School Boy Vandalism in the Hutt Valley

SCHOOL BOY VANDALISM IN THE HUTT VALLEY PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS Occasional Papers in Criminology No. 8 ISSN 0110-1773 Michael Stace Institute of Criminology Victoria University of Wellington ' CON'l':t:N'l'8 Page Foreword L The Research Project Planning 1 Summary R 2. Preliminary Analysis A. Introduction 10 B. The Most Frequently Admitted Acts 12 C. Seriousness 18 D. Police Youth Aid Statistics 20 E • Summary 2 2 References 24 Appendix A 25 Appendix B 28 .FOREWORD An earlier Occasional Paper, namely Noc 6, February 1978, was written by Mr Michael Stace of this Institute on the subject of Vandalism and Self RepoEt Studies : A Review of the Literature. ':rhe present paper by Mr Stace gives some of the results from a questionnaire administered in four New Zealand post-primary schools, namely, the Hutt Valley High School, the Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College, Naenae College, and Taita College. We are 1m'.!eLted to Mr W. RAnwick, Director-General of Education tor the help and encouragement he and his senior officers 1;:rave to the launching of the project. We thank Mr E. Flaws, the Principal of Tawa College and Mr A. McLean, School Counsellor, for their helpful reception and adoption of the proposal that a pilot scheme be administered at Tawa College. We are also appreciative of the reception and support later given by the following principals of the four post-primary schools in the Hutt Valley and also the school counsellors as set out below;- School Principal Guidance Counsellor Hutt Valley High School M.r I. R. McLean Mr B.C. Burton Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College Mr G ....J. Rowe Mr H. Davis Naenae College Mr D.E. Wood Mr D. Carpenter Acting Senior Master 'I"ai ta College Mr J.W. Anderson Mr R. Rosemergy l'>long with Mr Flaws and Mr McLean of 'l'awa College they were invited to atteild a. meeting convened by Mr P. Boag, Deputy Director-General of Education to explain the project. We were particularly impressed ,,1ith their genuine concern with the question of vandalism and also with other phases of the question of violence. We place on record our appreciation of the willing participation of students at the five schools as mentioned above. We acknowledge the statistical data made available by the present Comrnissioner of Police, Mr R.J. liilalton and by his immediate predecessor, Mr K"B" Burnside and other officers, in particular the staff of the Youth Aid Section. During the conceptual stage of the project we were helped by consult ations with Mr John Croft, Director of the Home Office Research Unit and Mr Kevin IL Heal, now Principal Research Officer in that Unit. 'rhese consult- ations took place while I was visiting England in 1975 and 1977 and also in the course of correspondence. In addition we had the advantage of consultation with the following 1rihile they were on vis.its tc New Zealand: a'" Professor ~rohn Ll .. J- .. Edwards" Faculty of Law a.nd Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto, C-anada,. b. Albert Morris, Professor Emc2,ritus, Department of Sociology, Boston University, Boston. c. Professor Leslie T. Wilkins, Schoel ot Criminal Justice, State University of New York, Albany, New York. The Institute of Criminology was established at Victoria University of Wellington on the 1st J·anuary 197 5 as part of 'che Faculty of .i\rts. Its functions include the teaching of criminology, the conduct and promotion of research, and the encouragement of co-ordination within the University on questions relating to criminoloqy. 'fhe sta:Ef at present crnJ.sists of: the Director, one Lecturer, Mr Michael Stace and three Research Fellows, namely, Mr Robert Burnett, Mr John B2.low and Miss J·ane Bradbury" The staff work as a team to discharge the Institute' s teach.ing and research functions. Th.e author of a paper is personally responsible for st,,ch opinions as are expressed, but he h,rn the benefit of consultation and discussion within the Institute and elsewhere within the University. In the case of this particular paper the author has had substantial hel9 from Miss Jane Bradbury both in the interpretation and the effective prese11tation of statistical data. The earlier Occasional Paper No. 6 referred to above and the present one, No. 8, represent a valuable addition to relevant knowledge on the subject of vandalism. This particuJ.a.r paper has the added ad,;'antage of focusing upon a major urban area within New Zealand. ,J" L. Robson Director August 1978. 