The image of a juvenile delinquent is a familiar one in media and the news. Teenagers are often seen through the lens of a moral panic about the state of the youth, or viewed as dangerous hooligans that threaten society. This website aims to analyse just how the news portrays teenagers in relation to crime, both as criminals and victims. Through looking at the crimes of the 1970s and 1980s through the lens of current sociological research done on delinquency and the history of Canadian criminality, we will see if the Valley’s youth were seen as dangerous hooligans or something else.

There are a few questions that led this research: Is the Fraser Valley emblematic of Canadian and international juvenile crimes? How does the news portray these crimes and what can we learn about the society of the time through these articles? Is there a difference between recorded police stats and the news? And finally, were teens dangerous vandals or helpless victims?

Throughout this website you will see that the teenagers of the Fraser Valley were generally non-violent, committed mainly property crimes, and that the various news sources used tragedy as a selling point of the paper.

Content Warning

This website will discuss a variety of crimes including murder, assault, sexual assault, and rape. Specific content warning will be given before sections that discuss these crimes in case you wish to skip them. Please refer to the Definitions page for further information.