Children and young people across England and Wales were surveyed by Ipsos MORI about their attitudes towards crime committed by and against other young people as part of research commissioned by the YJB.
The findings are summarised below.
Reasons why young people commit crimes
The top three reasons why children believe that young people commit crimes are boredom (43%), because friends do it (41%) and because of drug taking (39%). In addition, 37% believe that being drunk is a contributory factor.
- Boys aged 13-17 and girls aged 16-17 are more likely to mention boredom than younger boys or girls. Indeed, young people in the higher school years 11-13 are also more likely to mention boredom than others (56% mention this compared to 43% of young people overall).
- Girls are more likely to say young people commit crimes because their friends do it than to mention boredom (44% mention friends, and 40% mention boredom). For boys this is the other way round – 45% mention boredom and 37% peer influence. However the top four factors that are believed to contribute to crime are consistent across age, gender and ethnicity.
Factors which have the biggest effect on stopping young people committing crimes
The two factors which children believe have the biggest effect on stopping young people from committing crimes are concern about how their parents will react and fear of being caught (31% mention each).
- Girls are slightly more likely to mention fear of being caught (33%) than to worry about how their parents will react (32%), while boys are the other way round (29% mention fear of being caught and 31% mention the reaction of parents).
- Young people in the North East are more likely than other regions to mention having interesting things to do in their spare time as a barrier to young people committing crime (40% compared with 17% overall).
- Those in Wales, meanwhile, are more likely to worry about how their parents will react than others (50% compared with 31% overall), while young people in East Anglia are more likely to mention getting a good education – 26% compared with 8% of young people overall.
What would help protect young people from becoming victims of crime by other young people?
Six in ten (60%) young people believe that having more police officers on the streets would help protect young people from becoming the victims of crimes by other young people. Nearly a third (31%) mention having activity after school, while 28% mention not having expensive items on show.
- Those in the North East are more likely than others to mention that knowing your local community ‘no go areas’ can be an effective means of protection – 46% mention this compared with 23% of young people overall. Those in the North overall are less likely, however, to suggest that schools should offer more advice and information on keeping safe (9% mention this compared with 18% in the Midlands and 17% in the South)
- Those in the Midlands, meanwhile, are more likely than young people in the North or South to mention not having expensive items on show (36% compared with 28% on average).
What would young people like the Government to do to stop young people offending?
Young people are most likely to say the Government should introduce harsher punishments to stop young people offending (38%). However, a similar proportion mention helping them to get a job (37%), while just over a third (34%) say providing better access to sports facilities, youth centres and events in the evenings and weekends would help.
- Boys aged 13-17 are more likely than younger boys to mention getting a job – most probably in line with their own priorities. On the other hand, girls aged 10-12 are more likely to mention this than older girls aged 13-15.
- Young people in the North are less likely to mention jobs (24%) than those in the Midlands (45%) or South (39%).
- Young people in the North West and Wales are more likely to feel that better access to sports facilities, youth centres and events would be constructive (58% and 55% respectively compared with 34% of young people overall).