Living on edge : understanding the social context of knife carriage among young people

160 Pages·2005·0.71 MB·English

by  Alan, Julian, Brad, Bondy, Ogilvie, Astbury

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living on edge
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living on edge
Understanding the social context
of knife carriage among young people
Julian Bondy
Alan Ogilvie
Brad Astbury
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First published by RMIT University Press
© 2005 RMIT University and Victoria Police
Opinions expressed in this publication are the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the
views of Victoria Police.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted, in any form or by any mean electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by RMIT University Press, an imprint of:
RMIT Publishing
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Melbourne Victoria 8006
Australia
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Acknowledgments
The principal researchers believe it is important to acknowledge the contribution
of a number of individuals and organisations without whom this important
research project could not and would not have delivered the positive outcomes it
has achieved.
Crime Prevention Victoria within the Department of Justice has been most
supportive throughout the project, and the primary funding source was the
Victorian Law Enforcement Drug Fund. We are grateful for the recognition that
youth, weapons and violence are important issues which require informed policy
responses.
Our research partners, Victoria Police, Youth Affairs Council of Victoria
(YACVic) and the Australasian College of Surgeons are also recognised for their
support, with special thanks to Superintendent Doug O’Loughlin of Victoria Police
and Ms. Janet Jukes of YACVic for their contribution on the reference group and
as active contributors to the management and progression of the project.
Our gratitude is also extended to all reference group members, including Mr
Michael Bourne, during his period as Acting Director of Crime Prevention Victoria;
Dr Santina Perrone from Crime Prevention Victoria; Magistrate Mr John Doherty
of Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court; Dr Steve Francis, Ms Poppy Fotiadis and Ms
Carmel Guerra of the Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues; Inspector Bruce
McKenzie and Ms Leanne Sargent of the Victoria Police Youth Advisory Unit; Ms
Janet Dukes and Ms Paula Grogan from the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria; Mr
Danny Sandor from Defence for Children International; and Mr Johan Top and
Ms Ros Harris of the Department of Human Services, Juvenile Justice.
We extend our gratitude to the many young people and practitioners who came
forward and shared their varied experiences, many of which were personally
difficult, with our research team. It is important that they know that we listened
and that this report is an acknowledgment of their contribution. Lastly it is most
important that we acknowledge the hard work of Mr. Brad Astbury, our project
officer. Brad was a major contributor to every part of the project and we recognise
that the successful outcomes are a direct consequence of his skill, dedication and
professionalism. This report must however, be dedicated to the people of Victoria
who have been victims and survivors of a knife or other weapon attack. Only you
know how your life has changed.
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Executive Summary
Media coverage of incidents involving young people and weapons gives the strong
impression that we have much to fear from an increasing threat of youth violence.
The growing perception in the community is that more and more young people are
arming themselves to commit crimes of violence or enhance their reputation
amongst peers.
Despite the high level of public and governmental concern, little is known about
patterns of weapon acquisition, carriage or use among Australian adolescents. This
study represents a collaborative effort between RMIT University, the Youth Affairs
Council of Victoria, Victoria Police and the Royal Australasian College of
Surgeons which was funded by the Department of Justice through the Victorian
Law Enforcement Drug Fund. The project commenced in February 2000 and
concluded in January 2004.
The aim of this report is to provide practitioners, policy makers and the wider
community with a better understanding of the perceptions, motivations and
experiences of young Victorians regarding the acquisition, carriage and criminal
use of weapons.
The report discusses a wide array of issues that were identified by the young
people and key informants consulted during the course of the study as important
to developing a better understanding of youth weapon acquisition, carriage and
use in Victoria. The major findings of the study can be summarised as follows:
Extent of weapon carriage
• Notwithstanding the difficulties of undertaking trend analysis with crime
statistics, there is evidence that offences involving knives and syringes across all
ages have significantly increased since 1994. The trends indicated in Victorian
crime statistics are corroborated in hospital data-sets.
• While this increase has led to legitimate concern within the community and a
range of strategies to counter this trend by government, these concerns and
responses need to be understood in context.
• Crimes involving knives and syringes accounted for less than 1% of recorded
offences in 2000–2001.
• Non-accidental Injuries involving knives and syringes accounted for less than
of 0.2% of total hospital admissions in the twelve year period 1987–1999.
