2003/16: Is sufficient being done to curb youth violence?

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Sections in this issue outline (in order):
1. What they said. 2 The issue at a glance. 3 Background. 4 Internet information links. 5 and 6 Arguments for / against. 7 Further implications on this issue. 8 Newspaper items used in the compilation of the outline.

2003/16: Is sufficient being done to curb youth violence?

What they said ...
'Available statistics provide no support for the view that the level of youth violence is increasing'
Comment made by the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Chris Sidoti, in June 1998

'Assaults and violence on people are increasing and the use of weapons in those assaults is increasing and that needs to be acknowledged and tackled'
Former Victoria Police assistant commissioner, Bob Falconer

The issue at a glance
On Saturday June 15, 2003, there were violent brawls at three parties, one held in Sydney, one in Melbourne and one in Perth. The Sydney affray result in one death and seven injuries, in the Melbourne incident nine people were stabbed and others injured, while in Perth more than a hundred youths were involved in a melee with police.
These incidents provoked significant media attention and have led to calls for action from governments and police. There is growing concern Australia wide about a phenomenon referred to as swarming, the gathering together of large numbers of young people, frequently to gatecrash a party and to provoke a confrontation either with invited guests or the police.

Background
On July 7, 2002, three youths from Vietnamese families were killed after an altercation in a South Yarra night club in Melbourne. One of the young man was stabbed to death outside the club, the other two drowned in the Yarra River trying to escape their attackers. Their assailants grew in number as they called on their mobile phones for others to join them.
This assault resulted in a further tightening of Victoria's restrictions on dangerous weapons.
There was a tendency in the media after these attacks to suggest that such assaults were restricted to certain minorities.
More recent media treatments focusing on mass gatecrashing or 'swarming' have acknowledged that this form of youth violence is a more general phenomenon involving a wide range of social and ethnic groups.
On June 17, 2003, The Age newspaper gave an overview of four gatecrashing related assaults that occurred in Victoria from March 1992 to April 2000. The earliest involved two fatal shootings. The last involved a serious assault with two samurai swords which amputated a man's arm.
Despite these graphic accounts, it is still not clear how widespread the problem is. In June 1998 the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Chris Sidoti, warned against exaggerating the extent of youth crime and violence and responding disproportionately.
The Commissioner stated, 'On many occasions I have expressed concern about the level of misinformation on matters relevant to juvenile justice. This misinformation has encouraged inappropriate policy responses by State and Territory governments to the treatment of young offenders. For example, public perceptions are that youth crime is increasing. However, the facts do not support this perception. Research indicates that the levels of all juvenile court appearances and formal diversions have remained stable over the last 15 years. Similarly, available statistics provide no support for the view that the level of youth violence is increasing.'
What would appear to be the case is that there have been a number of mass attempts to infiltrate parties to which these large groups of youths have not been invited. How common this practice is it is difficult to say, however, that a very large crowd can be marshalled for this purpose is beyond dispute. The extent to which these 'swarms' necessarily intend violence is also not clear.
As a starting point, prior to any legislative or other response to youth violence, some state and territory government sources have indicated that preliminary research may be undertaken to determine the extent of the problem.

Internet information
Detailed information about Victoria Police's PartySafe program can be found on the Victoria Police Internet site. The address for the index to the PartySafe program is http://www.police.vic.gov.au/showcontentpage.cfm?contentpageid=6793

In July 2000 the Australian Institute of Criminology Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice published a report titled 'Knives and Armed Robbery'. This report gives a detailed account of the legislation in each Australian state and territory designed to regulate or prohibit offensive weapons.
This is a pdf file and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to be read. Ther Reader can be downloaded without charge from the Internet.
This report can be found at http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti159.pdf

The Victorian Department of Justice Internet site gives a detailed list of all those weapons which are currently prohibited under Victorian legislation. The list can be found at http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/CA2569020010922A/OrigDoc/~AF15C6429D88D005CA256C1D0016321D?OpenDocument&1=0-Safety~&2=0-Crime+Prevention~&3=0-Information+about+Prohibited+Weapons~

The Victorian Department of Justice Internet site has a section given over to its weapons community education campaign. The index of this section of the site can be found at http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/CA2569020010922A/OrigDoc/~504C240C1C0AAE49CA256C1D002C4EC3
Included in this index is a link to advice to parents on how to prevent their children acquiring and carrying prohibited weapons.

