CRM3308 - Critical Analysis 2

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University of Ottawa *

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Sociology

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Jan 9, 2024

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Critical Analysis: Considering the Efficacy of SCP in Schools Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa CRM3308A: Prevention and Criminology Dr. Kate Fletcher November 28th, 2023

1 The study conducted by O’Neill and McGloin attempts to address the underresearched aspect of Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) measures in school settings. Before revealing their study analysis, they acknowledge Gabor’s (1994) stance on using SCPs. Gabor contends that “...preventing crime without tackling its social or psychological roots will merely result in the displacement of crime” (Gabor, 1994, pg 477, as cited by, O’Neill & McGloin, 2007, pg. 513). Whilst the authors acknowledge this statement, they also fail to refute it. The results of the research provided can confirm Gabor's understanding of SCPs, however, it was not an aspect that was explored. Despite O’Neill and McGloin only focussing on the effect that SCPs have within the school, they do divulge the crime rates of the surrounding area for the schools. Those schools that have a higher risk of facing violent crime within their walls also have high crime rates outside the walls. The use of situational crime prevention in schools addressed by this study fails to provide guidance to at-risk youth and rather displaces them to commit acts of deviance within surrounding communities. Schools have begun proactively treating students as though they have exhibited deviant behavior, this treatment reinforces youth to have risky identities which further disembeds them from their surroundings, and the transition that schools have made to manage the environment rather than their students negatively impacts youths' lives and displaces disorderly behavior into the community. Within Western Society, schools are widely regarded as the place that holds the most influence on a child's life. Schools offer the social skills/practice and education that a household cannot. Perhaps due to this perception of schools, they have also become a space that the media portrays as something that must be protected and guarded, even from the students in attendance (O’Neill & McGloin, 2007). The intended purpose of schools is to provide students with guidance and knowledge, instead of providing that schools have transitioned to calculating

2 the risk (Mythen, Walklate & Khan, 2009) their student body possesses and imposing punitive measures accordingly. O’Neill and McGloin’s mention of schools' shift from attempting to improve the behaviour of the youth to attempting to protect the school grounds compares to Garlands Criminologies of Everyday Life (1996). Criminologies of everyday life explain that crime happens when the opportunity for crime exists so people are simply taking advantage of opportunities that have been presented to them. Garland would contend that schools have accepted that students are going to commit crimes on the grounds as fact and have adapted to this fact through the “criminologies of the self”. In using Garland's discourse of the Self, schools have increased their security to protect themselves from the apparent “other” identified as students. The increased use of punitive security measures within schools reinforces youth to feel like criminals without necessarily committing any criminal acts. Most of the measures that O’Neill and McGloin researched are perceivable by the student body. Yes, making the tactics perceptible is likely intentional for deterrence purposes, but they are in no way subtle and outright treat the youth like criminals. To have children go through metal detectors, walk through gates, leave campus during lunch, and constantly be watched by security cameras or employed security personnel (O’Neill & McGloin, 2007), can have an impact on the way a child views themself and exacerbate harmful behaviours. Normally, deviant behaviours within schools are punished in reactive ways, for example, expulsion or suspension. The use of reactive punishments like suspension was found to damage the student's social bonds and increase their dropout rates (Skiba, 2000, as cited by O’Neill & McGloin, 2007). This shows that students in these situations are becoming disembedded from social networks, community, and relationships leaving them struggling to find a consistent sense of belonging or security (Young in Brotherton & Naegler, 2014). The diminishment of social bonds is further reinforced by schools' new approach of “proactive repression” as a way to manage the environment (Pleysier, 2015). Proactive repression is the

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3 process of intervening in situations at the beginning of a risky causal chain; certain people are identified as risky and there is intervention placed in their lives before they can commit a crime. This is an especially prominent practice for youth, so it is no surprise that schools would partake. This tactic has less of an emphasis on helping or fixing individuals and instead emphasizes containing their risk before anything happens (Pleysier, 2015). The schools in this study are doing exactly this by minimizing the opportunities for students to commit violent or property crimes before they occur as the youth have a perceived risk in those areas. In circumstances where students are feeling villainized and disconnected from an impressionable social actor like school, the chance of feeling ontologically insecure (Brotherton & Naegler, 2014) is high. This forces young individuals to search for their worthiness in different places that are likely not as safe or organized as the school setting. Focussing on punitive prevention measures prompted the diminishment of help (Garland, 1996). Schools displacing children who exhibit deviant behaviour rather than offering guidance sends the youth down the risky causal chain that they were concerned with avoiding. It is recognized by not only Canada but the United Nations that youth are an impressionable and vulnerable group of people. Young people need extra guidance, that’s the reason Canada has a separate criminal justice system for young offenders. Schools are meant to be a safe environment where behaviour can be caught and corrected. However, the switch to using macro prevention strategies that simply deter negative behaviour away from the educational environment directly disadvantages youth. This strategy puts youth in the position to go back into the community with an unchanged mindset and have it become reinforced by the surrounding crime rates that are mentioned to be high in the study. The authors contend that having SCPs in place extends the deterrence to surrounding areas, referred to as an example of the “diffusion of benefits” (O’Neill & McGloin, 2007, pg. 513). They attempt to assert that if crime rates successfully decrease within schools, then the crime rate of the area will soon follow.

4 Although, Gabor and others argue that perpetrators will simply find other places or activities not yet affected by the punitive measures (cited by, O’Neill & McGloin, 2007). Research done by Skiba (2000, cited by O’Neill & McGloin, 2007) suggested that punitive measures were not administered consistently across race, socioeconomic status, and gender. These seemingly neutral techniques to reduce the opportunity for crime in schools use stigma and biases to employ the methods. Through schools shifting to manage their environments (Clarke, 1997, cited by, Cromwell & Dotson, 2008) rather than their student body forces children to gain guidance and influence from other sources that are no longer regulated in an organized way. Whilst O’Neill and McGloin recognize the shortcomings in their research and the need for further exploration into the topic, they also leave readers with many gaps in their knowledge. They lack definitive answers for anything new in the field of research, instead, they provide an open slate for readers to understand the efficacy of situational crime prevention in schools. With the information provided, the conclusion can be drawn that these punitive measures, which are under-researched in comparison to individual-based intervention programs in schools, are harmful to young students. They fail to address the underlying needs of the youth exhibiting harmful behaviours and reinforce schools to ignore at-risk children that they are intended to guide. Schools using SCPs responsibilize children for finding guidance in social actors that are not in their educational system.

5 Works Cited Brotherton, D. C. & Naegler, L. (2014). Jock Young and Social Bulimia: Crime and the Contradictions of Capitalism. Theoretical Criminology, 18 (4), 441-449. Cromwell, P., Alexander, G. & Dotson, P. (2008). Crime and Incivilities in Libraries: Situational Crime Prevention Strategies for Thwarting Biblio-Bandits and Problem Patrons. Security Journal, 21 (3), 147-158. Garland, D. (1996). The Limits of the Sovereign State: Strategies of Crime Control in Contemporary Society. The British Journal of Criminology, 36(4) , 445-471. Mythen, G., Walklate, S. & Khan, F. (2009). “I’m a Muslim, But I’m Not a Terrorist”: Victimization, Risky Identities and the Performance of Safety. British Journal of Criminology, 49(6), 736-754. O’Neill, L. & McGloin, J.M. (2007). Considering the efficacy of situational crime prevention in schools. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35 (5), 511-523. Pleysier, S. (2015). Local Governance of Safety and the Normalization of Behavior. Crime, Law and Social Change, 64(4-5), 305–317

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