Youth Violence Sources and Solutions in South Africa
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Youth violence Youth violence Africa and Solutions in South Sources Sources and Solutions in South Africa Youth violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa thoroughly and carefully reviews the Youth violence evidence for risk and protective factors that influence the likelihood of young people acting aggressively. Layers of understanding are built by looking at the problem from a multitude of perspectives, including developmental psychology and the influences Sources and Solutions in South Africa of race, class and gender. The book explores effective interventions in the contexts of young people’s lives – their homes, their schools, their leisure activities, with gangs, in the criminal justice system, in cities and neighbourhoods, the media, with sexual Edited by offenders – and the broader socioeconomic context. Thoughtful suggestions are made Catherine L. Ward, Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes for keeping an evidence-based perspective, and interventions from other contexts are (necessarily) adapted for developing world contexts such as South Africa. Youth violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa is a valuable source of information for practitioners, academics and anyone who has ever wondered about youth violence or wanted to do something about it. Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes Andrew Amelia van der Merwe, Edited by Catherine L. Ward, ‘It is … a national book of global relevance.’ Alexander Butchart, Prevention of Violence Coordinator, World Health Organization ‘On the one hand the book is indeed about youth violence in South Africa and does as promised focus on both likely sources and potential solutions, BUT it actually does a lot more than that ... I would like to prescribe it as compulsory reading for all aspirant politicians and senior civil servants!’ Peter Donnelly, Professor in Public Health Medicine, University of St Andrews ‘The volume is rich in that it contains extensive reviews, empirical data and examples of good practice for the prevention of youth violence.’ Mohamed Seedat, Professor and Director of the Institute for Social and Health Sciences and the MRC-UNISA Safety and Peace Promotion Research Unit, University of South Africa ISBN:978-1-91989-587-1 www.uctpress.co.za WH33 Youth violence10.indd 1 23/11/2011 7:05 PM Youth Violence Sources and Solutions in South Africa Edited by Catherine L. Ward Amelia van der Merwe Andrew Dawes Youth Violence: Sources and Solutions in South Africa First published 2013 Print edition first published 2011 ©2013 University of Cape Town Press 1st Floor, Sunclare Building 21 Dreyer Street Claremont 7708 South Africa ISBN: 978 1 91989 587 1 (Parent) ISBN: 978 1 92054 165 1 (Web PDF) All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Subject to any applicable licensing terms and conditions in the case of electronically supplied publications, a person may engage in fair dealing with a copy of this publication for his or her personal or private use, or his or her research or private study. See Section 12(1)(a) of the Copyright Act 98 of 1978. Project manager: Deidré Mvula Editor: Sumayya Soni Proofreader: Laetitia Sullivan Illustrator: Sean Strydom Cover designer: waterberrydesigns The authors and the publisher have made every effort to obtain permission for and acknowledge the use of copyright material. Should any infringement of copyright have occurred, please contact the publisher, and every effort will be made to rectify omissions or errors, in the event of an update or new edition. Table of Contents uuu Acknowledgements vii About the Contributors viii Map of South Africa xii Foreword xiii Chapter One Youth Violence in South Africa: Setting the Scene 1 Catherine L. Ward, Andrew Dawes & Richard Matzopoulos SECTION ONE 21 Chapter Two Gender, Class, ‘Race’ and Violence 23 Don Foster Chapter Three The Development of Youth Violence: An Ecological Understanding 53 Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes & Catherine L. Ward SECTION TWO 93 Chapter Four The Situation of the Youth in South Africa 95 Saadhna Panday, Chitra Ranchod, Busani Ngcaweni & Soraya Seedat Chapter Five Preventing the Development of Youth Violence in the Early Years: Implications for South African Practice 141 Mark Tomlinson, Andrew Dawes & Alan J. Flisher Chapter Six School-Based Youth Violence Prevention Interventions 175 Aník Gevers & Alan J. Flisher Chapter Seven Interventions for Out-of-School Contexts 213 Lisa Wegner & Linda Caldwell Chapter Eight Intervening with Youths in Gangs 241 Adam Cooper & Catherine L. Ward Chapter Nine Youthful Sex Offending: The South African Context, Risks and Effective Management 275 Amelia van der Merwe, Ulrich Meys & Samantha Waterhouse Chapter Ten Screen Media Violence and the Socialisation of Young Viewers 319 Jane Stadler Chapter Eleven Interventions for Young Offenders: What We Know about What ‘Works’ in Diversion Programmes 347 Amelia van der