The January 1999 edition of the People's Justice Alliance newsletter had a report titled 'Civil Rights and Young People'. This report suggests that a range of police practices violate the rights of young people.
The report can be found at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~pjan/news/pja16004.htm

On November 9, 1999, the ABC's World Today series ran a program titled, 'Australia still free of US-style ethnic street gangs'. The report included interviews with a number of authorities suggesting that youth violence in Australia did not appear to have an ethnic element. However, the report warned that media stereotyping of particular ethnic groups had the capacity to generate tension between youths that was based on prejudices about the probable behaviour of a given ethnic group.
A full transcript of this report can be found at http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/s65299.htm

SOFweb, the Internet site of the Victorian Department of Education, has a section given over to outlining the welfare support available to young people attending Government schools. The index to this page can be found at http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/wellbeing/support/index.htm
The links referring to student welfare coordinators and student support services officers are of particular relevance.

Arguments supporting that sufficient is being done to curb youth violence
1. Nearly all Australian states and territories have laws prohibiting the carrying of knives and other offensive weapons
In 1994 Victoria amended the Control of Weapons Act 1990 to ban carrying of a knife in public. Knives were later defined as "regulated weapons" under the Control of Weapons (Amendment) Act (No. 30) 1994. The Weapons Regulations 2000 took these prohibitions further.
In Victoria prohibited weapons are weapons that are considered totally inappropriate for general possession or use because they are exclusively offensive in nature. These weapons include flick knives, daggers, an article designed to include a concealed knife, push knives, throwing blades, knuckle-dusters and blow-guns. Such weapons cannot be imported, manufactured, sold, possessed or carried without a special approval to do so.
The penalties for breeching The Control of Weapons Act 1990 include a fine of up to $12,000 or six months' imprisonment.
In 2003 new legislation was introduced in Victoria to prohibit the sale of swords and crossbows and to increase police powers to search people they suspect of carrying weapons.
In 1998, Queensland amended its Weapons Act. The Police and Other Legislation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1998 was enacted and Section 51 of the Weapons Act was replaced with "a person must not physically possess a knife in a public place, unless the person has a reasonable excuse..." ( Police and other Legislation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1998).
In Western Australia, carrying of a knife, without lawful excuse, is prohibited under the Police Act 1892, Western Australia Section 65 (4 and 4a).
While in the Northern Territory, a person is prohibited, without lawful excuse, to possess, carry, or use an offensive weapon as of December 1996 ( Summary Offensives Act, Northern
In New South Wales, the Summary Offences Act 1988 was amended in 1998 to prohibit the carrying of knives in public places and schools ( Summary Offences Act 1988, Section 11C p1). New South Wales also has the additional legislation allowing for the parent(s) of a child to be prosecuted if they authorised or permitted their child to carry a knife.
South Australia defines a knife as an offensive weapon and possession, or carrying, of an offensive weapon, without reasonable excuse, is an offence. Legislation has been recently drafted to include the banning of flick knives, knuckledusters, capsicum spray, and extendable batons.
In the Australian Capital Territory, a variety of knives are proscribed in the Prohibited Weapons Act 1996. The Crimes (Amendment) Act (No. 2) 1998 prohibits a person, without reasonable excuse, to "have a knife in his or her possession in a public place or school" (Section 8 (1)). The Act also prohibits the sale of a knife to a person under the age of 16 years ( Crimes (Amendment) Act (No. 2) 1998, No. 22 of 1998, Australian Capital Territory). The definition of knife includes a knife blade, a razor blade, and any other blade.
Tasmania is the only state that does not appear to specifically target knives, simply having the category of "offensive weapon". This is defined as "an article made or adapted to be used to injure or incapacitate a person or intended for that use by the person possessing it". However,
Tasmania is currently preparing a Control of Weapons Bill that will also outlaw carrying knives in a public place. (Please note, as most of this information has been taken from a source dated July, 2000, the situation in the different states and territories may have altered somewhat in the past three years.)

