Street crime and teenagers
Looking at the past and present situation of knife crime and street violence, we try to see if times have changed. Street culture, including knife crime and fighting, may not be such a recent phenomenon as you may think.
Street crime and teenagers - what can research tell us?
Knife crime and other types of street violence are in the headlines nearly every day. Are the media stirring up anxiety unnecessarily?
Violence in street crime
The character of street crimes is changing. Academics have traditionally seen British street robberies as being carried out by calculating career robbers. More recent research shows that in the 21st century such crimes are "haphazard, essentially amateur excursions". Behind this change is an emerging street culture in Britain similar to that in urban United States of America.
Street fighting men
Gangs may not be as well organised or cohesive as people think. Research from Manchester University suggests they may be very different from their stereotyped image.
The right to fight? (and questions to think about)
There is nothing new about street fighting as a way to display manliness. In Victorian times, say researchers from Edge Hill University, society tolerated or even condoned such one-on-one violence much more than it does today. However, attitudes began to change by the turn of the century.
You can also download a single pdf of all the above resources.
Credits
These resources were written by Diane Hofkins.
Additional Links
- Article from the University of Cambridge 'Research Horizons' magazine: Young people, morality and crime.
- Report stating that the police should have more power to break up teenage gangs, from The Centre for Social Justice
- 11 Million/You Gov survey about gun and knife crime: Gun and Knife Crime Survey (PDF)
- Local Government Association report entitled 'Young people, crime and public perceptions: a review of the literature' (summary; PDF)
Video
An ESRC video about policing based on an A-Level debate about 'UK Youth Today' which was part of the 2007 ESRC Festival of Social Science:
If you experience any problems viewing the "embedded" video, the video page on YouTube can be found here.