Learners Declaration:

I certify that the work submitted in this assignment is my own.

Full Name: ANDREA DUXBURY.

Address: 16 SOMERSET AVENUE, CHORLEY. PR7 1RD.

Student No: E10010241

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E10010241 Tutor: Mike Tucker

DIPLOMA IN CRIMINOLOGY
ASSIGNMENT 5
UNITS 11 & 12
Task 15, 16, & 17

Word Count: 1573 Date:15/08/10

Task 15: Is youth crime a problem in your area? If so, what do you consider
the contributing factors are?

Youth crime can often have areas of grey when it comes to what young people say

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about themselves and the communities that surround them. Children and young
people constitute a group in society with significantly less social and financial
resources to protect themselves from victimization than their adult counterparts.
There are a number of interpretations of the characteristics of children and young
people who offend. The Youth Justice Board approach to assessment and planning
interventions for instance, identifies a range of risk factors that have been shown to
be statistically significant indicators of offending behaviour. These include poor
parenting, schooling, the breakdown of communities, and the prevalence of crime, as
well as individual factors such as spending time with an offending peer group, poor
physical or mental health, and the misuse of alcohol or illicit drug substances.
(Board, 2010)

Poverty is a key determinant of the experience of young people all over the world. It
is also related to other structures of inequality such as ‘race’ or ‘caste’, which
consigns different groups to lesser social positions than others, and in doing so,
forces them into constrained and restricted places. In the circumstances of poverty,
they are more likely not only to become victims of exploitation, which make youth
almost meaningless, but also to participate in destructive activities or problematic
behaviour, which has connections with the dominant ideas about what it means to be
young. Crime therefore might seem like an option towards the achievement of
adulthood. Above all, historically, the young and unemployed working classes have
been understood as both a potential threat to the social order and , partly as a
consequence, in need of special provision from, and direction by, that same social
order if they are to assume their role as the next generation of adult workers.
(Hollands, 1990)

The ‘true facts’ of offending by young people (or any other group) have been, and
will remain, unknowable. There are three main means by which crime rates have
been estimated – recorded statistics, victim surveys and self-report studies – but
none can claim to provide an objective and incontrovertible picture. The problem
arises because all quantitative data depend not only on which behaviours are
perceived and defined as crime, but also on the validity of the various statistical
measures and on the range of interpretations that can legitimately be made of any
figures, no matter how they are produced. (Young, 2004)

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With regard to the local area I live in, the Chorley North West Policing Team stated
that the level of violence is above the national average. This state’s an increase from
10.1% to 14% (31.38%). Local priorities are drinking and anti-social behaviour,
however, 77% of people in Chorley agree that the police and local council are
dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour issues. It is difficult to ascertain long-
term trends in anti-social behaviour due to changes in recording methods. In general,
the level of anti-social behaviour increases over the summer months, school holidays
and around Halloween and Bonfire Night. The Chorley Council Crime and Disorder
Reduction Partnership (CDRP) are working hard to make a real difference to the
people and place of Chorley. A Strategic Assessment has been produced with the
aim of identifying key strategic threats and related issues that affect crime and
disorder in the area. The peak areas for damage are Chorley Town Centre and the
housing estates south of the Town Centre with peak times mainly in the evenings
specifically Friday and Saturday. Damage is a key aspect of crime within the
Borough and is being used as an LAA stretch target. Areas where criminal damage
is quite common can also attract other types of crime and/or create a link to other
offences. The Partnership must work to tackle criminal damage, engaging with the
community, and ensure that criminal damage does not cause apathy with the
organisations and the places people live. (CDRP, 2008)

Task 16: Discuss the role of the community in supporting youths and
preventing youth crime.

The risk of a juvenile committing a crime appears to increase when that child is
raised in a community that is deprived with poor living conditions and high rates of
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unemployment. It goes hand in hand with other risk factors such as low income and
is difficult to prove a significant factor alone. Run down and neglected communities
are often riddled with graffiti and are not looked after by the property owner. There
tends to be little for juveniles to do and organised activities are not usually available.
This can lead to boredom that, in turn, can lead to anti-social behaviour, alcohol
consumption and even drug taking, which appear to be in wider use in this type of
community that makes it easier to obtain.

Young people want to be part of their community, yet the stigma of young people
and lack of respect suggest this to be an increasing issue. Trying to get young
people to volunteer will not happen overnight, they need time to realise that
volunteering is good without being paid for it. What a young person is taught in the
home this can have a substantial effect on his or her own adult path. Young people
can only become what they are taught to become or learn to become. The young
people that do not have the ideal parent influence can often turn to media or music
that reflects a negative attitude on life. Young people need support, guidance and a
stable life in order to become the responsible adults that society expects, but this
does not always happen in the real world. (House, 2008)

A ‘disorganised community’, can be dominated by low and poor quality housing.