Merwe & Andrew Dawes Chapter Twelve Addressing Youth Violence in Cities and Neighbourhoods 373 Margaret Shaw Chapter Thirteen The South African Context: Future Directions in Research and Practice 401 Amelia van der Merwe, Andrew Dawes & Catherine L. Ward Index 425 vi Acknowledgements uuu We acknowledge with gratitude: the support of the Human Sciences Research Council for the early phase of developing this book; the support of the University of Cape Town for bringing it to completion; the guidance provided by Sandy Shepherd, our publisher at UCT Press; the expert assistance offered by Tarah Swanepoel in the final editing; and the enthusiasm of Glenda Cox and Michael Paskevicius from UCT OpenContent. About the Contributors uuu Linda Caldwell is Professor of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management and Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. She is also the Director of the College of Health and Human Development’s Global Leadership Institute. Her research focuses on recreation and leisure as contexts for youth development, health promotion and risk reduction. She has been involved in developing two prevention interventions that help young people learn to use their leisure time in healthy ways. Adam Cooper is a researcher at the Extra-Mural Education Project, a Cape Town-based NGO, and a doctoral student in the Department of Education Policy Studies at the University of Stellenbosch. He previously worked at the Human Sciences Research Council and the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town. He is currently involved in a number of projects that use various forms of media to promote child-centred, participatory research, such as a ‘photovoice’ project in Lavender Hill and a youth radio show with Bush Radio in Cape Town. Andrew Dawes is Associate Professor Emeritus in the Psychology Department at the University of Cape Town, and Associate Fellow in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford. He was formerly a Research Director of the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa and is a Fellow of the Association of Psychological Science. His recent research includes the development of a model for monitoring the status of children in South Africa published as: Dawes, A., Bray, R. & Van der Merwe, A. (eds.) (2007). Monitoring Child Well-Being. A South African Rights-Based Approach. Cape Town: HSRC Press. Alan J. Flisher was the Sue Streungmann Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town (UCT); Head of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UCT and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital; Director of the Adolescent Health Research Unit at UCT; and Director of the Mental Health and Poverty Research Programme Consortium. His research interests included adolescent health, mental health services research and psychiatric epidemiology. Sadly, Alan passed away in April 2010, before this book could be published. He About the Contributors contributed greatly to the lives and work of many of the authors of chapters in this book, and we are deeply grateful for his contributions. Don Foster is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town and author of The Theatre of Violence, Detention and Torture in South Africa, and Social Psychology in South Africa, among over a hundred other publications concerned with the psychology of social identities. Aník Gevers is a clinical psychologist and researcher specialising in child and adolescent mental health and well-being, and violence prevention. She completed her clinical training at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and is completing doctoral work at the University of Cape Town under the supervision of Cathy Mathews and Rachel Jewkes, and formerly Alan Flisher. Gevers previously worked at the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Cape Town and is currently based at the Gender and Health Research Unit at the Medical Research Council. Richard Matzopoulos is a Specialist Scientist at the Medical Research Council’s Burden of Disease Research Unit and is also Honorary Research Associate at the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health and Family Medicine. He also serves on the steering committee of the university’s Safety and Violence Initiative and the provincial government’s Injury Prevention Working Group, which seeks to reduce the burden of disease in the province by focusing on interventions targeting upstream determinants of health. Ulrich Meys is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in private practice. He was particularly involved in the development of SAYStOP (South African Youth Sexual Offender Programme), a diversion programme for young sexual offenders. Busani Ngcaweni is the Head of the Office of the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa. Prior to this, he worked as Head of Special Projects in the same office, having transferred from the Policy Coordination and Advisory Services Unit of the Presidency where he served as policy analyst and Head of the Youth Desk.