Vandalism

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Vandalism

• Sofia Pereira
• Jason Perez

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Downsizing Deviance

• This is the indifference to lower levels of a
  given transgressive behaviour as higher levels of
  such behaviour become more frequent and, hence,
  more significant.
• Catch it low to prevent it high. This is the
  idea that if one successfully seeks to diminish
  the occurrence of low-level aggressive enactment,
  then higher levels of aggression also become less
  likely

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Monetary Costs

• Accurate estimates of monetary costs are hard to
  locate for the same reasons that reliable
  vandalism incidence data are difficult to obtain.
• However, many studies have shown that the
  incidence and cost of vandalism are high and
  rising.

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Social Costs

• Vestermark and Blauvelt state
• The impact of a 79 cent can of spray paint, used
  to paint racial epithets on a hallway wall, far
  exceeds the monetary cost of removing the paint.
  A racial confrontation could result, which might
  force the closing of the school for an indefinite
  period
• Reilly asserts
• The victim of vandalism experiences a sense of
  having been singled out by an unkind fate, a
  heightened sense of vulnerability, of not being
  safe even on his own grounds there is a sense of
  impotent rage and a desire for revenge.... The
  victim of vandalism becomes more alienated from
  his neighbours...more fearful.... and more
  hostile and suspicious of strangers...

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Social Costs

• Social Costs
• -      The presence of vandalism gives rise to
  concern that more of the same will follow.
  Research has shown that incivility leads to more
  incivility and that litter, broken windows,
  abandoned buildings, and the like create a sense
  of disorder and decline which may lower the
  inhibition level of both residents and passersby
  and thus permit and in a sense encourage further
  such deteriorative behavior.
• -         In the school setting, Vestermark and
  Blauvelt suggested that the social cost of
  vandalism is the summation of three components
  1)its impact on the schools educational program
  2)its psychological impact on both students and
  adults 3)its degree of disruptiveness of group
  or intergroup relations.

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Social Costs

• Vestermark and Blauvelt created four types of
  vandalism in terms of monetary and social costs
• -Type I Vandalism incidents having both a high
  monetary cost as well as a high social cost
• -Type II Vandalism incidents having a high
  monetary cost but a low social cost.
• -Type III Vandalism incidents having a low
  monetary cost but a high social cost.
• -Type IV Vandalism incidents having both a low
  monetary cost as well as a low social cost.

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Prevalence of vandalism

• A survey conducted by the Ontario Task Force on
  Vandalism to gauge public opinion regarding
  contemporary vandalism found that 37 of the
  Toronto residents and 56 residing outside
  Toronto, indicated that they thought vandalism
  was a problem and 67 of the Toronto residents
  polled believed that vandalism had increased over
  the previous five years.
• According to Wiesenthal
• -In another survey of Ontario secondary school
  students, only about half described vandalism as
  either quite or very serious. Overall in this
  group, vandalism was regarded as less serious
  than either shoplifting or breaking and entering.
  

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Prevalence of Vandalism

• According to Chepynoha and Parwicki
• - Toronto high school students indicated that a
  substantial number of both male and female high
  school students did not consider many kinds of
  vandalism serious (ie. writing on desks or
  walls). The importance of this survey is that
  acts which are most likely seen as serious by
  most of the community, are not consistently seen
  that way by the high school students who may be
  the very perpetrators of such acts.

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Measuring the incidence of Vandalism

• - It is difficult to estimate the extent of
  vandalism due to the various definitions
  regarding what in fact constitutes a vandalistic
  act.
• - Firm approximations are not easily arrived at,
  and when they are, they are likely to be serious
  underestimations.
• -The method of assessing conviction on vandalism
  charges is not practical since only a very small
  proportion of offenses are even brought to court.
• - Police data are also suspect, since small
  offenses may not be reported.
• -Many victims elect not to report
  vandalistic acts because they believe that little
  will follow from their act or reporting. Only an
  estimated 3-4 of vandalistic acts lead to
  prosecution

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The Ontario Task Force on Vandalism Vandalism
Self-Report Study (1980)

• Purpose
• Method
• Procedure
• Design of Questionnaire
• Part A
• Part B
• Part C
• Part D

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• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion

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Vandalism vs. Depreciative Behaviour

•       a path worn in a campus lawn by students
  creating and repeatedly taking a shortcut.
• a chipped corner to a hallway wall, banged time
  and again by workers pushing loaded carts.
• Park playground equipment broken as a result of
  long and often overly energetic use.