There is an absence of any law-abiding and effective ways of raising children and
teaching them right from wrong. This also supports the theory that this failure of
community life leads to a lack of opportunities for personal advancement.
Advancement cannot be achieved because of poor education, income, jobs and
housing. A consequence of poor provision of youth services is bored teenagers on
the streets that may then get into trouble of various kinds. A further cause of crime
and disorder for some is the housing allocation policies of local authorities. Some
housing policies have allowed ‘large concentrations of poor, socially excluded
families, which have often exacerbated concerns of anti-social behaviour’. To limit
such things as graffiti and vandalism in your local area, a good start would be to
educate young people about the impact graffiti and vandalism have on the wider
community, (e.g. making people feel unsafe, costing millions of pounds a year to fix
and clean up). Young people are often unaware of the cost of cleaning up graffiti or
repairing criminal damage. They need to know that it is unacceptable and taken
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seriously. (Hope, 1998)

In Chorley, the ‘Get Up and Go’ campaign has made special events available to all
ages over the summer. In 2010 they introduce there ‘Streetgames Initiative’ which
will be delivering fun and free sport right on your doorstep. ‘Streetgames’ is one of
only a few schemes in Lancashire offering young people up to the age of 24
something to do for free or at low cost and was created as part of a unique
partnership. By getting youngsters involved in their own communities it will also help
to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. ‘Reach Up and Go’ is another activity
aimed at children with disabilities. Furthermore, if young people have an event or
activity they want to get off the ground they will support it by advertising and
promoting the event. (Wright, 2010)

Task 17: Write an overview of the different forms of anti-social behaviour. In

your answer comment on the effects, anti-social behaviour has on victims and
the wider community.

The Labour government introduced the ASBO (Anti-social Behaviour Order) in 1998
after pressure from the public to tackle crime issues. This led to the Crime and
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Disorder Act of 1998, and ensured that the ASBO was first enforced on the 1 st April
1999. The ASBO in itself is a useful tool to combat many areas of nuisance
behaviour that the police or the government would previously have been unable to
get involved with. Examples of the kind of behaviour that a person can be issued an
ASBO for are as follows: abusive verbal behaviour, begging, boom box car/vehicles
(noisy car stereos), bullies and bullying, damage to property, drugs and alcohol
misuse/abuse, homophobic behaviour, neighbour intimidation, vandalism, graffiti, the
list is endless and applies to any person. (BBC, 2002)

In Lancashire, which includes Chorley, we have a varied amount of crime, which

divides itself by problems in some areas with regard to anti-social behaviour and not
in others. However, we have a lot of organisations and community involvement in the
way this is targeted and in what way. Most factors that influence the propensity of
young people to commit crime tend to be influenced by other factors. It is suggested
that intelligence, family life, and hyperactivity that are the most important factors
involved in predicting youth crime, meaning that low intelligence, impulsivity and a
stressful family life indicate a high chance of delinquency. I know this is true because
my son who is now 23 years old experienced this at the age of 12. The fact that I at
the time lived in a low employment, lack of respect for parents and criminal
behaviour area did not enhance my son’s thinking of growing up. He was easily led,
got into trouble with known troublemakers and really did not do himself any favours
at keeping out of trouble. As a concerned parent, I decided to do something about it.
I moved out of the area and things changed dramatically, and my son never got
involved in anti-social behaviour or criminal activity ever again – the question is, was
I a bad parent at the time or were the surroundings we lived in to blame for this
period in his life? (Police, 2010)

Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour successfully means acting on intelligence

and community information; it is not about the government imposing a one-size-fits-
all approach. Patterns of crime differ from community to community throughout the
country. Each force is trying out a different approach to suit the local area and
encourage public opinion. In most areas now especially town centres and known
hotspot areas, CCTV surveillance cameras have been put in place as one of the first
steps in tackling the problem, single measures such as putting locks on doors tend to

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have limited and brief impact and may lead to a displacement of criminal activity to
another area. (Office, 2008)

Anti social behaviour can have detrimental effects and influences over time that can
result in destructive communities and shattered lives. Many young people are
brought up in conditions that can affect the way they behave. Anti-social behaviour
has been a growing problem in the UK to the point where the Anti-Social Behaviour
Act was introduced in 2003. This came from the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which
defined anti-social behaviour as “acting in a manner that caused or was likely to
cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same
household as (the defendant)” (Crime and Disorder Act, 1998).

However, this definition does not constitute exactly what an anti-social behaviour act
involves. Acts can be criminal and sub-criminal, however, these do not fall under the
responsibility of one agency. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 highlighted the need
for communities to work in partnerships with other agencies to tackle local anti-social
behaviour issues; the result was the introduction of local Crime and Disorder
Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs). (Limited, 2008)

Partnerships with local agencies such as the Police, Victim Support, Neighbourhood
Watch Schemes and residents, were to come together in the hope of making their
communities safer, creating sustainable areas, in which everyone could live, stay in
and work. Alongside this, the government introduced Anti-Social Behaviour Units
and the ‘Together’ Action Plan. It is important then that local communities identify
anti-social behaviour issues; determine local action the implement local action with
an outlook to look at whether this has worked or not. (Limited, 2008)