eceives only the broad picture painted by the media that only portrays what the author deems relevant to capture its reader's attention. The media as well as society, views youth as wearing strange clothes, having strange hair, listening to inappropriate music, hanging out in groups and pursuing the wrong interests. This leads to "moral panic." (p. 8) The panic is a fear of an increase of young deviants on the streets doing these deviant things in the process of corrupting or harming "normal" citizens. This assumption about youth leads to an outward look at a society that is viewed to be breaking down and bringing with it an unsafe future. By looking back, this fear has been held for centuries and the view is that youth is just not as innocent and as moral as they "used" to be. This statement should be disregarded for the only difference between youth today from youth yesterday, is the differences in leisure caused by an era of technology. However, half of the leisure activities pursued by adolescents that society deems deviant are no different from that of the behavior of adults. Except that not all adolescents or adults pursue these things and not all of the activities or deviant behaviors are of this sort of less-serious nature. Society must keep in mind that statistics do not reveal the exact reality of a situation. However statistics do tell us: a) the majority of all offender are under 25 years of age (p 36) b) 59% of youths charged are charged for property crimes (p 37) c) only 17% of youths charged are charged for violent crimes (p 37) d) 88% of youths charged are male (p 36) and lastly, e) adults are charged more often than youths for violent crimes. (p 41) Statistics also show that violent crimes are increasing among youths. In reality this may not be the case because people (i.e. teachers, judges, police officers, citizens) are: a) more sensitive to reporting violent incidents b) are less tolerant to what used to be labelled normal behavior which is now seen as deviant, and c) because of technology, crime control has improved; thus more youths have been arrested therefore showing an increase in the violent crime rate. (p. 40) Moreover, youths are more apt to become victims of violence rather than offenders of it. (p. 45) In Tanner's discussion he reviews a lot of the major theories. Gangs have been a growing concern in the public eyes and thus sociologists have developed the "subcultural theory" (p. 59) to try to understand the reasons related to this problem. The "labelling theory" (p. 66) asserts that because youths hanging out in groups or subcultures are often seen as causing mischief, (because most adults don't hang out in groups therefore their deviant because their breaking a traditional norm - whether they are or not can be argued,) the reaction they get from others to that behavior, actually increases the prospect for more of the same behavior. Due because youths are trying to elicit a reaction for the "thrill" of it, or are out to defend a reaction in order to gain respect or attention, (bad attention is still attention,) which they lack in other areas of their lives. The "control theory" (p.70) explains that everyone has particular social attachments with society. If those attachments or bonds are weak, we are more likely to commit deviance because we have no reason to conform to society's norms since doing so provides no internal satisfaction. Another important theory in the understanding of subcultures is the "resistance theory". (p. 75) This theory states that "no longer are deprived and disadvantaged working-class adolescents just adapting to their social environment, they are challenging it in a fundamentally political way." (p. 76) They rebel against society not only through their deviant activities but also through the way they dress and the music they listen to. Their specific appearance has turned "revolt into style" (p.82) Many sociologis

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Approximate Word count = 2628
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)