UNIT 14

► Ex. I. Scan through the text Work in pairs to answer the questions that follow.

Age, social and racial aspects of criminality. A second aspect of criminality is that crime is predominantly an activity of the young. In both Britain and the United States, for example, the

I peak period for involvement in relatively minor property crime is adolescence (from 15 to 21). For involvement in more serious crimes the peak age is likely to be rather higher, from the late teenage years through the 20s. Criminality tends to decline steadily after the age of 30. Criminologists have sought explanations of this phenomenon—whether it is a natural effect of aging, the consequence of taking on family responsibilities, or the effect of experiencing penal measures imposed by the law for some crimes. Not all types of crime are subject to decline with aging. Fraud and certain kinds of theft, as well as crimes requiring a high level of businesslike organization, are more likely to be committed by older men, and sudden crimes of violence, committed for emotional reasons, may occur at any age. The relationship between social class or economic status and crime shows that a higher incidence (the number of times something bad happens) of criminality was concentrated in the slums of large cities, and studies of penal populations revealed that the level of educational and occupational attainments was generally lower than in the wider population. Studies of juvenile delinquents disclosed a high proportion of lower-class offenders, that is, criminality is closely associated with social origin. The relationship between racial or ethnic origin and criminality is a difficult question. Penal populations contain a disproportionately high number of persons from some minority racial groups, that is, the proportion of minority group members in prison is greater than the group's proportion in the general population. This may be the result of unemployment and low economic status, or discriminatory enforcement practices on the part of the police and the adherence of some minority groups to cultural standards that are in conflict with the general law.