Statistics just out on Canada’s crime situation are being introduced as both good and bad news.  The good, perhaps surprising to many of us, is that overall Canada’s crime rate is down.  The bad, not so surprising, is that incidents of youth crime, particularly violent youth crime, are up almost across the board.  Little PEI, for example, while scoring a significant drop in overall crime of 11% (better than any other province), took a hit of +38% in youth crime, indicating that other crime must certainly have fallen solidly.

Particularly frightening to most of us are the growing incidents of “swarmings”, where temporary gangs of young people, often mixed male and female, attack people at random, seemingly only for the sport of the horrifying event.  Swarmings take place on a twice per week basis in Toronto, but in spite of that, due to the very large population, the city is cited as being one of the safest locations in Canada.  More alarming are swarmings in smaller centres, such as Fredericton, where three incidents have taken place since May, and Halifax-Darmouth has had its share.

The level of violence in these swarmings is shocking.  Baseball bats, pipes, 2 x 4 lumber and other weapons are mentioned, as is the too common and inexplicable assault of jumping on victims heads on the pavement.  The average citizen recoils when even reading the details of these assaults, unable to find comfort in a “it won’t happen to me” attitude since these attacks seem only motivated by being on the wrong street at the wrong time.

How did we get to this situation with some of our young people?  Task forces to discover just that are being set up all around the country where incidents have taken place, but hard facts are difficult to come by since the randomness of the attacks has made convictions for swarmings difficult to achieve.

Certainly drugs play a role.  One would be naive not to assume that people jumping on someone’s head are not generally high on something (at least we almost hope they are).  Some of the swarmings are robberies with over-the-top violence, and money for drugs is certainly a contributing factor.

A reassuring fact is that those involved in violent incidents represent but a small minority of our youth.  Most young people are as horrified by these events as adults are, and often young people are victims as well. 

Where can we look for possibilities in a search for what is wrong?  Descriptions of those serving time at Waterville, Nova Scotia’s main institution for incarceration of male youth, show commonalities there: broken homes, drugs and crime within the family situation, and lack of success in schooling (too frequently due to learning disabilities and fetal alcohol effects).  Statistics there also show a significant return rate for “graduates”, about 50%, the figures softened somewhat by some of them moving on to adult institutions.

The most common reaction of the public when growing youth crime is mentioned is a reaction to the Youth Justice Act— that sentences are too lenient; that too many youth are getting off with little in the way of punishment.  The Archie Billard situation is often cited as evidence of leniency carried too far:  Billard strikes teacher’s aid Theresa McEvoy’s vehicle with a stolen car and kills her, already having a long list of similar offences for weeks prior to that crime, yet still roaming the roads of the province.   There is no doubt that teenagers are aware that sentences will be (to most eyes) lenient— many of them have been in the courts already and seemingly have found little to fear.  Perhaps the public has a right just to keep them off the streets, yet those who claim to be experts in youth justice argue that incarceration seldom serves as a permanent answer to the problem of a young person gone wrong.  Statistics indicate that except for minor crimes like shoplifting, harsh punishments unfortunately don’t diminish crime, not with youth nor adults, since crime often occurs “in the moment” and consequences don’t play enough of a significant role in the decision making.

Perhaps it’s simplistic, but I personally feel that the horrific level of the violence has been at least partially fuelled by exposure to graphic movies and video games.  This is not an explanation of why attacks are taking place, but rather why the level of violence is so high. Too many of our youth have built a tremendous tolerance for violence that would sicken anyone not familiar with chainsaw style movies.  It’s difficult not to believe that many people, particularly youth, have been desensitized to gory violence through exposure to it over and over.  Hundreds of sites will come up for any Internet search on the issue of too much violence, and the exposure to violent acts by over the developing years has been a concern to many people since television, movies, and the Internet began providing this fare.  Are scenarios from violence previously seen being acted out on the streets?  These swarmings seem to feature a wolf pack mentality and almost a high being achieved as the group exercises its power.

And power is partially where it’s at as well– historically, youth have been a powerless group.  In the process of growing up, our own children often rebel against parents and societal rules as a way of seeking some feeling of power and control over their own destinies.  With a particularly troublesome family situation and little affirmation available there, plus the lack of an obvious pathway, present or future, into society’s path to “success”, some youth seek power the only way they see it as achievable— banding together into groups to wield power through intimidation and violence. Although there are the exceptions in gangs of well-off preppies out for thrills, most of those involved in gang activity come from poorer families in disadvantaged communities.  They are alienated in the schools where they have little interest, frequent disabilities, and growing discipline issues; they are alienated in the home where they often are at war with parents and step-parents; they are alienated by the laws of their community that often even objects to their common youth habit of gathering in groups in public places.

Strong community leadership and injections of funding into disadvantaged communities provides recreation and other options to solve the “there’s nothing to do” situation, and this has had positive results in a number of cities, but in many cases it’s too little-too late.  Attitudes toward the “rules” of society and its legal process are hardwired in the early years of childhood.  What we are seeing in marauding gangs moving down darkened streets is generally the result of a poor past situation, not just one in the present.  Our young people are much like most things in life… we get out of it what we put into it, and with the lack of opportunity for self-confidence, growth, and achievement through normal societal channels for some young people, we have gotten ourselves as a society into a serious and escalating problem.