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levels of victimization were again than 10 per cent of the 600 homicides found to be common with 82 per cent in Britain each year are perpetrated Youth of a sample of 208 12 to 14 year olds by parents against their own children recalling they had been victimized in (under age 16). Victimisation the previous year. 68 per cent of The extent of domestic child young women had been sexually abuse remains largely unknown harassed, whilst two thirds of young although research by NCH Action for John Muncie examines the men had suffered from assault and Children in 1994 based on reported theft. In contrast on average only a incidents alone estimated that at least degree of over-control and quarter of the sample admitted that 750,000 children were growing up in they themselves had committed an an atmosphere of fear and violence. lack of protection afforded to offence, leading the authors to In the child sexual abuse young people on the streets, conclude that young people are investigations of the 1980s in 'more sinned against than sinning'. Cleveland, Orkney and Rochdale in the home and in Specific questions about youth blame was passed from parents to victimization were not included in social workers for unnecessarily institutions. the British Crime Survey until 1992. removing children from their he vast majority of research From a sample of 1,350, in just six families. Notions of family sanctity on youth and crime in the UK months a third of 12 to 15 year olds and privacy have always precluded has focussed on young people claimed that they had been assaulted widespread use of criminal T at least once, a fifth had had property prosecutions. A psychological, as offenders rather than as victims of crime. Indeed, if victimology in stolen, a fifth had been harassed by medical or welfare focus obscures general can be said to be in its people their own age and a fifth had the fact that criminal offences have infancy then a specific youth been harassed by an adult. Again it been committed. Further victimology is virtually non-existent. was notable that the risks of theft and ambivalence is created by a This article outlines some of the assault were substantially higher than prevailing political concern that the evidence regarding the victimisation, for the adult population, but that few publicising of child abuse and the degree of over-control and lack incidents were reported to the police children's rights is likely to not only of protection afforded to young (Aye Maung, 1995). The 1998 undermine respect for authority and people on the streets, in the home and British Crime Survey (Mirrlees- self-discipline but also threaten in institutions. Black et al 1998) confirmed that the family life itself. In addition, Morgan risks of burglary or vehicle theft are and Zedner (1992) draw attention to greatest for those where the head of the fact that young people not only Victims of crime household is under 25, while the suffer from physical and sexual One of the first attempts to focus greatest risk of violence is abuse and bullying but are witness directly on youth victimisation was experienced by young men aged 16 to numerous and prolonged instances Mawby's (1979) study of 11 to 15 to 24. of parental violence in the home. year olds in two Sheffield schools. Openly racist harassment and He found that 40 per cent had had bullying is also reported to be Victims of institutional something stolen from their person endured by many black and ethnic and that 25 per cent had suffered a minority children on a daily basis. violence physical assault. Overall 67 per cent Racially motivated violence (as Just as alarming are the growing said that they have been crime reported to the police) increased by number of revelations about the victims. Nevertheless it was not until 250 percent between 1989 and 1996, extensive abuse of children who have the 1990s that the issue was given which means the UK has one of the been in the care of local authorities. much sustained attention. Anderson highest levels of such incidents in Over the past decade there have been et al's. (1990) pioneering work in Western Europe. between 7000 and 11000 young Edinburgh established that criminal people in residential care at any one acts are committed against young time in England, Scotland and Wales. people with "alarming frequency". Victims of family Their treatment has long been a cause They found that over a period of nine violence for concern with allegations of months half of their sample had been Significantly the British Crime systematic violence by residential victims of assault, threatening Survey did not ask about experience staff surfacing throughout the 1980s behaviour or theft (Anderson et al., of youth victimisation and violence and 1990s. Significantly such 1990, p.39). Moreover some 52 per in the home. This is perhaps not victimisation, even when proved, has cent of young women and 36 per cent surprising. Within criminology little tended again to be clouded in terms of young men recalled that they had has been done to expose the routine of 'abuse' and 'mistreatment' rather suffered from adult harassment, of violence - from spanking and than criminal violence. Any resultant ranging from being 'stared at', to slapping to serious assault - endured inquiries have either been hidden importuning and indecent exposure. by young people in their own homes. from public view or at best restricted Whilst for males such offences Nevertheless, what we do know is to identifying a small number of decreased as they grew older, for that children under one year are more individuals who have taken females they increased to the extent at risk of being murdered than any advantage of the powerless. The that 30 per cent of 14 to 15 year olds other age group, with 44 deaths per main policy response has been to had experienced 'touching' or million of population compared with tighten checks on applicants for 'flashing' (Anderson et al., 1990, a national average of 12 per million. residential posts, rather than to p.59). In a follow up study in The majority are killed by their overhaul residential care policies. Glasgow (Hartless et al., 1995), high parents or carers. In addition more However the issue came to a head 20 CJITI no. 41 Autumn 2000 in 2000 with the publication of Lost priority target. The 1998 Crime and unknown to previous generations. in Care - the Waterhouse report Disorder Act introduced new Anti- The old and predictable structures of which uncovered widespread and Social Behaviour Orders to be labour markets and welfare systems organised abuse of boys and girls in applied in response to nuisances and are being dismantled and replaced by North Wales between 1974and 1990. incivilities. To date they have been a series of uncertainties and Waterhouse heard 259 complaints, applied almost exclusively to young contingencies. named 200 workers in more than 40 people. The 1998 Act also introduced homes and found evidence not only curfew restrictions to children under Conclusion of daily physical assault but also of the age of 10 on the presumption, The relative powerlessness of young gross sexual exploitation and rather than actual committal, of people has always placed them at emotional abuse. It also attributed at crime. As a result all manner of potential risk of adult victimisation. least 12 deaths, by suicide or in myths and stereotypes about Such a risk is exacerbated at times suspicious circumstances, to the 'troublesome' people and places when the potential of youth is experience of being 'in care'. have come into play. subjugated to that of'threat'. Seeking Conditions in young offender Coupled with these legal and their greater regulation ensures that institutions have also been a discretionary powers there has been they are placed in positions of greater recurring cause for concern. Between a significant contraction of spaces dependency often in those same 1972 and 1987, 31 prisoners under deemed to be 'public'. Malls and family and institutional settings that the age of 21 committed suicide, but shopping centres have increasingly are a key source of their there were 11 such deaths in the first become semi-privatised, employing victimisation. The problems facing 8 months of 1994 alone. In 1994-5 security guards to deter young people are compounded when nearly a half of young inmates 'undesirables' and those who do not the prevailing political discourse reported that they had been attacked conform to images of the ideal becomes that of 'blaming the victim'. or threatened in the previous month consumer. Lacking consumer power, In such contexts the true nature and (The Guardian, 3 October 1996). the presence of young people is extent of youth victimisation will These publicised cases are viewed as a threat to the normal continue to remain stubbornly hidden arguably the tip of an iceberg of course of commerce. from public view. _ institutional violence, matched by Throughout all such attempts to adult complicity and indifference. regulate youth behaviour the role of John Muncie is Senior Lecturer in They serve as a reminder of the the police is pivotal. Through routine Criminology and Social Policy at the dangers inherent in institutionalising surveillance, targeting and reporting Open University. and incarcerating young people practices the 'usual suspects' are whether in the name of care, of identified. But such 'knowledge' is References rehabilitation or of punitive training. then passed on to other institutions, Anderson, S., Kinsey, R., Loader, I. such as schools and social services, and Smith, C. (1994) Cautionary Policing and routine to 'calibrate the degrees to which the Tales: Young People, Crime and chosen few should be excluded from surveillance Policing in Edinburgh, Aldershot: social life' Avebury Histories of police-youth relations Aye Maung, N.

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