What communications barriers could arise between youth and police?

"They (Young people) have exalted notions, because they havenot been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations…Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning,doing things excessively and vehemently …They love too much,hate too much and the same with everything else."Aristotle.

Youth, described as the "period of physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to maturity and early adulthood", (Wikimedia Foundation Inc.) can be a time of difficulty for some, bringing them into conflict with police and other institutions of society.

Communication is an integral and critical component of everyday life. Every form of communication however encounters its own barriers, which prevent accurate and effective sending and receiving of messages. In dealing with youth today, police encounter a growing number of barriers related to communication. Those with whom police come into contact are those who display attitudes and behaviors outside the norms, values and laws accepted by society.

A senior police officer of the Hamburg police on a...

Royal Thai Police officer

English: tricolor sash of a french police officer ...

As a police officer, being aware of these barriers and having strategies to combat them will help ensure more successful outcomes when dealing with young people and can mean the difference between guiding them towards a more settled, acceptable lifestyle or creating a situation where a lack of respect for others and for authority is deeper embedded.

These attitudes towards mainstream society and its institutions pose real barriers for police when dealing with youth today. E.Z. Friedenberg queries, whether or not however "…the problem refers to something in the adolescent or whether it is making a statement about society" (Sankey 2000), referring to the lack of understanding and the feeling of mistrust by society as a whole towards the subculture of youth, its values and attitudes.

The belief "in the criminal waywardness of our young people…and the…failings and deviances of the 'new' generation...