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Children and violence Report of the Gulbenkian Foundation Commission The UK branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation has taken the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘protecting the dignity, equality and human rights’ of children, as a broad framework within which to initiate and support specific projects of benefit to children and young people. Particular attention is given to strategic national and regional proposals which reflect the values contained in the Convention. Published by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation London 1995 Distribution by Turnaround Distribution Ltd, 27 Horsell Road, London N5 1XL. 0171 609 7836 © 1995 Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Published by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 98 Portland Place, London W1N 4ET. Telephone 0171 636 5313 Designed by Susan Clarke for Expression Printers Ltd Cover design by Chris Hyde Printed by Expression Printers Ltd, London N5 1JT ISBN 0–903319–75–6 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Contents Introduction page 1 The Commission’s aims and working definitions 4 Acknowledgements 5 The Commission: members’ biographies 6 Executive summary 10 Priority recommendations 18 Section 1 Why children become violent 29 Introduction 31 Genetic factors 38 Biological factors 41 Gender 41 Conditions affecting brain function 42 Environmental or acquired biological factors 44 Brain Injury 44 Nutrition 45 Influence of the family and parenting 46 Family structure and break-up 47 Parenting styles 48 Monitoring/supervision of children 50 Discipline and punishment 50 Society’s attitudes and norms of behaviour 53 Inequality and discrimination 56 The influence of school and peers 59 Violent gangs and mob violence 62 Mental illness and violence 63 Substance abuse 67 Alcohol 67 Illegal drugs 68 Effects of violent images 69 References 73 iii iv / Contents Section 2 Reducing violence involving children – discussion and recommendations 77 Part 1 Working towards a non-violent society: national and local commitment and co-ordination 79 Making a commitment to non-violence 80 Translating the commitment into action: checklists for working towards a non-violent society 82 A UK-wide media campaign to promote non-violent values and attitudes 87 Co-ordinating a UK-wide strategy against violence 89 Central government 89 Principles for implementation 93 Regional co-ordination 94 Local co-ordination 96 Local community safety strategies 96 Local planning initiatives 100 Local co-ordination of child protection 101 Children’s services plans 104 Domestic violence forums 106 Neighbourhood responsibility for child safety 107 Volunteers in violence prevention 108 Part 2 Policies for children and families which support violence prevention 111 Challenging inequality and poverty 112 Discrimination 115 Parental responsibility for children 117 Family support 120 Societal support for individual parents 121 Community-based support for parents and their children 122 Daycare 125 Curriculum for daycare 127 Parent education, preparation for parenthood, and family life education 129 Physical punishment and deliberate humiliation of children 133 Pre-schooling 137 Schools and the education service 139 The curriculum 141 Bullying prevention 143 Corporal punishment in private schools 145 Children’s opportunities for play and leisure 147 The health service 151 Contents / v Health visiting 152 School nursing 153 Parent education 153 Teenage pregnancy 154 Accidents 155 Medical interventions which may constitute violence 156 Mental health services 158 Children in care and leaving care 161 ‘Domestic’ or family violence 162 Sexual abuse 167 Child prostitution 171 Criminal justice 172 Aims of criminal justice system 173 Age of criminal responsibility 175 Restriction of liberty 177 Car crime 179 Part 3 Other issues 183 Child death inquiries 184 Infanticide 187 Suicide and self-harm 189 Arrangements to prevent people who threaten children’s welfare gaining inappropriate access to them 193 Alcohol and drug abuse 195 Children and violent conflict: Northern Ireland 198 Violent images 202 Television 203 Films, videos, games etc. – censorship and classification 205 Pornography, children and violence 211 Aggressive toys 213 Victims of violence 215 Traditional practices 217 Sport and violence involving children 218 Boxing 220 Guns and weapons 224 Information and research on violence involving children 227 References 232 Appendices 1 Checklist for working towards a non-violent society 241 2 The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – setting an agenda for policy development on violence involving children 251 vi / Contents 3 The state of our knowledge on prevalence of violence involving children in the UK: Part 1 Violence to children and young people 256 Part 2 Violence by children and young people 262 4 Local community safety strategies and the prevention of violence involving children: results of the Commission’s survey 267 5 Seeking children’s and young