2. Victoria Police has introduced PartySafe, a program involving the police monitoring parties
Victoria Police has introduced PartySafe, a program aimed to increased police effectiveness in ensuring that parties do not get out of control. PartySafe involves registering the party with the local police. The police will then put signs up on the house prior to the party warning that the event will be monitored by the police. The police then do regular patrols of the street where the party was being held and may even drop in on the party. Registering the party with the local police also ensures that the Police will respond very promptly to any call for assistance.
Acting Sergeant Dale Johnstone, of Victoria Police's Community Consultation and Crime Prevention Office, has claimed that parents who registered with PartySafe had noticed a big improvement in behaviour.

3. Victoria Police and the Metropolitan Ambulance Service have issued guidelines to help parents conduct teenage parties safely
Victoria Police and the Metropolitan Ambulance Service have both issued guidelines to assist parents when running teenage parties. These guidelines urge parents to register the party with the local police. They suggest the party should be by invitation only and that the parents of those attending should be contacted and given the details, so that it can be arranged to have everyone attending dropped off and picked up. This stops the street being congested with cars and attracting attention to the party. It also removes the risk of drunk driving by some guests and of cars being used dangerously and means that there will not be young people trying to make their way home independently late at night or early in the morning once the party has finished. It is recommended that there should be only one entrance and that invitations should be checked as guests arrive. It addition to this parents are advised to work out ways to wind the party up so that it ends without large numbers of youths milling around in the street outside the house where the party was held. It is further recommended that all drinks, including soft drinks, should be supplied by the party givers to reduce the likelihood of alcohol being smuggled in. It is also suggested that an adult supervise drinks and that alternatives be provided to alcohol.

4. The Victorian Government has increased welfare staff in schools
Funds have been made available to all Government secondary colleges in Victoria to employ student welfare coordinators. Student welfare coordinators are meant to respond to the social, emotional and psychological needs of students in their charge. They are responsible for helping students handle issues such as truancy, bullying, drug use and depression. Student welfare coordinators work with other welfare professionals and agencies to address student needs.
Student Support Services is the collective name for the group of professionals who provide support to students and schools. These include guidance officers, psychologists and social workers. These services aim to maximise opportunities for the maintenance and development of the wellbeing of all students and to strengthen schools' capacity to keep students attending. This is important as it is believed that many of those involved in youth violence are either regular truants, early school leavers or young unemployed.

5. Parents are taking a range of measures, including employing security staff to ensure teen parties are safe
The Melbourne-based security firm, Australian Corporate Conciliation Service, has claimed that demand for security at private parties has tripled since 2001. Mr Jay Young, a company spokesperson, has said that most parents did not 'even blink an eye' to demands of more than double the normal hourly rate for each guard.
One such parent is Heathmont restaurateur Bing Ong Tan who wanted his daughter's 20th birthday party to go without problems. 'We wanted the night to go as well as it could.' The family employed entrance guards from the Melbourne security company Advanced Protective Services Australia and were pleased with the result. They have claimed, 'We never had any problems.'

Arguments saying that insufficient is being done to curb youth violence
1. Police are not adopting suitable measures to deal with youth violence, especially at parties.
Victoria began the PartySafe program in 1998. Though it is being trialled in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, there is no other state or territory which has yet taken the program up.
Instead, there is concern being expressed in some quarters that a pattern of confrontation is developing between masses of young gatecrashers and police. The phenomenon is referred to as 'swarming' and usually involves large numbers of young people descending on a venue and deliberately provoking trouble, sometimes in the hope of having a pitched battle with the police. Those who gatecrash the party are often summoned via mobile phone. As Paul Toohey and Barclay Crawford noted in a recent analysis of gatecrashing published in The Australian, '... an advance party of gatecrashers arrives at a party, seemingly with the intention of inciting the inevitable mustering of police in riot gear. The formula seems to be to lob a few stubbies at the police scout unit, who have usually come in response to a noise complaint, then SMS friends who will arrive in droves for the big stubby-pelting showdown.'
If this pattern become entrenched then programs such as PartySafe will cease to be effective. A police presence will not deter young gatecrashers, rather it is likely to encourage them to come in even greater numbers.
Bob White, criminologist and professor of sociology at the University of Tasmania has stated, 'What you end up with is ritual confrontation where it's expected on both sides and they start to feed off each other. The police anticipate it, as do the young men. The police have to think carefully about how to defuse what is fats becoming a ritual.'
It has further been argued that too few young people are ever arrested as a result of gatecrashing or swarms and so they believe that they can do the same again without risk of prosecution. A recent analysis, published in The Australian noted, 'The crowds, knowing police are reluctant to bulk-arrest, riot with virtual impunity.'

