To understand a problem, one must read about it. And read I did. The following literature review was conducted from August 2020 to August 2022. It contains three sections.
- How we think about the problem of crime
- Problems within the law
- Trauma
How we think about the problem of crime
The Elephant’s Tooth
In the distant, and indeed and not-too-distant past, animals and inanimate things were brought before courts of law on criminal charges. In ancient Greece, the waves of the sea were punished by being lashed with whips after a storm had sunk a ship. Rocks and trees that had killed people were brought before a court and were shattered or cut down as a punishment.
In 1916, a circus elephant called Mary was publicly hanged from a railroad crane in Tennessee as a punishment for murder after she had killed her handler, who had prodded her on her cheek. Later it was found that she had had a severely infected tooth.
We do not put waves, rocks, trees, or animals on trial anymore for reasons that are clear to all of us. We have become so much more enlightened – but have we, really? This is the question that this blog puts under scrutiny and tries to answer. It might well be that punishing people,
especially young people “because they deserve it”, makes as little sense as punishing a wave, a rock, a tree, or a rat.
We all have opinions on the issues of offending and how the criminal justice system should deal with it; about rehabilitation and punishment; whether offenders are like us, or are moral strangers; and whether they deserve a chance at a better life. There seems no end to the expertise of the layman when it comes to crime, especially when young offenders are involved. Opinions are expressed very confidently; there is an expectation that crime and its prevention are community matters and should not simply be left to the professionals. Such confidence about the expertise of the layperson is rarely seen in other disciplines.
The narrative of the youth worker
Below are observations by Rainer Chlanda, an Alice Springs-born youth worker and winner of the Fitzgerald Youth Award and the NT Human Rights Awards 2018. He has worked for several NGOs in Alice Springs as a case manager and program coordinator. He was the program coordinator of Shields for Living, Tools for Life, funded by the NT Government’s Territory Families Back on Track initiative provided by Creating a Safe and Supportive
Environment (CASSE). He publishes occasionally in the Alice Springs News.
“Most offenders are extremely troubled young people who are falling through all cracks. Many have no safe homes to go to and move around between overcrowded houses in town, the streets, and the remote communities. Many have witnessed violence and family dysfunction from a very young age and are extremely traumatised.”
“These young people gravitate towards anti-social behaviour for several reasons. They may first stay out late at night in the streets where safety and guidance can be found in peers. They are introduced to petty crime, such as stealing food or clothing, to meet their basic needs. Their tactics become brazen quickly. Thus, a street culture develops from peer solidarity, self-expression, and a sense of identity. Most crimes, such as joyriding in a stolen car, rock throwing or property damage, have no gain at all. They can be best understood as acts of protest against the disadvantage they find themselves in. The group offers a sense of belonging and the thrill of law-breaking is a way of expressing anger and a call to the adult world to see their disadvantage. These actions are ways of asserting control over their lives if those responsible don’t meet their basic needs.”
“Anger is a natural response to youth crime (and much of it can be found amongst the victims of crime on the Action for Alice 2020 page, Eds,) where it results in urgent calls for a better justice system and (vigilante) action. The often-mentioned curfew may result in a neverending
game of cat and mouse. “Taking coppers for a run” on foot or in a car, is seen as fun. Once caught by the police, resisting arrest earns peer admiration. Having been detained is seen as a rite of passage. Prison, however awful, gives stability and regularity in the form of a bed to
sleep on, three meals a day and a day-to-day routine. It is often better than home.”
“We are taught in trauma-informed practice that this behaviour should be understood as acting out unmet needs where the offender doesn’t have the capacity to express these needs in words. If we understand this, we should also be able to understand that any policy or measure of discipline that is aimed at correcting this behaviour is futile.”
“Holding parents to account,” is a constantly flogged dead horse. People in Alice Springs keep repeating it and hanging on to it as if it were a policy instead of just a slogan. There is ample evidence showing that impoverished communities have high rates of dysfunction,
incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse, and violence, so why would furthering their poverty help foster responsible caregiving?”
“Caregivers are often unable to provide the supervision and care needed either because their resources and energy are exhausted by the demands of large families in overcrowded houses and the pressures of their struggling community and their own history of trauma.
Any effort to encourage responsible caregiving that isn’t aimed at correcting these underlying causes is futile in a fundamental way.”
Image; Bugs and Beasts Before the Law: Medieval to Early Modern Animal Trials,(1906) by E.P.Evans
Sources;
Woodburn Hyde, W 1916, 'The prosecution and punishment of animals and lifeless things in the middle ages and modern times', University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register, 64(7):696-730.
Olson, T 2009, The hanging of Mary, a circus elephant, University of Tennessee Press.
Facebook page Action for Alice 2020.
Chlanda, R 2020, 'How our most troubled young people are falling through the cracks … and some possible answers', Alice Springs News, 28 November.
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