Patterns of graffiti offending: towards recognition that graffiti offending is more than ‘kids messing around’

Abstract

Graffiti is often viewed as a nuisance 'kids' crime, an act of youthful resistance and, as such, it is sometimes given a lower policing prioritisation level than more 'serious' crimes. In this study, the three-year offending histories of 798 graffitists were extracted from the Western Australian Police Information Management System database. To address the study's aim of determining whether agedifferentiated patterns of offending exist among three age-cohorts of offenders (i.e. preteens, adolescents and adults), the number of offences, the number of contacts with police, the type of offences and the rank category of each offence for each of the three age-cohort were calculated. The findings reveal that while 96 graffiti offenders had only one recorded graffiti offence, the majority of graffitists (n 0702) were recidivist offenders involved in multiple crimes. The most prevalent crime among the recidivist preteen and early adolescent cohort of graffiti offenders was burglary; however, the recidivist late-adolescent and adult cohorts of graffiti offenders committed more violent and drug-related crimes.

Graffiti Offenders' Patterns of Desistance from, and Persistence in, Crime: New Insights into Reducing Recidivist Offending

“…shopping centre, public transport system) has not become the desistance catalyst it was intended to be, primarily, it seems, because the banning measure has in some instances oriented the banned offender towards the company of their more prolific offending age-mates. Moreover, this association is placing novice offenders on a trajectory towards more serious and persistent offending (Taylor et al, 2011). Anecdotal accounts from graffiti offenders reveal that the act of being banned is providing banned individuals with an elevated level of street kudos (non-conforming social notoriety) (see Taylor et al, 2010).…”

“…In this regard, this paper aims to extend current understanding of juvenile crime desistance/ persistence by examining the offending patterns of new entrants (graffitists) into the criminal justice system (Taylor et al, 2011). To this end, descriptive and chi-squared statistics are used to analyse the number of offences committed by male and female graffiti offenders (n=667) in relation to the number of recorded contacts offenders had with police over a six-year recording period.…”

“I've Got Better Things to Worry About”: Police Perceptions of Graffiti and Street Art in a Large Mid-Atlantic City

“…Some of this work sees graffiti/street art as a stage in an individual's development after which he/she graduates into less deviant kinds of pursuits (Lachmann, 1988;Macdonald, 2001;Snyder, 2009). Still others (Taylor, Marais, & Cottman, 2012) argue that graffiti offenses are a step toward more serious kinds of criminal activity; however, they caution that graffiti production is not a causal predictor in other kinds of crime and that crime does not lead to tagging. Some, like Halsey and Young (2002), suggest that those who engage in graffiti are possibly exposed to and have a greater likelihood of learning the techniques of other kinds of crime.…”

What works and what does not work in reducing juvenile graffiti offending? A comparison of changes that occurred in the frequency of persistent graffitists’ patterns of offending following the announcement of two successive initiatives aimed at reducing graffiti proliferation

“…These penal measures have been supported by the state's Graffiti Vandalism Reduction Strategy (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) and Tough on graffiti strategy (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015). In this regard, to support their stance, a range of supporters of the penal approach to reducing graffiti offending have utilised Taylor et al's (2012) finding that after a 3-year span of offending, prolific juvenile graffiti offenders typically progress from nuisance (graffiti) crime to a range of other crimes (including violent crimes).…”