Carthy, Aiden

Keegan, Pauline

English

Arrow@TUDublin

Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Conference Papers Centre for Applied Social Studies in Social Care 2015 Crime Prevention Strategies: Can children be better served by directing public policy to the real causes of crime? Pauline Keegan Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown, b00035332@student.itb.ie Aiden Carthy Technological University Dublin, aiden.carthy@tudublin.ie Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/casscon  Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Keegan, P. and Carthy, A. (2015) Crime Prevention Strategies: Can children be better served by directing public policy to the real causes of crime? Presentation at the Social Care and Social Policy in Ireland Conference, February 2015, Dublin, Ireland. This Conference Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Centre for Applied Social Studies in Social Care at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Conference Papers by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact yvonne.desmond@tudublin.ie, arrow.admin@tudublin.ie, brian.widdis@tudublin.ie. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License Crime Prevention Strategies: Can Children be Better Served by Directing Public Policy to the Real Causes of Crime? Pauline Keegan and Dr. Aiden Carthy   •Research Overview   •Garda Youth Diversion Projects  •Methodology  •Preliminary Findings  •Conclusion and Recommendations   Background Research Overview (b) • Wider scope: exploring the experience of children involved with the Garda Youth Diversion Projects (GYDP)  • Understand the nature and effectiveness of the projects from the children’s perspective  • Examination of the direction of public policy  Research Questions (b) (e) Do the children believe the programmes work?  If so, why?  Would public policy be better focused elsewhere? Garda Youth Diversion Programmes (Irish Youth Justice Service) (b) (e) • Community-based intervention programmes  • Target children who have been involved in crime and diverting them from becoming further involved  • Target children who are at risk of offending  • Irish Social Policy balances holding children accountable with keeping them out of the Criminal Justice System Garda Youth Diversion Programmes (b) (e) • Available to children between 13 and 17 years of age  • Each child is allotted two hours per week (organisation dependent) Methodology (b) (e) • Mixed methods research design  • Qualitative (Interviews with children in focus group meetings)  • Quantitative (Questionnaires completed by Youth Leaders)  • 58 children participated (45 boys, 13 girls)  • 10 different projects (5 in Dublin, 5 in country locations)  • Ages range from 13 to 21 years old  • 10 youth workers received questionnaires (9 were returned) Preliminary Findings • The children consider the programmes are working for them  • Some children report that the projects do not disengage them fully from crime, but do note a reduction in their criminal behaviour Behaviour Continued (%) Discontinued (%) Did Not Say (%) Drinking 55 17 28 Crime 57 43 0 Drugs 16 31 53 n= 58 Why do the children find the programmes effective? (b) (e) •Children were confident that the Youth leaders truly care for and support them (92%)  •Children held the youth leaders in high regard (85%)  •Children are delighted with the projects, and are more than happy to attend (83%)  •Children attend to meet their friends (17%)  •Keeps them off the street, otherwise they are bored (85%)  (b) (e)     Youth Leaders “You can tell her anything, you can trust her” “…they’re all real nice, like ye can tell them how ye feel, like” “Cause we trust them” “Its Allen, it’s just everyone likes Allen.” (b) (e)   Youth Leaders “…they stay till 8 o’clock, so that’s 3 hours off their own time” “They will ask if everything is all right at home and if it’s not can we come down and talk about it” “ or if ye told her, like, ah, I’m struggling with this in school but I’m embarrassed to say it to the teacher, she’d say it to them” What do the GYDPs do?   (Irish Youth Justice Service) Provide suitable activities to facilitate personal development and behavioural change Support Garda relations Change attitudes around offending, drugs and alcohol Encourage civic responsibility Preliminary Findings Quantitative Results  Common concerns raised by the Youth Workers Between 60% and 100% of the children have behavioural problems and difficulties in school All from disadvantaged areas with high levels of crime and drugs Vulnerable to peer pressure Poor view of Garda Family problems Low self esteem Risk factors for crime Personal  Social Family Risk Factors for Crime  Carroll, Houghton, Durkin and Hattie (2009)  Risk factors intervention programmes do not address Personal Social Family Risk Factors for Crime (b) (e) •Programmes do not address all the risk factors  •Most crime prevention strategies tend to focus on individual behaviour, rather than the social forces that create that behaviour (Lewis, Grant and Rosenbaum 1988)  •The link between young offenders and poverty has been well established (The Irish Penal Reform Trust) Preliminary Findings Issues Identified Children raised in poverty suffer from  Behavioural and Emotional problems including disobedience  Low academic achievement Impulsiveness and aggression Family problems Less positive peer relationships • Research has found that children raised in poverty suffer a wide range of negative outcomes (Moore, Redd, Burkhauser, Mbwana and Collins 2009)  Current Research • Children interviewed displayed similar outcomes (b) (e) • Create jobs and employment within disadvantaged areas  • Change anti-discrimination laws to include socio-economic status (Combat Poverty Agency 2006)  • Prevent the onset of criminal behaviour by early intervention in pre-school and primary school. Improve social conditions and institutions (Farrington and Welsh 2007)  • Might be more effective and less expensive Recommendations Thank You for Your Time  Any Questions? Bibliography  Carroll, A., Houghton, S., Durkin, K. and Hattie, J. A. (2009) Adolescent Reputations and Risks: Developmental Trajectories to Delinquency, New York: Springer Science + Business Media  Combat Poverty Agency (2006) Policy Submission: Making Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Effective, Submission to the Human Right Commission, Dublin: Combat Poverty  Farrington, D. P. and Welsh, B. C. (2007) Saving Children from a Life of Crime: Early Risk Factors and Effective Interventions, New York: Oxford.  Irish Youth Justice Service  Lewis, D. A., Grant, J. A. and Rosenbaum, D. P. (1988) Social Construction of Reform: Crime Prevention and Community Organisations, New Jersey: Library of Congress.  Moore, K., Redd, Z., Burkhauser, M., Mbwana, K. and Collins, A. (2009) Children in Poverty: Trends, Consequences, and Policy Options [on-line] Washington DC: Child Trends. Available at: www.childtrends.org/wp-content/.../11/2009-11ChildreninPoverty.pdf [Accessed 28 January 2015].  The Irish Penal Reform Trust (2012)  

Crime Prevention Strategies: Can children be better served by directing public policy to the real causes of crime?

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Crime Prevention Strategies: Can children be better served by directing public policy to the real causes of crime?

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