Media Framing of the Youth Crime 'Epidemic' w/ Dr. Ronald Kramer: May 12, 2022.

Recently in the news, we've seen an uptick of stories of youths committing crimes such as ram raids, burglaries and more. This has caused concern that New Zealand is facing a once-in-a-lifetime surge of youth offending.

However, statistics show that reported youth crime has dropped by about 65% over the past decade, and the narratives we often see in the media is shaped by reports that fail to contain information about the factors driving youth crime, or context on the overall statistics on youth offending. 

Emilia Sullivan spoke to Dr. Ronald Kramer, senior criminology lecturer at the University of Auckland about the media's portrayal of youth crime.