2. Regulations governing the sale of knives are not sufficiently enforced
Youth worker Les Twentyman has claimed that buying knives is far too easy. 'Anyone can go to a weekend market and start up their own jihad terrorist group.'
In June 2003 The Herald Sun sent a number of its reporters to various surplus and adventure stores. They bought six bladed weapons, all easily concealable, without being questioned by the retailers.
The Victorian Police Minister, Andre Haermeyer, has acknowledged that knives are much harder to regulate than guns. He has said that most army surplus stores abide by the law, but that weekend market stalls selling illegal knives were a problem.

3. Insufficient is being done to prevent the illegal carrying of knives
It has been acknowledged that despite legal prohibitions, too little is being done to prevent the carrying of knives. Victoria Police have announced that they will attempt to reduce the number of youths carrying illegal knives in a blitz on those carrying concealed weapons. The Victorian Police Minister, Andre Haermeyer, has stated that Victoria Police has informed the Government that it was gathering intelligence and would clamp down on the misuse of knives.
The State Government is also considering a 'dob-in' campaign aimed against those who own illegal knives or carry them in the street.
A former Victoria Police assistant commissioner, Bob Falconer, said there should be 'zero tolerance' for people carrying knives in public. 'Assaults and violence on people are increasing and the use of weapons in those assaults is increasing and that needs to be acknowledged and tackled,' he has argued.

4. School welfare programs are inadequate to address the needs of problem children
This point has been made by youth worker Les Twentyman, an Open Family street worker. Mr Twentyman has said, 'One of the root causes of [youth violence is] our totally inadequate school welfare system.' Mr Twentyman then went on to claim that in the previous month he had been in contact with more than 700 school principals and welfare teachers. Mr Twentyman concluded, 'To a man and woman they are outraged by the lack of resources to handle what they believe is becoming a crisis of violence, drug use and gang activity that is gripping their school communities ... Properly equipped and experienced people in our schools could at least give some of these kids a chance.'

5. Many parents are not exerting sufficient influence in their children's lives
This point has been made by Herald Sun commentator, Robyn Riley. Responding to recent violent attacks at youth parties, Ms Riley has suggested, 'Perhaps it is time parents took more control over their kids.' Ms Riley further comments' 'We try to be politically correct, sparing the rod, indulging our children, but have we paid a terrible price?'
The Victoria Police PartySafe guidelines for conducting a teenage party require more organisation and parental supervision than appears to be the norm. Parents are advised to supervise the distribution of alcohol, to supply all the beverages that are drunk at the party, to contact the parents of all those attending the party to ensure guests will be dropped off and picked up and to organise a suitable way of bringing the party to an end. This is a far cry from many teenage parties which are left largely, if not entirely in the hands of the young people for whom the party is being held.
Ms Riley suggests that not only is greater parental supervision needed but that many parents need to work on establishing more positive and supportive relationships with their teenage children. She writes, 'The most important thing is to be conscious of what our kids are going through, let them know you're on their side. Keep telling them that in times of trouble, you want to be their first call, not their last resort.'
Ms Riley argues that teenage violence is only one of a number of signs of serious disconnection between young people and their parents and the broader community. These signs also include teenage depression, illness and binge-drinking.
There are also those who suggest that the problem goes beyond young people being inadequately cared for by their parents. In fact, some sociologists suggest, the problem may be the reverse. According to this line of argument, longer time spent at school and the reduced income that comes from either unemployment or part-time employment have meant that larger numbers of young people are living at home for longer. It has been claimed that this has lead to an unnaturally dependent group of people in their late teens and early twenties seeking other means of asserting themselves. Gatecrashing and swarms are seen as one of these means.
Stephen Tomsen, a lecturer in social sciences from the University of Newcastle, has said, 'Among more and more teenagers there is an extended childhood ... They don't have jobs and are being retained at school ... against their own ability and desire. Violence compensates for their lack of success in education, employment ...'
If this is so, it suggests that parents will both have to allow their offspring sufficient independence at the same time as they monitor their activities.