• From a crime perception perspective, people are likely to consider their own
local areas as significantly safer compared to the rest of Victoria. While 88%
of Victorians who took part in the Local Safety Survey in 2001 indicated that
crimes involving knives and syringes were a problem to a moderate or greater
extent for Victoria, only 25% regarded such crimes as a problem in their own
neighbourhoods.
• There is a converse relationship between fear of crimes involving these
weapons and the likelihood of victimisation. That is, those who are least at
risk have the highest levels of concern over crimes of this type.
• Young men are significantly over-represented as both offenders and victims of
crime involving knives and syringes. This pattern reflects the larger pattern of
over-representation of men as perpetrators and victims of crime.
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• The relationship between the carriage of knives and syringes and the use of these
weapons in crime is indirect. While it may be presumed that the increases in the
relevant hosptialisation and crime data are also reflected in increased numbers
of people carrying these weapons, there is no longitudinal evidence available to
confirm this. Potentially confounding this presumption is evidence suggesting
that the age and other profiles of people who carry are different from offenders
who have used these weapons. The age at which carrying weapons peaks is
lower then the age of most offenders and victims of knife and syringe related
crime. That is, it appears there are two populations: the younger cohort who
carry these weapons and ultimately grow out of the habit and an older cohort
who, primarily through association with drug-related crime, are evidenced in
crime and hospitalisation data.
• Acknowledging that care needs to be exercised when interpreting data due to
the differing methodologies, differing age profiles of populations, and the small
sample size in relation to the present study, the proportion of young people
carrying weapons is comparative to overseas studies. A re-analysis of the
Victorian Survey of Risk and Protective Factors survey indicated that one in
seven (14.5%) of young people surveyed in 1999 have carried a weapon at some
stage in their life. This corresponds with the proportion (15%) of young people
interviewed as part of this study who reported regularly carrying a knife. A
British survey indicated 10% of boys aged eleven and twelve had carried a knife
or other weapon in the past year (Carvel, 2002) and 17.3% of high-school
students in the United States reporting having carried a weapon (Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). In marked contrast, 9 of the 10
incarcerated young people interviewed for this study indicated that they
routinely carried a weapon prior to confinement.
Nature of and factors relating to weapon carriage
Carrying knives, syringes and other weapons is not a new phenomenon. As
discussed above, there is no direct evidence that the extent of carriage has changed.
Similarly, there has been no longitudinal work to indicate that the characteristics
or nature of this carriage has changed through time. There are, however, a number
of clear themes that emerge both from the review of literature and the responses of
the young people interviewed for this study.
Whilst it is recognised that the involvement of weapons can dramatically
influence the lethality of everyday confrontations between young people, it is also
the case that in the vast majority of instances, carriage is derived from anxiety
about personal safety and is a transient behaviour.
More specifically, young people’s carriage appears associated with the same set
of factors that are related to the wider patterns of juvenile delinquency, with
contextual factors having the greatest explanatory power. That is, situational
factors are better predictors of youth weapon carriage than the characteristics of
the individual. Despite the widespread perception that ethnicity is a significant
factor allied with carrying knives, little evidence from the present study supports
this contention. Similarly, once confounding variables such as socioeconomic
disadvantage are taken into account, overseas research also finds that ethnicity is
not a good predictor of carriage.
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Risk factors for weapon carriage can be located within four domains:
• individual
• peer
• family
• community.
Findings suggest that weapon carrying is a complex behaviour shaped by
various factors interacting at multiple levels across life history, family, peer and
community domains. Weapon carrying is more prevalent among young men who
have a history of victimisation and exposure to violence, are fearful and/or engage
in risky behaviors such as using and selling drugs, fighting and joining a ‘gang’.
More broadly, peer and family groups also contribute to weapon carrying through
socialisation and cultural processes. At a broader level, socioeconomic
disadvantage, illicit drug markets, community disintegration, availability of
weapons and a lack of educational and employment opportunities are important
risk factors for community violence and must be addressed as part of any
comprehensive solution to weapon carrying.
Young people’s perceptions
While there was consensus among the young people who participated in the study
that carrying knives and syringes was an increasing problem that elevated the
potential for injury and encouraged violence, there was a wide array of
explanations provided by the participants for this carriage. These accounts can be
divided into two broad groups that are distinguished from each other by their
communities of origin and their associated understandings about why some young
people carry weapons. These groups were (i) young people with little direct
experience of carrying weapons and (ii) young men who had direct experience. The
first group’s perception was that in most instances carrying was a defensive
response. The latter group’s conceptions of knives and syringes were that they are
tools of a trade—the drug market.
