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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Chapter One: Introduction
Despite longstanding political and media debate around
issues related to young people and youth crime, little
systematic information is available on public attitudes in
this area. As part of the 2004 Scottish Social Attitudes
survey, an annual survey of 1,600 adults aimed at examining
public opinion across a range of policy areas, the Scottish
Executive funded a module of questions aimed at exploring
public attitudes towards young people, with particular
reference to youth crime.
The research took a broad definition of 'young people' -
though one which piloting work suggested was consistent
with most public understandings of the term - as referring
to those between the ages of 11 and 24. For some questions,
however, a distinction was drawn between 11 to 15 year-olds
and 16 to 24 year-olds.
The main issues addressed by the research were the
following:
- How much contact is there between young people and
other sections of the population?
- Do problems associated with young people and youth
crime feature prominently in adults' accounts of the
main problems facing their communities?
- What are the main themes in the way that young
people are viewed by adults?
- What are the main features of adult perceptions of
and anxieties about youth crime and disorder?
- To what extent are such views grounded in
experience?
Chapter Two: Links between young people and older
sections of the population
The research provides a reminder that 'young people' and
'adults' are not necessarily distinct groups - some 11% of
the
SSA sample, for example, were themselves
aged between 18 and 24. Moreover, there is less continuity
of experience between those aged 11 to 15 and those aged 16
to 24 than might be supposed - at least in terms of
domestic circumstances and the types of problems associated
with each sub-group.
A quarter (25%) of all adults (aged 18 and over) share
their household either with someone aged 11 to 15 (11%) or
aged 16 to 24 (17%), but such links are heavily structured
by age and life stage. For example, 27% of respondents aged
35 to 44 currently live in a household with an 11 to 15
year-old, compared with none of those aged 65 and over.
Respondents who are themselves aged under 25 are more
likely than any other age group to live with other 16 to 24
year-olds (44%).
Although most adults would have reason to chat to or
talk with young people in both age groups at least once a
month, 42% said they would talk to 11 to 15 year-olds in
their area 'less often than once a month' while 28% said
the same in relation to 16 to 24 year-olds. Those over 65
tend to be least likely to talk to young people in their
area, but interestingly there is also relatively little
contact
between 11 to 15 year-olds and 16 to 24
year-olds.
Seven in ten adults (72%) say they know some or most of
the 11 to 24 year-olds in their area well enough to speak
to. (Around one in six (16%) know most of the 11 to 15 year
olds well enough to speak to, while 18% say the same of 16
to 24 year-olds.) On the other hand, the proportion of
adults who know 'none' is significantly greater than the
proportion who know 'most or all' - 44% of adults say that
they know
none of the 11 to 15 year-olds in their area, and
39% that they known none of the 16 to 24 year-olds.
The youngest age group (18 to 24 year-olds) are no more
likely than the oldest (65 and over) to know most of the 11
to 15 year-olds in their area. They are, however, much more
likely to know most of the young people aged 16 to 24.
Those living in remote rural areas are much more likely
than those in the most urban areas to indicate that they
know most of the 11 to 15 year-olds and the 16 to 24
year-olds in their area.
Chapter Three: Young people as a local problem
At the beginning of the questionnaire, before
respondents were asked to focus specifically on issues
relating to young people and youth crime, they were shown a
list of problems that people might experience in their
local area and asked to identify which three they felt were
the biggest problems in their own area.
The results suggest that issues relating to young people
figure prominently in adult accounts of the problems facing
their own communities. The two most frequently mentioned
problems both relate explicitly to young people ('lack of
opportunities for children and young people', 37%, and
'young people hanging around the streets', 36%), while the
next two ('alcohol and drugs', 34%, and 'crime and
vandalism', 33%) do so implicitly. Issues relating to young
people and youth crime easily outscore other local issues
in this context.
Respondents with higher levels of contact with young
people are more likely to frame problems in terms of 'lack
of opportunities' than 'hanging around the streets', as are
those who have more positive orientations towards young
people in general (see below).