Further implications
It is difficult to know to what extent the media concentration on youth violence is a beat-up. Descriptions of three teenage gatecrashing brawls, one in Sydney, one in Perth and one in Melbourne, as 'carnage' 'around the nation' suggest that some elements of the media like to milk the dramatic potential of such events.
The fact remains, however, that these assaults resulted in one death and two serious stabbing injuries. It is concerning is that there are developments in our social organisation and technologies which have the capacity to facilitate, if not actively promote, youth violence.
Factors such as the relative affluence of youth, their access to cars, and the virtual ubiquity of text-messaging as a means of instant communication between groups of teenagers, mean that a riot can be assembled with frightening speed.
There seem to be two approaches suggested as ways of dealing with this apparently growing problem. One is to try to address the underlying causes. Here we have social commentators discussing poor parenting, unnaturally protracted periods of adolescent dependence caused by unemployment and extended education, and inadequate school programs.
The other approach is control oriented. Here the emphasis is not on addressing the cause of the problem so much as regulating or preventing its manifestations. The focus is on more effective policing and additional laws prohibiting the supply and carrying of dangerous weapons.
In Western Australia the Government has recently imposed curfews on adolescent youth. Children under the age of 13 have to be off the streets by 6.00pm. Those aged 10 to 15 have to be off the streets by 10.00pm. It has been suggested that this legislation is intended to reduce the number of Aboriginal children on Perth streets after dark, however, whatever the initial intent of the legislators, the restrictions necessarily apply to all. Whether that is how they will be applied remains to be seen. It also remains to be seen whether other jurisdictions will take up curfews as a means of controlling youth behaviour.
In Victoria, the Bracks Government has foreshadowed that in the next parliament it will introduce its anti-terrorism package. Included in this will be bills which give police increased powers to search for knives and other weapons. This is unlikely to be the end of the legislative reaction to the threat of street violence from whatever source. Victoria Police are reconsidering the issue and are likely to make a series of recommendations to the Government. Police Minister Andre Haermeyer has already indicated that the Government would seriously consider any recommendations made by the police.
One of the measures which might be employed is to make parents responsible before the law for their children's behaviour, at least till the age of 16. Already in New South Wales the parents of a child can be prosecuted if they authorise or permit their child to carry a knife.
Finally, it is interesting to speculate on the desensitising effect of much popular entertainment and of the current trend in international affairs. Terrorism, and warfare as a response, may seem to legitimise violence in the eyes of some young people.

Sources
The Age
16/6/03 page 1 news item by Jamie Berry, 'Nine stabbed in teen party brawl'
17/6/03 page 3 news item by Darren Gray and Jamie Berry, 'Crackdown on knife thugs'
17/6/03 page 3 news item by Jamie Berry and Robert Upe, 'Give us a call, just for security's sake'
17/6/03 page 3 news item by Dan Silkstone, 'Gatecrasher gang "like wild animals"'
17/6/03 page 3 analysis, 'When a party turns nasty'
18/6/03 page 3 news item by Jamie Berry and Darren Gray, 'Party brawl stab victim blames racist for attack'

The Australian
16/6/03 page 3 news item by Barclay Crawford, Paul Toohey and Julie Smith, 'Youth dead after night of party carnage'
17/6/03 page 7 news item by Barclay Crawford, 'Police on teen party patrol'
18/6/03 page 1 news item by Barclay Crawford, 'Party victim felt no calm before the swarm'
18/6/03 page 13 analysis by Paul Toohey and Barclay Crawford, 'The univited'
12/7/03 page 16 (Australian Magazine insert) analysis by Paul Toohey, 'Party animals'

The Herald Sun
18/6/03 page 4 news item by Holly Lloyd-McDonald and Mark Buttler, 'Fight for life after party row'
18/6/03 page 4 news item, 'Youth dies as car hits revellers'
18/6/03 page 7 news item by Paul Anderson and Tanya Giles, 'War on knives'
18/6/03 page 18 editorial, 'Gatecrashers'
19/6/03 page 22 comment by Robyn Riley, 'How did it come to this?'
20/6/03 page 20 comment by Les Twentyman, 'Crisis of kids out of control'