CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Studies have revealed that a complex process is involved in the development of children‟s social and emotional capabilities. In order to participate effectively in their culture, children need to acquire the norms, rules and values that make it possible for them to form connections and function in families, peer groups and the society as a whole (Wilson, 2008). Wilson argues that children are socialised by parents, friends, teachers and siblings as well as the electronic media.
“Developmental psychologists and media scholars alike have argued that screen media play a crucial role in children‟s emotional development” (Wilson, 2008 : 89).
It has become a common sight to find children spend a large proportion of their time after school or during holidays or leisure times watching television or films (Okafor&Malizu, 2013). Okafor and Malizu (2013) contend that this indicates the extent to which the mass media has become a major agent of socialisation in today‟s world. What is more, most parents cannot afford to spend a portion of their time with their children, thereby making monitoring of what the children watch difficult.
Okafor and Malizu (2013) further argue that what parents even sometimes teach their children is often determined by the mass media. This clearly underscores the significance of the media in the socialisation process.
Recent studies have indicated that young children are vulnerable as they tend to believe what they see on television. They lack the ability to distinguish between facts, fiction and advertisements.
Some media scholars such as Berkowitz, Donnerstein, Huesmann and Wartella are also of the opinion that children who are exposed to media violence tend to have increased probability of aggression (Anderson, Caenagey and Eubanks, 2003).
Background
There have been concerns about an increasing rate of crime in recent times. In Ghana for instance, The Ghana Police Service recorded a total of 74,128 reported cases of major offences in 2005. From 2006 to 2014, the figure increased marginally to 80,436, 89,375, 87,255, 87,280,
83,885, 81,794, 80,657, 80,657, 84,562 and 82,111 respectively. In 2015, it decreased to 66,527( Statistical & Information Technology Unit(SITU), CID, Ghana Police Service,2016). More worrying is the issues of increasing rate of criminal activities among juveniles and it is instructive to note that some of these major offences indicated in the Ghanaian context above, were perpetrated by juveniles.
.According to Bosiakoh and Andoh, (2010), Ghana has witnessed an upsurge in juvenile delinquency which many Ghanaians consider as a worrying development. The “Daily Graphic” newspaper of 28th October, 2013 reported the worrying trend of increasing rate of juveniles engaging in crime in the Nkoranza Municipality. The story which was attributed to the Nkoranza Municipal Police Commander, DSP Joseph Owusu, noted that there had been reported cases
involving some school children breaking into stores, kiosks and computer laboratories and making away with a number of goods from such places, Buodu, S.( October 28,ol2ic0e13). P
lament involvement of juveniles in Crime. Daily Graphic, p.13. Again, 12 teenage suspected criminals, believed to be behind recent carjacking and robberies in the Ashanti region, were arrested by the Ashanti Regional Police command. Among the suspects was a 13-year old boy described as an errand boy of one of the most wanted criminals in the region.
Many analysts such as Ledingham, Ledingham and Richardson (2003) have attributed this development to a number of causes including the influence of mass media content. Some researchers such as Boxer (2009), Wilson (2008) and Anderson, Carnagey & Eubanks (2003) have therefore tried to establish a link between consumption of violent media content and juvenile delinquency or crime
Problem statement
The issue of juveniles engaging in criminal acts is becoming common in Ghana. The Department of Social Welfare‟s Annual Performance Report (2007) indicated that 276 cases of juvenile delinquency cases were dealt with in the year 2007 (Boakye, 2012). In 2010, an average daily lock-up of one hundred and fifteen male juveniles was recorded at the Senior Correctional Centre (formerly Ghana Borstal Institute), the only male juvenile reformatory centre in Ghana. This number increased marginally to one hundred and nineteen in 2011 and then reduced marginally again to 117 in 2012 2013 respectively (Ghana Prisons Service Annual Reports, 2010, 2011,
2012 & 2013).
