How bad is the problem?

Young Police Station Inspector Ashley Holmes says there’s been an increase in vandalism and to lesser extent stealing offences in the months of April, May and June this year, compared with previous years, but Young had a relatively low crime rate compared with metropolitan or larger country centres.

“There is only a very small minority of youth committing crime in Young - perhaps eight to 10 youths,” he says.

“It is just at the moment Young is experiencing an increase in malicious damage, other crime categories are relatively stable, and in relation to assaults [they continue] to trend downward,” Inspector Holmes says.

Meanwhile, Magistrate Peter Dare says Young has the highest rate of dysfunctional children of the seven courts he presides over.

”Vandalism is committed mainly during the night and early hours of the morning,” he says.

“It is a difficult crime to detect and juvenile offenders know it,”  he said.

Mayor Cr Freudenstein says Young has more activity than other towns within the Cootamundra Local Area Command (LAC) but Young’s steady growth plays a major part in this.

“Naturally new families are arriving, some obviously we wished they went somewhere else,” he says.

What causes children to want to commit crime?

Magistrate Dare says home is often not a nice place for many juveniles who commit crime, owing to domestic disputes, violence or alcohol abuse in the family unit.

“In such an atmosphere there is little or no parental supervision or discipline, and little reason for juveniles to stay at home,” he says.

He says there is no parental example to follow, except a negative one, so children go out at night and join like-minded juveniles and embark on anti-social activities.

“And, worst of all, when the police come knocking on the door - either with their child in tow or looking for their child in connection with a crime, the parent’s first reaction is to abuse if not attack the police,” Magistrate Dare said.

“What a marvellous example to set - the juvenile offender then takes this as a sign of encouragement,” he said.

“Some kids haven’t got a chance,” the magistrate added.

PCYC Police Youth Case Manager Senior Constable Karen Clark, who has vast experience dealing with Young’s youth at the PCYC, agrees a lack of parental supervision is to blame.

“If things are bad at home, this is their way of reaching out for help or getting attention,” she says.

Also attributing much of the problem of youth crime to parenting is Sydney child psychologist Andrew Greenfield, who says their behaviour could be an escape from the family environment or a cry for help.

“The biggest thing is a lack of family structure and parenting - if the kids are out all day and night, where are the parents?” he says.

Mr Greenfield says the problems can often be systemic, with parents in the midst of serious problems themselves.

“There are often hereditary issues [and] in a lot of cases there could be family mental health problems going on,” he says.

He says children committing crimes could be suffering from a range of psychological problems.

“There’s a lot of things that could be underlying – learning difficulties, concentration or impulse issues, such as ADHD, or deviant issues,” Mr Greenfield says.

Mayor Stuart Freudenstein agrees part of what’s driving our youth’s bad behaviour is psychological, however, says it’s aggravated by poor family circumstance.

“A combination of factors would cover most of them I think, these would be poor parental guidance - or even nil in some dysfunctional families - [and] probably a couple of ring leaders leading others astray,” he says.

This is what Mr Greenfield refers to as peer pressure, which he says is often to blame for anti social behaviour, especially if children form groups or “gangs”.

“They’re unlikely to do anything alone, but will do it in groups as they often feel less accountable,” he says.

Senior Constable Clark says troubled youth conform to peer pressure as a way of fitting in, and find it easier to associate with other children involved in problems of their own.

She says drug and alcohol abuse also contribute to the behavior of troubled youth.

Another factor for Mr Greenfield is boredom, which he blames as the number one cause for children committing crime.

Magistrate Dare also lists this as a contributing factor; however, Cr Freudenstein believes this shouldn’t be a problem in Young.

“They would probably say they have nothing to do, but I strongly dispute that,” he says, “there are more outlets for their participation than ever.”

Meanwhile, Inspector Holmes says it’s always difficult to know what motivates a person to commit crime and there will often be a number of reasons.

“I suspect these eight to 10 youths [committing crimes] feel disconnected, or not part of the community, and for some reason feel the community has failed them and so feel the need to punish [it] by indiscriminately [damaging] property,” he says.

Hennessy’s principal Dr Peter Webster, where they have witnessed a small increase in vandalism of school property, also says most of it is committed by people who are disconnected with their communities.

“It is therefore vital that all members of the Young community strive to provide opportunities for all members of the community to feel connected,” he says.