in line with current knowledge about current representations of youth and youth justice.

To answer the question for this assessment, there are a number of steps/tasks you need to undertake to complete this piece of assessment.

1. WATCH: The documentary Beware the Slenderman. This is available on the BB unit site under Assessment/Assessment 1 – Problem Solving Task folder.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEpW-WNr1KI

This is the true story of two 12-year-old girls charged with attempted murder for the pre-planned stabbing of their friend, another 12-year-old-girl. [Time required: 1.54 hours)

1. ATTEND AND/OR LISTEN: to the recording of Week 2’s lecture (by Dr Helen Berents) on representations of youth and young people. (will upload ppt)

As Dr Berents notes in this lecture, in sociological terms, young people are constructed in contested and competing ways, for example, as simultaneously ‘at

risk’ and ‘risky’, as in a perpetual state of ‘waithood’, as innocent, in need of care and protection, and as possessing a range of deficits.

Children and young people are thus typically portrayed as ‘human becomings’ rather than ‘human beings’ – ie as forming, but not fully formed. In legal terms, however, young people are increasingly considered responsible for their own actions, and treated as adults. Indeed, the two defendants in Beware The Slenderman are tried as adults, despite being only 12 years old (ie not even adolescents)!

3. With this as context, ANSWER the following question:

Assessment question: In the documentary Beware The Slenderman, are the defendants portrayed predominantly as human becomings or human beings? How do these competing constructions reflect common representations of children and young people (as outlined briefly above)?

Key readings to support your answer

• Carrington, K. & Pereira, M. (2009) Offending youth: Sex, crime and justice. Sydney: Federation Press (see pp. 30-32 on deficit discourses)
•  Chinn, S. & Duane, A. (2015) Introduction. Women’s Studies Quarterly (43: 1-2): 14-25
•  Cunneen, C., White, R. & Richards, K. (2015) Juvenile justice: Youth and crime in Australia, Fifth edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press (esp. Chapter 3, pp. 78- 85 on representations of young people)
•  Debski, S., Buckley, S. & Russell, M. (2008) Just who do we think children are? New Zealanders’ attitudes about children, childhood and parenting: An analysis on submissions on the Bill to repeal Section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand 34: 100-112
•  Qvortrup, J. (ed) (2005) Studies in modern childhood: Society, agency, culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• Carrington, K. & Pereira, M. (2009) Offending youth: Sex, crime and justice. Sydney: Federation Press (see pp. 30-32 on deficit discourses)
•  Chinn, S. & Duane, A. (2015) Introduction. Women’s Studies Quarterly (43: 1-2): 14-25
•  Cunneen, C., White, R. & Richards, K. (2015) Juvenile justice: Youth and crime in Australia, Fifth edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press (esp. Chapter 3, pp. 78- 85 on representations of young people)
•  Debski, S., Buckley, S. & Russell, M. (2008) Just who do we think children are? New Zealanders’ attitudes about children, childhood and parenting: An analysis on submissions on the Bill to repeal Section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand 34: 100-112
•  Qvortrup, J. (ed) (2005) Studies in modern childhood: Society, agency, culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• Qvortrup, J. (2004) The waiting child. Childhood 11(3): 267- 273
•  Sharland, E. (2006) Young people, risk taking and risk making: Some thoughts for social work. Forum: Qualitative Social Research 7(1): http://www.qualitative- research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/56/115

Guidelines

• You will need to make an argument to answer the two questions. I suggest answering them in combination rather than separately. For example, your argument might be that: ‘the Beware The Slenderman documentary represents the young defendants as predominantly human becomings, reflecting common representations of young people as not fully formed’. Or: ‘the Beware The Slenderman documentary depicts young people as human beings and human becomings in equal measure. The two young defendants are constructed as adults (ie fully formed human beings) by the legal system in the film, but as naïve and innocent (ie forming) by their families’.
• Use quotations from the documentary to support your argument throughout your essay. Eg ‘an example of this is when Morgan Geyser’s mother says “XXXXX”’; ‘All key players in the film refer to the defendants as “children”, and use terms such as “innocent” and “sweet” to highlight the girls’ immaturity’. There is no need to pinpoint when specifically quotes appear in the documentary.
• You can consider who does the constructing of the young people in the documentary if you like. Eg do the families of the girls take a different approach to the legal system, the police etc? (This isn’t necessary but might help).
• You MUST incorporate academic references into your response. See guidelines on referencing below.

Students must reference at least one chapter of the textbook (see chapter 3), and at least 9 other sources (i.e. you must have at least 10 references in total).It would not be possible to adequately answer the questions with fewer reference than this.

(text book: Cunneen, C, White, R and Richards, K (2015) Juvenile Justice: Youth and Crime in Australia, 5th edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press)

• It isn’t necessary to reference the documentary itself but you can if you like.
• ·  There is no magic number of required references beyond this. The type of references used and the way in which they are used are more important than the number used.
• ·  Use primarily ACADEMIC sources (eg the textbook, additional readings listed in the Unit Information and Study Guide, key readings listed in this document, other journal articles and books you have searched for using library databases) rather than media or internet sources. DO NOT USE Wikipedia or www.howto.com.
• ·  You should also use non-traditional and non-academic sources for this assessment, as this assessment tests whether you can apply your knowledge. For example, you could comment on discussion that occurred in your tutorial, documentaries or TV shows, newspaper articles, and even conversations with family and friends about relevant issues.
• ·  The important thing with referencing is to make sure that:

o you have included all the sources you have cited in your References List;

o everything in your References List has been cited in your essay;

o yourReferencesListisinalphabeticalorder according to first author’s surname; and

o if the marker wanted to follow up an interesting source, they would have enough information to do so.

• These are far more important than getting commas in the right place!

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