Schools and the Problem of Crime

Stephen Boxford

• Publisher: Willan
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781843921783
• eBook ISBN: 9781134043545
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Criminologia

What causes young people to offend? What influence do schools have on young peoples' offending behaviour in relation to other possible causal factors? These critical criminological and educational questions are addressed in Schools and the Problem of Crime. The book examines the causes of offending in the school context among 3,103, male and female, Year 10 pupils (age 14-15), in twenty state schools in Cardiff. The findings of one of the largest empirical studies of its kind in the UK are used to examine the role of schools, family background, neighbourhood, young peoples' social situation and dispositions, and lifestyles on pupils' offending behaviour. Critically, the interplay and relationships between these causal factors are disentangled in gaining a greater understanding as to why some young people offend in the school context and why some young people do not, as well as examining why some schools experience higher offending rates than others. The book employs an integrative analytical approach which is theoretically led. Through gaining an understanding of the factors that cause young people to offend it is envisaged that future crime prevention strategies can be better informed and targeted. major contribution to understanding youth crime and delinquency on basis of major Cambridge University research study focus on lifestyle factors important policy implications

Chapter 1

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The Cardiff School Study

Crime reduction and improving educational standards are grails sought by politicians across the spectrum and by governments across the world. In the UK, like elsewhere in the world, news and politics are dominated by daily developments in policy and stories relating to both crime reduction and education. The ability of society to deal effectively with crime and education directly affects the nation’s youth and ultimately all our futures. Countries strive for low crime rates and highly educated populations. Achieving these goals improves living standards and helps to secure economic competitiveness.

In criminological research there is a history of recognising the importance of schools in influencing juvenile delinquency and offending (see Wilson and Herrnstein 1985; Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990; Gottfredson 2001). Very few studies, however, have attempted to understand offending in the school setting, which of course may set precedents and affect people’s propensity to offend outside the school setting and in later life. Educational research has recognised that pupil misbehaviour and delinquency affect the ability of schools to function successfully, pupils to learn effectively, and affects the life chances of pupils both involved in delinquency and those not involved (see, for example, Hargreaves et al. 1975; Willis 1988). Examples of research that seeks to investigate the causes of crime in schools, which may inform policies that address societal crime rates and educational standards, are few and far between. In the UK, over the last 30 years, little empirical research focusing on crime in schools has been produced (see Rutter et al. 1998). This is surprising for several reasons:

1Political agenda: The issues of education and crime have been at the top of the political agenda for decades. Government at all levels appears to strive to improve education and reduce crime. It seems remarkable that little has been done regarding investigating crime in schools, when schools are often seen as breeding grounds for criminals and that criminality in schools may reduce the educational efficacy of schools.

2Media issue and reality: The media are fond of reporting cases that illustrate the problem of crime in schools, which bring the issue to the public’s attention. The shootings at Dunblane, the murder of the headteacher Philip Lawrence and recent stabbings (such as that of Luke Walmsley) in several schools in England, have highlighted the fact that crime in schools is an important issue in the UK. These cases may be at the extreme, but have brought the issue of crime in schools to the public sphere. In the USA, films such as Bowling for Columbine and Elephant have illustrated the problem of gun crime in schools.

A report by the Department for Education and Skills (2004) indicated that during the summer term of 2003 there were 336 expulsions for pupils attacking other pupils and 12,800 suspensions. This all occurred during just one term, which gives an insight into the extent of the issue.

3Crime prevention: Schools both in the UK and elsewhere have long been seen as potential arenas where crime prevention efforts should be focused (see Hawkins et al. 1992; Herrenkohl et al. 2001; Cowie et al. 2003). However, if the mechanisms that generate crime in schools are poorly understood it is difficult to understand how crime prevention programmes can be truly effective both in the short term regarding juvenile delinquency and in terms of long-term crime prevention.