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Vandalism vs. Depreciative Behaviour

• Depreciative behaviour differs from vandalism in
• Intent
• Awareness
• Responsibility

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Defining Vandalism

• There are a variety of definitions of vandalism.
  Though varying in inclusiveness, these several
  definitions as a group highlight
• Intentionality
• Destructiveness
• Property Ownership

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Cohens typology of vandalism

• Vandalism as institutional rule-breaking
• Ritualism
• Protection
• Play
• Writing-Off
• Walling-In

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Cohens typology of vandalism

• Ideological vandalism
• A rule is broken as a means toward some explicit
  and conscious ideological end. an example would
  be the spraying of War on a series of Stop
  signs or the destruction of highway billboards by
  environmental groups.
• There is no consensus over the content of the
  rule which is being broken and, more
  particularly, the content of the rule is being
  explicitly and consciously challenged. An
  example of this class of behaviour would be
  embassy bombings and attacks.

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Cohens typology of vandalism

• Conventional vandalism
• Acquisitive vandalism
• Tactical vandalism
• Vindictive vandalism
• Play vandalism.
• Malicious vandalism

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Motivational Typologies

• Martin offered
• Predatory vandalism
• Vindictive vandalism
• Wanton vandalism
• Thaw described
• Hostility-directed acts
• Acts of thoughtlessness
• Acts of carelessness

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Hypothesized causes of vandalism

• Social Decay
• Inadequate parenting
• Lenient Courts
• Boredom
• Conformity pressure
• Developmental causation
• Environmental factors
• Aesthetic causation
• Enjoyment theory
• Inequity theory

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Who is the Vandal?
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Where do frequent acts of vandalism occur?

• Schools
• Libraries
• Museums
• Trains
• Buses
• Stations

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The Person-Environment Duet

• In Krupats (1985) view
• -The relationship of person to environment is
  dynamic rather than static. Its a reciprocal
  relationship in which our environment shapes the
  people and the people shape the environment.
• We then use this relationship to look at
  vandalistic behaviour. The physical and social
  environment determines this vandalistic
  behaviour, thus, we must change the environment
  to reduce vandalistic acts.
• Also, we must assess the responsibility of the
  person committing the crime.

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Ways to change the vandal

• Rather than changing the environment, here the
  intervention target is the vandal.
• Cohen suggested 3 person-oriented strategies
• 1-Education
• 2-Deterrence and retribution
• 3-Deflection

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Intervention Strategies

• The following interventions focus on the physical
  and social environment and also at directly or
  indirectly at changing the vandal.
• All these strategies have been used for a defence
  against vandalism.
• Although all these strategies are used to reduce
  vandalism, they are also considered an enjoyable
  challenge for the vandals, which may increase the
  vandals behaviour ( Wise, 1982)

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Interventions

• 1. TARGET HARDENING
• -toughened glass
• -steel framed bus seats
• -reinforced phone or meter coins
• Wise termed de-opportunizing design

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Interventions

• 2. ACCESS CONTROL
• -locked gates, doors, windows
• -use of guard dogs
• -reduced number of building entrances
• 3.DEFLECTING OFFENDER
• -graffiti boards and mural programs
• -steering of pathway circulation (paving
  shortcuts)
• -interesting wallpaper

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Interventions

• 4.CONTROLLING FACILITATORS
• -having control over the sales of spray paint
• -placing bus stops, public phones in no
  isolated locations
• -placing fire alarms and light switches from
  reach or hangout areas
• 5.EXIT-ENTRY SCREENING
• -closed-circuit TV
• -detectors (metal, motion)
• -library book tags

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Interventions

• 6.FORMAL SURVEILLANCE
• This is surveillance done by police, guards,
  monitors, citizen groups, or other paid or
  volunteer security personnel
• 7.NATURAL SURVEILLANCE 
• -community after-school use
• -use of store aisle mirrors
• -low trimming of shrubbery and plants
•  

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Interventions

• 8.TARGET REMOVAL
• -removal of bus seats that are hidden from the
  drivers view
• -removing ground level windows
• -removing of outside plant bulbs
• 9.IDENTIFYING PROPERTY
• -property marking with business logo, school
  district ID, or social security number

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Interventions

• 10. REMOVING INDUCEMENTS
• -rapid repair of damaged property
• -rapid removal of graffiti
• -removal of bars over toilet stall doorways
• 11. RULE SETTING
• 12.EDUCATION
• -vandalism awareness walks
• -anti vandalism films/games
• -vandalism education programs

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Interventions

• 13.PUBLICITY
• -anti vandalism advertising
• 14.PUNISHMENT
• -suspension from schools
• -fines
• -restitution

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Interventions

• 15.Counseling
• 16.Involvement

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Intervention Evaluation

• Lindsley suggested there exist three-intervention
  evaluations
• ) Rigorless magician
• 2 Rigor Mortician
• 3 Rigorous clinician
• We must also look at each intervention with
  regards to its relevance to the real world.

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Supplementary Information

• Taking the Train How graffiti art became an
  urban crisis in New York City By Joe Austin

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Supplementary Information

• Article Graffiti magic in a parking lot
  (Toronto Star Sept. 14, 2003).