‘The Trouble with Kids Today’ : Youth and Crime in Post-War Britain

This book (1984) examines youth crime panic in early 1980s Britain through social science research from post-war era. Muncie argues society overreacted to youth disorder and that proposed solutions—detention centres, curfews, increased custody—may have worsened the problem.

Youth crime was constantly in the news during the early 1980s, fuelling widespread fears and anxieties about a spiraling crime wave. Throughout the preceding decade, youth crime was widely believed to have reached crisis proportions, with outbreaks of youth disorder prompting demands for urgent remedies and solutions—reflected in the establishment of short sharp shock detention centres, curfew orders, and increased youth custody. But were these fears justified? Did youth crime and deviance really threaten the structure of society? And did reforms to the juvenile justice system deter youth from crime?John Munice answers these questions in ‘The Trouble with Kids Today’ (originally published in 1984) through a wide-ranging review of social science research on the ‘problem’ that emerged in post-war Britain. Such research concluded that not only had society overreacted to youth crime, but also that the ‘solutions’ may have been part of the problem. This is the first book to draw together the conclusions of youth studies from such diverse areas as sociology, criminology, social policy, cultural studies and media studies. The weight of this research pointed towards a reassessment of attitudes toward the young and a re-examination of the degree of supervision and control which their behaviour demanded. The book also suggests ways in which this research could be responded to critically and developed—an essential process for seriously confronting the problems of unemployment, boredom, and political disaffection that faced the youth of the 1980s.