people’s views on how to reduce violence involving children 286 6 List of those who provided information to Commission 292 Index 305 vi Introduction The Commission on Children and Violence was conceived during a wave of media debate and apparent public concern at levels of violence involving children, and in particular at perceived levels of violence by children. The Commission has no desire to add to unrealistic fears of violence to or by children; its aims have been to research and summarise available knowledge of the extent of violence involving children, and why children become violent, and then to make recommendations for reducing all forms of inter- personal violence involving children. In comparison with the USA, levels of inter-personal violence in the UK are very modest, and there is recent evidence that in comparison with some European countries, levels of violence by children in the UK are low. In terms of trends it appears that children’s involvement in some but not all crimes of violence in the UK has increased over the last decade. It remains true that only a very small proportion of children (three out of four of them male) get involved in committing violent offences. There is increased knowledge of and sensitivity about violence to children, in particular sexual abuse, and bullying and other ill-treatment in institutions; it is not possible to tell whether the incidence of these and other forms of violence to children has increased or is simply more generally recognised, and there are obvious problems about building any accurate picture of the extent of violence to children within families. In general, children are far more often victims of violence than perpetrators. Some age groups of children are disproportionately at risk of serious violence. One of the most disturbing social statistics is that babies aged under one are the age group most at risk of homicide; while the number of cases per year is small, the risk is four times as great as for any other age group. It seems to the Commission that as individuals and as a society we are now faced with a crucial choice in relation to violence. No nation can afford to be complacent about any level of inter-personal violence. If we are to ensure that we do not follow the path of the USA, we have to commit ourselves to work towards a non-violent society. In America a child dies from gunshot wounds 1 2 / Introduction every two hours; between 1979 and 1991 almost 50,000 American children were killed by firearms – equal to the number of US battle casualties in the Vietnam war; homicide is the 12th leading cause of death, and for black youths aged between 15 and 34 it is the leading cause of death. Bullet-proof vests, metal detectors and armed police are common in big-city schools. Nobody, surely, wants a violent society. This is an issue on which we can expect and demand a consensus. A commitment to non-violence does not have to be pacifist, or non-competitive. At the moment, our attitudes to violence, and in particular to violence involving children, are inconsistent. We do not consistently denounce violence. Macho male stereotypes are promoted and admired. Our appetite for very violent images appears to be on the increase. We still enthusiastically follow sports in which deliberately injuring opponents is the central aim. Politicians and other public figures still advocate violent punishments for children, despite the evidence that they will undoubtedly make the problem of violence worse. Physical punishment of children remains legally and largely socially acceptable – unique among forms of inter-personal violence. Action to reduce and prevent violence is generally unco-ordinated (apart from child abuse protection, which only covers part of the full spectrum of violence to children). It is given no particular priority within crime prevention. The Commission believes that the current context of heightened concern over violence involving children makes this the right moment to promote a formal and active commitment to non-violence. While the overall aim is the creation of a safe, non-violent society for all, our focus is on children because there is ample evidence to show that early intervention is vital to prevent the development of violent attitudes: that what happens in the early years, and in particular within the family and in schools, is most influential in determining attitudes to violence. We know more than enough of the factors that interact to cause violence to be able to promote detailed positive strategies, above all, strategies for positive parenting. Our recommendations seek to make the commitment to non-violence, and the work required to build a non-violent policy, as comprehensive as possible. We believe the commitment should be perceived as having the same priority as a commitment to equal opportunities. Of course much is already being done, consciously or unconsciously, to reduce or prevent violence involving children in the home, in schools and other institutions, and in community safety and child protection strategies locally and nationally.