Title Constructing juvenile delinquency: An analysis of news media coverage and government response to youth crime in Malaysia By Kamsiah Ali M.A (Hons), B.A (Sociology) Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales March 2012 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. Date …………………………………………….............. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my parents Ali and Timah as well as my sisters and brothers. Without their continued support and encouragement throughout my life, I would have never made it to this point. I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Jane Bolitho, Dr. Alyce McGovern, and my previous co- supervisor, Prof. Chris Cunneen, for their guidance in helping me through this learning process. In addition, I would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia for granting me a government scholarship without which I would not have been able to undertake this important stage of learning. I am also very grateful to the University of Malaysia Sarawak for granting me study leave to pursue my PhD. Lastly I would like to thank my friends (Ramin, Shannon, Lau, Terry, Faizah, Zamri, Hamideh, Cathy, Riyald and Sharon) for giving me encouragement throughout this learning process. My appreciation also goes to Kris Shalvey who has helped to proofread my thesis. ii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the topic of the social construction of juvenile crime in Malaysia. The research project seeks to establish the extent to which youth crime is contextualised and socially constructed as part of perceived ‘social problems’ in Malaysia by various claims makers in society, namely government agencies, the media and the public. The thesis will analyse in particular the construction of claims made in the area of youth crime and the evolution of perceptions of it as becoming a serious and problematic societal issue. Claims made in the newspapers and government documents will form the basis for the examination of the issues. The research endeavour is situated within the existing research literature on youth crime and justice and media coverage of crime. A sample of 695 news articles from two Malaysian daily newspapers (The Berita Harian and The News Straits Times) is examined using qualitative data analysis techniques, from a perspective that draws on social constructionism and framing theory. The data from newspapers in this study is analysed using frame analysis. This type of analysis, which is concerned with particular forms of presentations or modes of discourse, is of particular relevance to this thesis, where it is argued that frames strongly influence perceptions of juvenile crime issues and events in Malaysia today. This research confirms existing research literature in several aspects, whilst also offering new insights about the social construction of youth crime in the Malaysian print media. From an analysis of relevant print media items, the findings from this study show that the frames proposed by Sasson (1995) are consistently present in the manner in which youth crime has been constructed by newspapers in Malaysia. Specifically the faulty system frame, the blocked opportunity frame, the social defect/breakdown frame, the media violence frame and the inter-group conflict frame (called the racist frame by Sasson) were found to be consistent with Malaysian newspaper accounts of youth crime. An additional sixth frame, the individual defect frame, emerged in the analysis and was used widely to suggest that youth crime may be framed in accordance with individual behaviour and choices. iii CONTENTS Title ................................................................................................................................................. 0 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ....................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii CHAPTER 1: POINT OF DEPARTURE ...................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Young people in Malaysia .......................................................................................................... 7 Youth issues .............................................................................................................................. 12 Aims and objectives of the study .............................................................................................. 13 Research questions .................................................................................................................... 13 Organisation of the thesis.......................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER TWO: SETTING THE SCENE ................................................................................. 15 THE MALAYSIAN LEGAL CONTEXT ................................................................................ 15 Development of the Malaysian legal system ........................................................................ 15 The constitutional framework of current day Malaysia ........................................................ 16 THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK GUIDING JUVENILE JUSTICE .............................. 17 The developments of children’s law in Malaysia ................................................................. 17 Child Protection Laws........................................................................................................... 17 Court for children .................................................................................................................. 18 Criminal Procedure Code (Act 593) ..................................................................................... 19 Syariah Criminal Procedure (Federal Territories) Act 560, 1997 ......................................... 19 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 20 TREND OF JUVENILE CRIME 2002-2007 ........................................................................... 20 Gender ................................................................................................................................... 21 Offence type .......................................................................................................................... 22 Ethnic group .......................................................................................................................... 23 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 24 STUDY OF DELINQUENCY IN MALAYSIA ...................................................................... 24 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 30 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 31 iv CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN UNDERSTANDING YOUTH, MEDIA, AND CRIME IN MALAYSIA ..................................................................................................... 32 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 32 NEWS MEDIA IN MALAYSIA .............................................................................................. 32 Malaysian news sources and news organisations ................................................................. 33 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 35 Defining crime news: media formats and structures ................................................................ 36 What is news? ....................................................................................................................... 36 Shaping crime news .............................................................................................................. 39 Media contents and dominant ideologies .............................................................................. 41 Social Constructionism ............................................................................................................