Family, Young People and Crime:Locations, Causes and Solutions

Troubles of Youth11th Feb 2008

Philip Larkin - This Be The VerseThey f*** you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do.They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you.

But they were f***ed up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats,Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf.Get out as early as you can, And don't have any kids yourself.

We're going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.

George Bush (Snr) (1992)

Lecture Outline

• The Family: patterns, problems, ideologies and theories

• The Family – as the cause of crime– as a site of crime– as a solution to crime

What is the Family?

Poverty

The locus of the range of sociological influences

• is the “family” simply a short-hand for society, or is it an influence in its own right?

Gender

Locality

Ethnicity

Social Class

The Family

Sexuality

Work / Leisure

Theories of the family

• Functionalist Theories– nuclear family: functional adaptation to the

requirements of industrial society– Socialisation of children– Emotional and physical support for the (male)

breadwinner• Marxist Theories

– Reproduction of the workforce, on a daily and generational basis

– Individual identity lost in the harsh world of work– New family became a ‘real sphere of personal

freedom and independence’ (Zaretsky)

Feminist theories of the family

• The family is a key institution in maintaining patriarchy– Women’s housework: vital to the economy,

but unpaid– Men given control over women’s sexuality and

fertility– Reinforces separate gender identities– Key institution socialising gender roles– Separation of public and private spheres

Family life in decline?

All marriages

First marriages

Divorces

Remarriages

First marriage Divorce

Males Females Males Females

1971 24.6 22.6 39.4 36.8

1981 25.4 23.1 37.7 35.2

1991 27.5 25.5 38.6 36.0

2001 30.6 28.4 41.5 39.1

Average age at first marriage and divorce

Source: ONS

Increasing single parenthood

Percentage of children brought up in different family types (Source: Social Trends 2007)

Political approaches to the family• Conservative

– “The nation’s spiritual leaders should unashamedly extol the virtues of normal family life”

– Nuclear families form the bedrock of society– Other forms are deviant, unstable and unworkable

• Labour– Largely in agreement, but some recognition of

diversity of family types, and the need for policy to respond to social change

Current Crime / Family Ideologies (see Mooney on Wiki)

• A central aspect of the “Respect” agenda– the ‘family’ seen as a moral agent– “poor” parenting / family breakdown– ignores the social and economic context that

gives rise to these– Solution: strengthen the institution – Relies on a certain social construction of the

family

The family as a cause of crime

• Familial causes of crime– Genetic explanations– Differential Association– Family as a criminal structure

Dysfunctional families as a cause of crime

• “Families without Fatherhood”– George Erdos / Norman Dennis– The lack of an appropriate male role model is

resulting in a weakening of moral consensus and a resultant rise in crime

– Associated with Individualistic Underclass theories (eg. Charles Murray)

National Survey of Health and Development

• Factors associated with delinquency (Wadsworth, 1979)• Parent’s social status• Family size• Child’s birth order• Parent’s split up <5

Predicted as delinquent

Predicted as non-delinquent

Actually delinquent

136 50

Actually non-delinquent

711 915

Ruby and Farrington (2001)

• Comparison of delinquency rates between– permanently disrupted families– intact families

• Also considered conflict within families• Disrupted families, and intact high conflict

families showed similar delinquency rates• Loss of mothers seemed to have a greater

influence than loss of fathers• Disrupted families, where child stays with mother

show similar patterns to intact families

Family as a site of crime

• Hidden crime: the domestic sphere as protecting the offender

• Contrasts with the ideology of the family as nurturing, safe ‘haven in a heartless world’

• Separation of public and private spheres has kept violence in the family hidden

• Feminist campaigning has brought private sphere into arena of public debate

The family as a solution to crime?

• Families placed as central to the maintenance of secure communities

• Dysfunctional families seen as a major problem (ignores wider social causes)

• Benefits withdrawn from parents

• Parenting Orders / fines

• Parenting contracts

Family Placement

• Support Care – remain predominantly in own family settings

• Remand Fostering – for young people refused bail and remanded to local authority care

• Intensive Fostering – an alternative to custody; where living circs contributed to offence

• Avoids problems associated with custodial settings

• Strong links to supportive adults: pro-social approach in the real world

• Young people’s agency still prioritised

Parenting Contracts

• CDA 1998 / CJA 2003 / Anti-social behaviour Act 2003

• Available if a child has– convicted of a criminal offence– received an ASBO, referral order child safety order– or, parents are convicted of failing to assure school

attendance, or YOP– 2003 -> “freestanding parental orders”

• Failure to comply: fine up to £1000 and/or community penalty

Parenting Contract

• Agreement as to the work/support to be carried out– addressing conflict and challenging

behaviour, both of young people and within the family

– supervision and monitoring of young people– A range of therapeutic, group work, advisors

and mentoring schemes

“Positive Parenting” (on Wiki)

• Evaluation of 34 parenting projects

• Effectiveness– improved communication, monitoring and

supervision– Reduction in Conflict– Parent’s feeling empowered to influence

children’s behaviour, and perform “parenting” in general

Criticisms of Parenting Orders

• Fails to address structural inequality, and places the blame on the family / parents

• Support not available at the first signs of problems – only really targeting young people who have offended

• Criminalises parents– assumes parental control: often not the case– parental punishments for their children’s actions– punishes parents, but NOT the State when

responsible for young people’s care