# BBC news used the term "youths" - What age range are they referring to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939 "2011-08-08T13:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939/1 "2011-08-08T13:14:20Z")
From [London riots: Theresa May to meet police chiefs](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14442935): > [@](#): > > Up to 200 youths looted shops and charged police in Coldharbour Lane and the High Street in Brixton, south London. So, for those from England, if you read that line in a news story from the BBC, what age range would you expect from the looters? I’m asking because if I read that here in the US, I’d expect sub-20, and mostly 18 and under, and a group of 200 looting and pillaging would surprise me. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the BBC use the term “youths” when it seems to refer to a slightly older crowded than I would use it for. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939/2 "2011-08-08T13:23:29Z")
I think you are right that the term is used differently in the US than elsewhere. The AP stylebook says: “Applicable to boys and girls from age 13 until 18th birthday. Use man or woman for individuals 18 and older” [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth) says: “definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary.” They cite several examples, but both the UN and the World Bank defining it as people age 15 to 24. The same definition appears to be used by the [International Youth Foundation](http://www.iyfnet.org/search/node/15%20and%2024). ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939/3 "2011-08-08T13:30:34Z")
I was in London when some people were trashing the area around parliament during a Mayday protest in 2000. They basically broke much of the windows and trashed a few businesses from parliament to Trafalgar Square. We were on the subway (tube) when a bunch were switching clothes (to confuse the surveillance video) and discussing what they’d done. If I had to guess, “youth” as in “it’s a crowd, let’s have fun doing damage” looked about 18 to 25. Recall one of the guys caught doing damage in a recent incident was the college-age son of a senior government official. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939/4 "2011-08-08T16:38:40Z")
It’s entirely possible the Beeb is simply wrong, or, to put a happier face on it, chose to run slanted coverage. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939/5 "2011-08-08T16:58:04Z")
I’ve encountered people who honestly believe anyone under the age of 25 is a “child.” unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939/6 "2011-08-08T17:00:45Z")
There was a comedian on TV several years ago who mentioned that the news has a new code-word for black people - “youth”; his examples were “28-year old _youth_ arrested for selling drugs”, or “A 25-year-old _youth_ was arrested yesterday, for assaulting an 18-year-old _man_…” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-news-used-the-term-youths-what-age-range-are-they-referring-to/591939/7 "2011-08-08T17:27:12Z")
I don’t think “youth”, used as a count noun is particularly slanted to mean “black” in Britain, but it does have a strong negative connotation. If people are described as **youths** , there is a strong implication that they are potential or actual troublemakers or even criminals. Of course, this coincides closely with the racist stereotype of young urban black males, but the word **youths** certainly gets applied to whites too. I think **anson2995** has it pretty much right about age. A British **youth** is someone in roughly the 18-25 age range, almost always male, and with a tendency (not necessarily actualized) toward violent troublemaking.