Chapter Four: Broader views of young people in
Scotland
The survey used a series of attitude statements to
explore broader views of young people, addressing issues
such as whether the current generation of young people is
seen as different from its predecessors, and at the extent
to which positive and negative constructions coexist in
prevailing adult views.
Adult perceptions of young people are characterised by
significant contradictions and ambivalence - while 60% of
respondents disagree that the behaviour of young people is
no worse than in past (
i.e. think that it
is worse than in the past) almost the same
proportion agree that young people not listened to enough.
Almost half agree that young people have no respect for
older people; but over half agree that young people are
helpful and friendly, 57% that most young people are
responsible and well-behaved, and 35% that
olderpeople have no respect for younger people.
Four of the attitude statements (two positive about
young people and two negative) were combined to create a
scale of general perceptions of the young. This was then
divided into tertiles, representing the most positive, the
least positive and an intermediate group.
Those in the youngest three age groups were
more likely to be in the 'least positive' group.
It cannot be assumed, then, that older people will
automatically have the most critical views of young people
- 37% of those aged 65 and over were in the 'most positive'
group, compared with just 25% of those aged 18 to 24.
Those who know most or all of the young people in their
area were much more likely than those who know none to
feature in the 'most positive' group (45% compared with
29%). But the most powerful predictor of general attitudes
towards the young is level of deprivation, with a powerful
association between greater deprivation and more negative
views of young people.
There were mixed views about whether the media present a
fair or unfair picture of young people in Scotland these
days - while 42% of respondents felt that media portrayal
of young people is fair, almost the same proportion (38%)
feel that it paints an unfair picture. There was no
significant variation here by newspaper readership.
Chapter Five: Youth crime and disorder -
perceptions, attitudes and experience
Despite evidence to the contrary from police recorded
crime statistics, there was a widespread view that the
amount of crime committed by young people is higher than a
decade ago - 69% thinking this and just 2% that it is
lower. While those in the oldest age group (65 and over)
were most likely to think youth crime was higher, such a
view was almost equally common among those aged between 18
and 24 (75% and 73%, respectively).
Tenure and area type were also strongly associated with
a belief that the level of youth crime is higher than a
decade ago - 79% of those in the most deprived areas
believing so, compared with 61% in the least deprived; 75%
of those in the social rented sector, compared with 68% of
owner-occupiers. Those with the 'most negative' views of
young people in general were much more likely than those in
to think youth crime had risen (87% compared with just 47%
of the 'most positive' group).
Between a half and two-thirds of respondents also
thought that each of a series of specific youth
crime-related problems were either 'fairly' or 'very
common' in their own area - groups of young people hanging
around the street (67%), vandalism/graffiti (49%, problems
caused by young people who have been drinking (53%),
problems caused by young people who have been using drugs
(35%).
The oldest age group (65 and over) again defy
stereotypes by being less likely than the youngest (18 to
24) to see youth crime problems as common in their area.
Based on a scale combining the four issues above,
respondents in social rented housing (44% ) and in the
areas of greatest deprivation (53%) were clearly
over-represented in the highest ('most common') quartile
relative to the sample as a whole (25%), while
owner-occupiers and those in areas of least deprivation
were under-represented (20% and 10% respectively).
Respondents were also asked to what extent they had been
directly affected by each type of behaviour during the
previous 12 months. The proportion saying that they have
been directly affected 'quite a lot' or 'a great deal' is
much lower for each crime type than the proportion saying
it is 'very' or 'fairly common' in their area. In other
words, perceptions of prevalence tend to outstrip direct
impact.
Of the four problems asked about, the one which directly
affects most people, at least to some extent, is that of
young people hanging around the street (mentioned by 54%,
compared with between 32% and 45% for the other types of
problem).
Deprivation, tenure and degree of rurality are all
correlated with being directly affected by each crime type,
with those in areas of high deprivation and in social
rented housing
more likely to have been affected and those in
remote rural areas
least likely to have been.
Across all the types of youth crime and disorder
mentioned, those with the 'most negative' attitudes towards
young people in general were much more likely to say they
had been directly affected.