4Educational efficacy: If schools are to be truly effective in educating the nation’s youth intellectually and morally their task will be made more straightforward if pupils behave well in school. Pupils who are delinquent in school not only adversely affect their life chances, but also affect the life chances of other pupils.

5Explanation of the crime phenomenon: Explaining and understanding juvenile delinquency has been an obsession of criminologists. Indeed, why people offend is one of the most important criminological questions – if not the most important. However, in the last 30 years or so UK criminologists have undertaken only a sparse amount of empirical research seeking to explain juvenile delinquency generally, let alone explaining specifics like crime in the school context. School, after the family, is probably the most important arena of socialisation for the nation’s young people. Schools provide a context where pupils from a variety of backgrounds, with a variety of behavioural and cognitive dispositions, mix together on a daily basis. Young people in the school context are subject to the control of the school, but also have access to numerous opportunities to commit crimes and deviant acts. As probably the most important arena of socialisation after the family for most young people, schools may be very important in affecting crime. Understanding the influence of schools on crime is a crucial part of the explanation as to why people offend.

In an environment where raising standards in education and reducing juvenile delinquency and crime are priorities it seems strange that crime in schools has been under-researched.

6A ‘school effect’ or pupil composition? Very little research in the UK has been undertaken regarding whether schools themselves make a difference regarding juveniles’ delinquent or criminal behaviour, or whether it is a compositional effect of the pupil population. Graham (1988: 3) made the following fundamental distinction: ‘It has yet to be established whether the variations between schools in their delinquency rates are due to differences in the schools themselves or merely their pupil intakes.’

The Cardiff School Study (the study that forms the empirical basis for this book) was conducted in response to the inadequate attention that has been given to the causes of offending in secondary schools in the UK since the seminal British study, Fifteen Thousand Hours, was published in 1979 by Rutter et al. (see Rutter et al. 1998 and Chapter 3 for a discussion). In the UK there has been little aetiological research exploring the issue of pupils’ offending behaviour in secondary schools since Fifteen Thousand Hours.

The Cardiff School Study is also a response to the lack of current research on young people’s offending in the UK in general. The most recent, important, cross-sectional study concerning adolescent offending in the UK was based in the English city of Peterborough and examined 1,957 14-15-year-olds. This was an aetiological investigation of their offending and victimisation experiences (Wikström 2002). As well as this study, the only other recent studies of adolescent offending are the national self-report studies conducted by Graham and Bowling (1995) and Flood-Page et al. (2000), the ‘Cautionary Tales’ study of approximately 1,200 11-15-year-olds, from four selected schools in Edinburgh (Anderson et al. 1994), and the Edinburgh-based ‘Youth in Transition Study’, which is an ongoing longitudinal study of 4,300 juveniles covering most schools in that city (Smith et al. 2001; Smith and McVie 2003). McDonald (1969) conducted a self-report survey of nearly 1,000 adolescent boys in 12 schools (ranging from grammar to secondary modern) in London. The main aim of this study was to investigate the link between social class and delinquent behaviour. (The prominent recent self-report studies in the UK are shown in Table 2.3 in Chapter 2.) As well as these studies, there is also the important longitudinal ‘Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development’ (in the rest of the book referred to as the Cambridge Study), which has followed a male cohort from 1953 onwards (see West and Farrington 1973, 1977). The Cardiff School Study includes both males and females.

Contribution to knowledge and research aims

The Cardiff School Study is a cross-sectional, self-report study of 3,103 adolescents, who started Year 10 (ages 14–15) in autumn 2001 in the 20 state comprehensive schools in Cardiff. The present study contributes to knowledge regarding the aetiology of pupil offending in schools. It investigates the extent to which pupils offend in schools. The study explains why pupils offend in the school context, specifically taking an integrative analytical approach in investigating the factors that cause and predict pupil offending in schools. The two main research questions are thus:

1Do schools vary in offending rates among pupils?

2What factors cause and predict offending by pupils in the school context?