• Within the first group’s overarching conception that fear was the driver for
weapon carriage, many young people also identified that in certain groups and
certain situations this potential was increased. These included:
• closed public spaces at night,
• social gatherings such as parties and nightclubs,
• people who have been victimised by crime, particularly robbery,
• in the case of syringes, people who are IV drug-users,
• in the case of drug markets, users and dealers fearful of being victimised by
others in the drug market, and
• delinquent peer groups.
• When considering knives and syringes and drug markets, the majority of young
people from the first group conceived them as primarily being carried to assist
in acts of aggression and crime. The second group, many who had been involved
in the drug market, contested this understanding. These people felt that carriage
was primarily a defensive mechanism. That is, like the larger population,
feelings of being vulnerable to acts of intimidation and violence by others were
the driver for them carrying weapons.
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Executive summary ix
• The second most common explanation by young people about motivations for
carrying knives and syringes was self-enhancement. This was overwhelmingly
seen negatively. People who carried weapons to ‘show off’ were typically
described as ‘weak’ and immature. When this motivation was discussed, it was
in relation to the behaviour of others rather than themselves: young people did
not internalise, nor empathise with this motivation. This has important
implications regarding future communications strategies for reducing weapon
carriage.
Responding to weapon carriage
The Weapon Progression Model provides a visual summary of the relationship
between the nature, extent and responses to young people’s weapon carriage and
violence. It highlights the importance of embedding responses in a graduated and
dynamic manner that reflects the differing phases associated with carriage and use
of knives and syringes.
Figure 1: Weapon Progression Model
UNARMED
RISK FACTORS SUPPLY AND
• Individual DEMAND
• Peer INTERVENTION
• Family • Primary
ARMED
• Community • Secondary
• Tertiary
USE
There are currently a range of public health and criminal justice strategies that
play a part in reducing violence and crime generally, as well as initiatives and
policies that specifically respond to the carriage of these weapons.
These strategies form a matrix divided into supply and demand-based
interventions that occur at the primary, secondary and tertiary phases in
prevention.
These strategies necessarily include a range of agencies, some of which are
involved in both supply and demand-reduction activities.
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Given the varying nature and magnitude of the young people’s carriage and use
of weapons in Australia, it is unlikely that exclusive focus on supply-side responses
would be productive. In particular, aggressive policing of young people has the
potential to intensify the problem through a deterioration in police-youth
relations. Instead, approaches that focus on the underlying motivations and risk
factors that influence young people to carry in the first place have the greatest
potential.
The choice between options should not be divided into debates over (for
example) whether policing aimed at suppressing supply is better than education to
reduce demand, or vice versa. The complexity in the factors that lead to carriage
means that no single remedy will suffice; what is required is a series of concurrent
and complementary approaches.
The evidence reviewed in this study indicates that in order to maximize
effectiveness, strategies need to be based on a good understanding of what
motivates young people to carry weapons. Communities experiencing success in
addressing young people’s weapon carriage and violence have employed problem-
solving approaches and incorporated mechanisms to enable an extensive range of
agency and stakeholder perspectives to be represented. As sets of organising
principles, the most promising approaches:
• address identified risk factors in multiple ways,
• incorporate what is known from the literature,
• reflect context specific knowledge and understanding, and
• represent stakeholders’ perspectives.
Conclusion
The community is understandably concerned about the illegal possession and
carriage of weapons among young people. Although the nature of the relationship
between carriage and use has not been quantified, this concern has been intensified
by increases in crimes involving knives and syringes. Because of this concern, there
exists the potential for policy makers and other stakeholders to have their
responses driven by public perception and media alarm instead of the available
evidence. This potential highlights the importance of maintaining perspective in
considering and responding to this issue.
The violent use of weapons represents the most extreme and visible tip of the
youth weapon problem and requires an immediate and coercive response. The
issue of possession, however, is more appropriately addressed through education
and support-based early intervention initiatives that focus on evidence-based risk
factors and that incorporate young people’s own explanations for carriage.
The results from this study suggest that a reduction in the carriage and use of
weapons will follow if a combination of interventions aimed at multiple factors is
simultaneously delivered through a variety of channels. A wide range of agencies
must join together and combine efforts and resources to ensure the best possible
chance of success.