The survey also asked about the extent to which
respondents worry about being the victim of crime in
general and alter or condition their behaviour in response
to the behaviour of young people in public places. Overall,
people are most likely to say that they worry 'a great
deal' or 'quite a lot' about having their home broken into
or that someone they live with will be the victim of crime
(42% and 45%, respectively).
When asked how they would feel about having to walk past
a group of teenagers in order to get into a shop,
relatively few adults say they would feel 'very worried or
uncomfortable' (6%) or avoid walking past them altogether
(6%), but a further 40% say they would be 'slightly worried
or uncomfortable' doing so. Women were more likely than
men, and older people more likely than younger people, to
say they would be worried. Those in areas of greatest
deprivation and those with the 'most negative' views of
young people in general also exhibited higher levels of
anxiety.
A majority of respondents thought it 'not very' (25%) or
'not at all' likely (29%) that they would directly
challenge a group of fourteen year-old boys they recognised
damaging a bus shelter or other public property in their
area. Respondents were much more likely to say that they
would call the police (39% saying they would be 'very
likely' to do so and 27% 'fairly likely'), confirming the
hypothesis that people are generally more comfortable
referring to an external agency, even in the case of
relatively minor forms of crime. Those who know most or all
of the young people in their area are, however, much more
likely to say that they would intervene at the time, or
speak to the boys or their parents later on, as are those
with the 'most positive' views of young people in
general.
When asked to identify (from a list) the most important
explanations of offending by young people, respondents were
most likely to mention 'not enough discipline by parents'
(50% doing so), 'pressure from friends and other young
people' (49%) and 'drugs and alcohol' (46%).
Overall, those with the 'most positive' views of young
people in general are more likely to cite peer pressure,
lack of things for young people to do and age. Those with
the 'least positive' views are more likely to cite lack of
parental discipline, too few police and drugs and
alcohol.
Chapter Six: Conclusions
The findings from the 2004
SSA suggest that there is still
considerable scope for inter-generational contact between
young people and sections of the adult population. At the
same time, however, it should also be noted that a sizeable
minority of all adults have little or no social contact
with young people between the ages of 11 and 24. Such
contact
does matter: while there are more powerful
predictors of attitudes towards young people and youth
crime, those adults who have least contact with young
people are consistently more likely to have negative views
of the young.
The current political and media preoccupation with
issues relating to young people is mirrored in adults' own
talk about the problems facing their own communities. But
adult views and perceptions of young people are by no means
all negative - concern
about young people is often balanced by concern
for the young. This ambivalence in adult views of
the young can be understood in a variety of (interlocking)
ways. Perhaps the most important point is to note that it
exists and that it would be wrong to portray adult views of
young people as overwhelmingly negative or
unsympathetic.
Contrary perhaps to expectations, the oldest age group
(those aged 65 and over) is not necessarily the least
sympathetic to young people. Those living in deprived,
urban areas, with relatively little social contact with the
young people in their own community are most likely to be
concerned
about young people and to have negative views of
the young more generally.
Inter-generational contact between adults and young
people appears to influence not only general orientations
towards young people and youth crime but also actual
willingness to intervene directly when confronted with
problematic behaviour by young people. This suggests that,
where possible, policy should avoid reinforcing stereotypes
of and suspicion about young people and that there should
be explicit attempts to foster inter-generational
links.
The study reveals a widespread belief that the level of
youth crime is higher than a decade ago and a view that
youth crime-related problems are very common in
respondents' own areas - even if such attitudes are not
necessarily supported by external evidence or data from the
survey on the direct effects on respondents of young
people's behaviour. Overall, the survey suggests that
direct experience alone cannot explain levels of public
concern.
The results of the module as a whole remind us that the
'problem of youth crime' is both about actions (young
people's behaviour) and
reactions (our individual and collective responses
to such behaviour). Data on public perceptions of young
people and youth crime are a valuable alternative index of
the problem, in that they tell us something important about
how our communities function and about the collective
resources that can be drawn upon when problems with young
people arise. In other words, public attitudes in this area
should be seen as helping to
constitute and not simply reflecting the problem
of youth crime.
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