The main aims of the study are to:

•explore the nature and extent of offending behaviour among pupils in schools;

•provide an aetiological investigation of pupil offending in school; and

•examine the relative influences of and interactions between explanatory factors which include individual pupil characteristics, lifestyles, pupils’ family social position, community context and school context in investigating the causes of pupil offending in schools.

Analytical framework

The following outlines the analytical framework of the book by describing what each of the chapters focuses on.

Chapter 2 examines the research design and methods, outlining why Cardiff is an ideal research site and the key characteristics of the education system. This chapter illustrates how the research was conducted and discusses the response rates achieved. It discusses the key methodological issues – in particular, the reliability and validity of the research tools employed. A comparative exploration of general offending rates between the Peterborough Youth Study (Wikström 2002) and the Cardiff School Study are presented which, it is argued, suggest the reliability of the research methodology employed.

Chapter 3 discusses previous research as it pertains to the present study. The chapter introduces the aims of education and schooling with reference to Aristotle. Specifically, it presents a state-of-the-field review of criminological and educational research focusing on crime in schools. It examines previous integrative analytical approaches in criminological and educational research and suggests how they can be strengthened as well as illustrating weaknesses. An agenda for future research is presented based on previous literature. There is a discussion regarding the importance of causes and causal mechanisms for social science research and this book in particular. The chapter explores previous research undertaken, focusing on crime in schools. It reviews research that has been done in the UK, the USA and also in continental Europe on the subject of crime in schools. The final part of the chapter explores a theoretically grounded analytical framework, which forms the basis for the empirical investigation in the chapters that follow.

Chapter 4 provides a detailed presentation of prevalence and frequency rates of offending behaviour in schools in Cardiff among the Year 10 population. The chapter discusses pupil offending in the pupil population as a whole, as well as examining sex differences¹ and between-school differences in rates of offending. The nature of pupils offending behaviour is examined in relation to where it takes place, versatility or specialisation in offending, what the offences consist of and whether offenders are caught or reported to the school authorities and/or the police. The relationship between offending and victimisation is explored. This represents one of the most detailed examinations of pupil offending behaviour undertaken in the UK.

Chapter 5 examines the role of pupils’ area of residence structural risk in relation to offending prevalence and frequency in the school context. A measure of pupils’ area of residence structural risk is created using official deprivation data and then discussed and analysed in relation to young people offending in the school context.

Chapter 6 investigates the relationship between family social position (including measures of family socioeconomic status, family structure (parental composition), family size (siblings) and family ethnicity) and pupils’ offending prevalence and frequency in schools. This chapter examines each of these explanatory factors independently in relation to pupil offending in schools. A risk score is created combining these explanatory factors and its efficacy in predicting individual offending behaviour is tested. Regression-based analyses examining which of these factors have the most predictive power regarding pupil offending in schools are presented. The aggregate level is explored in relation to between-school differences in pupils’ family social position and pupil offending rates.

Chapter 7 examines the relationship between pupils’ school context and offending behaviour in school. A series of innovative key constructs is introduced and related to pupils’ perception of school ethos, pupils’ social capital, respect for school authority, school disorder and parental school interest. Two school context risk scales are created based on these constructs – one measuring school climate and one measuring pupil relations in schools. These are analysed in a series of regression-based models to examine how predictive the school context measures are of pupil offending, when controlling for pupils’ area of residence structural risk and family social position.

Chapter 8 concerns the pupils’ individual social situational (bonds to society and parental monitoring) and dispositional characteristics (self-control, pro-social values and (sense of) shaming) in relation to pupils’ offending prevalence and freq...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of figures and tables
• 1 The Cardiff School Study
• 2 The Cardiff School Study: research design and methods
• 3 Offending in schools: key issues
• 4 Offending in Cardiff's schools: individual and between-school differences
• 5 Neighbourhood context
• 6 Family social position
• 7 The school context
• 8 Individual characteristics
• 9 Lifestyle
• 10 Between-school differences
• 11 Key findings and implications
• References
• Index