The Strange Death of Welfarism:
Youth Justice and the Anti-Social
in Scotland
Lesley McAra
University of Edinburgh
1
Key lessons from the Scottish case
• Political questions
- Highlights the political risks of ‘governing
through crime’
• Methodological questions
- Highlights the need for scholars to look
beyond policy documents to practice: a critical
pluralist approach
• Normative questions
- Highlights the moral vacuum at the heart of
punitive and exclusionary approaches
2
Political lessons
3
1970s
Scotland
England/
Wales
Full flowering
welfarism
Retreat from
welfarism
1980s
Punishment and
systems
management
Early-mid
1990s
“The darkness”
Late 1990s000s
•Increased managerialism;
•Public protection, risk management, effective
practice;
•Social inclusion, crime prevention, communities as
stakeholders;
•Individual rights and responsibilisation;
•Restorative justice, victims as stakeholders.
4
Anti-social behaviour legislation: a
potted history
• 1998 Crime and Disorder Act
- ASBOs introduced for 16+ (applied for by LAs to
Sheriff court, police to be consulted)
• 2003 The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act
- Interim ASBOs introduced
- RSL enabled to apply for ASBOs
• 2004 Anti-Social Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act
- Extends use of ASBOs to 12 – 15 year olds
- Police powers to disperse groups
- Community reparation orders (via courts for those
aged 12+)
- Extension of remote electronic monitoring (tagging)
to under 16s;
- Parenting orders
5
Differences from England/Wales
(12-15 year olds)
• Reporter to children’s hearings system to be
consulted before an ASBO may be applied for
• Sheriff to take account of “what is happening to
the child in the hearings system and the best
interests of the child”
• The making of an ASBO or interim ASBO should
be a trigger for a children’s hearing and court
can require Reporter to arrange a hearing
• Breach is criminal offence but “will not lead to
imprisonment where no other offences are
involved”
6
Community
Family
Child
7
Parent(s)
of
Offender
Offender
Community
Victim
8
A moral panic?
• Statements by Ministers
- Youth crime and anti-social behaviour is a complex and serious problem across
Scotland. However, one thing is clear – our communities have had enough of it.
(Scottish Executive 2002)
- Serious crime is down but as today’s statistics show, communities are clearly still
plagued by vandalism and other persistent forms of antisocial behaviour.
(Scottish Executive 2004)
• Media headlines (focus on ‘ned culture’)
- Extra police target ned culture (BBC News, February 2004)
- Crackdown on 'neds' will require extra £12m (Scotland on Sunday, June 2004)
- Nike the Ned downed 60 bacardis and went on wrecking spree (Daily Record, May
2004)
- Friday night out with the superneds (Sunday Herald, June 2003)
9
Police recorded crime/offences in
Scotland (1988-2007)
Source: Scottish Government
2000000
1800000
1600000
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0
19
88
19
90
19
92
19
94
19
19
20
20
20
20
96
98
00
02
04
06
/9
/9
/0
/0
/0
/0
7
9
1
3
5
7
10
Scottish crime survey :% very or
fairly worried that they will be victim
Source: Brown and Bolling 2007
70
60
50
Housebreaking
Sexual assault
Mugged/robbed
Assault
Vandalism to home
40
30
20
10
0
1993
1996
2000
2002
2005
11
19
92
19
93
19
94
19
19 95
96
19 /97
97
19 /98
98
19 /99
99
20 /00
00
20 /01
01
20 /02
02
20 /03
03
20 /04
04
20 /05
05
20 /06
06
/0
7
% population
Offence referrals to children’s
hearing system
Source: SCRA 2008
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
12
Scottish Household Survey: Neighbourhood
Incivilities (very or fairly common problem)
(Source: Scottish Government 2008)
Young people
hanging around
Drunks/druggies
Vandalism/graffiti
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
02
20
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
20
07
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
13
Scottish Social Attitudes Survey: youth incivilities
very or fairly common and how much affected by
(Source: Anderson et al. 2005)
70
60
50
40
Very/fairly common
Affected a great deal
30
20
10
0
Groups
hanging
around
Vandalism,
graffiti
Young people
drinking
Young drug
users
14
Public attitudes towards youth crime
(Source: Scottish Social Attitudes Survey : Anderson et al. 2005)
Is level youth crime
same/ higher/lower as
10 years ago?
Higher
%
69
Lower
2
Same
25
15
Methodological lessons
16
A failure of implementation?
By March 2008:
• 0 parenting orders
• 14 ASBOs for under 16s (£500,000 each!)
• 18 dispersal orders
• 93 electronic taggings of under 16s (0.2%
of children referred on offence grounds)
17
Normative lessons
18
Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime
‘Anti-social’ vs. non-offenders
(hang out most days, noisy and cheeky in public, involved in vandalism and graffiti)
(www.law.ed.ac.uk/cls/esytc)
Victimization (mean)
Adult harassment (mean)
3
0.5
2.5
0.4
2
Boys
1.5
Girls
1
0.3
Boys
0.2
Girls
0.1
0.5
0
0
Non-offenders
Non-offenders
Anti-social
Sexual intercourse age 14 or
under %
Self-harm %
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Anti-social
40
Boys
Girls
30
20
Boys
10
Girls
0
Non-offenders
Anti-social
Non-offenders
Anti-social
19
Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime
‘Anti-social’ vs. non-offenders
(cont.)
School exclusion %
Major family crisis in past year %
20
60
50
15
40
30
Boys
20
Girls
Boys
10
Girls
5
10
0
0
Non-offenders
Anti-social
Non-offenders
Anti-social
Neighbourhood deprivation (mean)
Free school meal entitlement %
25
4
20
3
15
Boys
10
Boys
2
Girls
Girls
1
5
0
0
Non-offenders
Anti-social
Non-offenders
Anti-social
20
Housing policies
Job security
legislation
Neighbourhood
Family
policies
Hours of
work
School
Father
Dwelling
Child care
policies
Child health
centre medical
care
Child
Mother
Parents’
work
situation
Labour
market
policies
Friends
Siblings
TV/mass media
Leisure time
Social
security
Cultural policies
Communal support
of voluntary agencies
and leisure activities
21
Bronfenbrenner/Martens (1993)