taking drugs like amphetamines. The article, one in 10 teens abuses alcohol, by Melissa Jenkins, informs us of the fact that one tenth of teenagers have abused alcohol in the past week. 67,000 high school students have taken amphetamines in the last year. Drugs such as cannabis are being used with every one in seven high school students. 168,000 12 to 17 year olds drink at levels where boys consume more than seven drinks in a day and girls over five. These numbers are constantly increasing and are shocking to hear about. However, part of the problem is that parents are not teaching their children and teenagers the right thing to do. Some are just simply not caring enough and are too absorbed in their own stress. Many teenagers are trying to deal with problems at home by doing things that are worse.



Acceptance is a huge goal for many girls and boys. Everyone hates to be left out or be called bad names, so teens do what they think is right to join in and be accepted. Many try to be cool and so do what many other criminal teenagers are doing, which is things like binge drinking, drink driving and doing drugs. However, these wrongdoings do not help at all, and can make the situation worse. Teenagers can and will become aggressive and might try to join a gang. This will make them have a sense of belonging, which is what many kids and teenagers these days need. Being neglected for too long, they will do absolutely anything to be doing the right thing. Most of the time, it is doing things that are bad and cause crimes and other damage or problems. Many teenagers go to suburban parties where they get drunk. This can lead to many different problems such as drink driving or even teen pregnancy. John Gillebaud, a leading academic on birth control, says, “Every single week a new city of 1.7 million could be created.” He also said, “Each year, there are around 80 million unwanted pregnancies and 30 million of these are aborted. These events are caused because teenagers do not want to be left out.



Teenage crime is caused because of the need of want for something. Teenagers do not want to be poor and not have enough money even for essential school supplies. They want peace and harmony at home and also they need and want to be accepted, wherever that is. Teenage crime is rising at an alarming and things must be done. Parents are stuck right in the middle. They should be helping their child at these times especially, when anything can happen and go wrong. Parents are there to support and advise their children, and should care about them.