POLICE ASSOCIATION OF NOVA SCOTIA 121 or longevity of the group; the centrality of criminal activity; and the group's use of violence. 4.0 THE EXTENT OF YOUTH VIOLENCE AND YOUTH GANG ACTIVITY This section examines the extent of youth violence and youth gang activity in Canada. Its extent varies from community to community, and in different regions of the country. How does one determine the amount of youth violence and youth gang activity? The manner in which this question is addressed may influence how the problem is perceived, and the types of response strategies that are developed. 4.1 The Extent of Youth Violence There is a great deal of confusion among the public of the extent of youth violence, and youth gang activity. While official statistics indicate an increase in violent crimes committed by individual young people, these statistics must be interpreted carefully. For example, the crime rate for young Canadians has remained stable over the past five or 10 years. In 1992, about 14% of the young people charged by police were charged with crimes of violence (Source: Uniform Crime Report 1986-1992). Almost half of these, however, were for minor assaults such as slaps or punches. Greater public awareness, less tolerance and more reporting of youth-violence can lead to more charges, more convictions and higher youth violence statistics. Indeed, there may have been as much if not more youth violence in the past than there is today. Unfortunately, there is little useful historical information on youth violence. It is therefore difficult to assess if there is a difference between current levels of youth violence and those of 10, 15, or 20 or more years ago. Estimates of the extent of youth violence have also been influenced in recent years by the changes in the legislation governing young people. The implementation of the federal Young Offenders Act (1984) has resulted in a more formal and legalistic youth justice system. Many more young people are being charged and incarcerated - for longer periods - under the Young Offenders Act (1984) than was the case under the Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908). Furthermore, the way youth-serving agencies respond to youth violence has changed. Schools and group homes, for example, are increasingly reporting violent behaviour to police rather than dealing with it themselves, as they did in the past. These factors have contributed to an increase in official youthviolence statistics. Public perceptions about the level of youth violence have also changed with greater public attention toward issues such as sexual assault, child abuse and dating violence have received. Sensationalized media accounts of youth violence have also heightened public fear and concern. Together, these factors contribute to a climate of growing unease and fear, less tolerance, increased reporting and more vocal public demands for action. Thus, while it is evident that the number of charges involving youth violence has increased in recent years, it is not clear whether the actual amount of youth violence and youth gang activity has increased. 4.2 The Extent of Youth Gang Activity Youth gangs are primarily a big-city phenomenon, although smaller centres are also reporting increases in youth gang activity. Estimating the extent of youth gang activity is difficult, however, due to the lack of a standardized definition and a systematic way of recording information. For example, police reports do not normally include data identifying an incident as gang related. Information about gang activity may be contained in the narratives of police incidence reports. However, this information is not included in the official statistics generated from these reports. The main means of determining the extent of youth gang activity in a community is to talk to the people who deal directly with the phenomenon, such as police officers working with gang units which exist in some communities, eg., Vancouver and Winnipeg, detached youth workers and others, or to read the narratives from all youth-related police incidence reports. Another difficulty in estimating the extent of youth gang activity is that many include both young persons and adults in their definitions. This results in an overestimation of the number of young persons involved in gangs. Evidence gathered for the FCM project suggests that there are very few highly organized criminal youth gangs in Canada. The groups of young people visible to the public on street corners or at shopping malls are usually not organized youth gangs. The public, however, may regard these young people as threatening and consider them to be dangerous or criminal. This includes instances in which groups of young people have come together just to hang out and socialize with other young people. 5.0 WHAT CAN YOU DO? There are many specific strategies for responding to youth violence and youth gangs. We will briefly discuss some of the more salient of these. 5.1 Develop an Understanding of the Nature and Extent of Youth Violence in Your Community The following should be useful in developing an appreciation of the situation in your community. BE WARY OF PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF THE PROBLEM. Many communities are responding to youth violence on the basis of a distorted understanding of the situation. This may be the result of: • DIFFERING VIEWS OF WHAT CONSTITUTES YOUTH VIOLENCE. Some limit the range of behaviours to physical abuse. Others may include emotional and verbal abuse in their definitions. Some limit the term youth violence to include only actions which are criminal in nature. continued...
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