1. THE RESEARCH PROJ.ECT Planning Tho Lopic of V<lndalicm ia one which !wu been of concern to Lhe ~lctff of the Institute of Criminology since its establishment on 1st January 1975. The principal area of the Institute"s research h~s been, and will continue to bP, vin]PnCP, a rliffic11lt an<l comp]Px arPa. Vanrlalism is, of courga, an aspP~t of thP wirlPr tnpi~ of vi.o1PncP. AnnthPr lnn0-stanrlin0 conc@rn has been the need for a more reliable picture of the nature and extent of actual offending in New Zealand than is provided by the official crime statistics. Self-report studies are an accepted method of providing a less inaccurate account of some kinds of offending. The possibility of combining research into vandalism with a self report study was first considered by the Institute's staff in September 1975 folluwing a visit by Dr J.L. Robson, the Direclor, Lo Geneva. [01. Uw Fifth United Nations Congress on Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. While in Europe he also had discussions with members of the United Kingdom Home Office Research Unit who were working in this area. 'fhe basic question faced by the Institute was whether a self-report study was worth doing. That depended on whether the results likely to be obtained were sufficiently reliable to be used as some indication as to the amount of criminal behaviour in a society. It involved appraising work previously done in a number of countries. The literature 1,vas reviewed and the conclusion reached was that, provided the research design was prepared ,,'7ith considerable care, the results would have a general validity in providing a more sensitive account of total offending within a cornrnuni ty than do the official statistics., They may provide some valuable leads towards the actual amount of offending in a community and may call into question the conceptions held by many about crime and criminals. Stace (1978) provides a review of the literature on both vandalism and self report studies. The Advisory Committee of the Institute of Criminology, meeting in November 1975, concurred with a proposal to study vandalism through the medium of a self-report study. An important factor which has continually weighed upon the Institute's staff has been their limited resources. It was necessary whenever research proposals were discussed to ensure that the resources by way of skills and time, available to the Institute, will be able to handle the project. Considerable discussion on the research design followed. It was decided early in the piece that our sample would be drawn from s,econdary school children in the Hutt Valley. School children were to be the focus because most work with self-report studies had been directed towards them and to some extent they were a captive audience, The Hutt Va.lley was selected as the study area. It provided a self-contained geographical area not apparently dissimilar to the rest of New Zealand. However, decisions 2. were required upon numerous other issues, such as the size and selection of sample, age group of sample, use of interview or questionnaire, activities to be covered, liaison with schools .and other agencies. These matters were reviewed in March 1976 and comments from a Senior Research Officer in the Home Office with experience-in self-report research were taken into account. Visiting the Institute at the time was 1-'ro±essor Albert Morris, ±ormerly o± Boston University, who was able to contribute on the research design from his experience. We had to decide what information we sought and for what purpose. The conclusion reached was to seek information which could throw light on commonly held conceptions about youthful vandalism. Accordingly, we decided to limit the questionnaire to boys aged 14, 15 and 16 years, of all ethnic origins, of all socio-economic statuses.classified by the father's occupation, and covering the full range of educational achievement. The other important decision was to obtain information not only over the range of vandalism but also to cover the leisure pursuits of the boys and their attitudes to school, parents and their peers. It was believed that a common perception of vandals was that they tended to be the boys who neither participated in organized recreation nor pursued hobbies. We also decided that it would be useful to collect information from the Youth Aid Section of the Lower Hutt Police for the same period to be covered by the survey to see if there were any important differences between official and unofficial vandals. A pilot run of the questionnaire, it was decided, would also be beneficial. The next step was the preparation of tµe questionnaire and as a basis two Home Office questionnaires were perused in some detail. The draft questionnaire was considered by the Institute staff and copies were forwarded to various Government research sections and to those within the University with appropriate experience. Most of those from whom assistance was sought gave generously of their time and experience. The question of the attitude of parents and the Post Primary Teachers' Association was raised, with the suggestion that their co-operation should be sought prior to administering the questionnaire.

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