YOUTH DELINQUENCY AND YOUTH IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION THE ROLE OF SPACE: THE CASE OF SAMSUN PROVINCE

Abstract

YOUTH DELINQUENCY AND YOUTH IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION

THE ROLE OF SPACE: THE CASE OF SAMSUN PROVINCE

Abstract: In this research, which was conducted to understand the processes of young people's relationship with crime, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 young people between the ages of 18-25 in five different neighborhoods in İlkadım district of Samsun province and the results were evaluated because of the analysis of the data obtained from the field study. Pilot interviews were conducted with 3 ex-convicts between the ages of 40-45, who grew up in the neighborhoods where the fieldwork was carried out, about the neighborhood and their status of quitting crime.

 From the perspective of young people, "crimes committed willingly" provide satisfaction in the process of social identity construction and develop a sense of belonging through space. Another consequence of identification with the place is that young people's perceptions of justice are shaped in the context of the rules of the place. For young people, "crimes committed willingly" provide satisfaction in the process of social identity construction and develop a sense of belonging through space. "Involuntary crimes" are attributed to economic reasons. The influence of the social environment in meeting with crime is more prominent in the neighborhood, friends, and school rather than the family. Due to the economic inadequacies of their families, the expectation of their children to "bring money home", young people have the idea of earning income by committing crimes as a way of "earning money the easy way" rather than acquiring a profession through education and gaining economic gain. 

In the theories of criminal subculture, committing crimes by going beyond social norms and earning money illegally is a status indicator. Among young people, crime is instrumentalized as a means of acquiring status in the neighborhood as a social space. In addition, beyond their biological families, the people that young people call family are people from their cultural environment, whom they have met in the neighborhood where they grew up and with whom they have developed emotional ties. Young people are introduced to crime in childhood. The neighborhood serves as a substitute, meeting the emotional needs that their families cannot fulfill. 

Keywords: Youth Delinquency, Types of crime, Place, Subculture, Samsun.