Attitudes Towards Teenagers And Crime

Some of the key national findings from the Dispatches programme are taken from a survey with 1,001 adults across Great Britain in March 2006. Other findings relating to specific local authority areas relate to analysis of BVPI (Best Value Performance Indicator) data from 2003/04.

Topline Results

• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,001 adults (aged 18 and over) across Great Britain. Interviews were conducted by telephone using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) between 24th and 26th March 2006.
• At the analysis stage, the data were weighted to the profile of all adults aged 18+. The data are weighted for sex, age, social class, housing tenure, working status, geographical region, terminal education age, number of cars in household, and whether or not the respondent has taken a foreign holiday in the last three years.
• Where figures do not sum to 100 percent, this may be due to computer rounding or multiple codes.
• An asterisk (*) represents a value of less than one half percent, but not zero.
• Results are based on all unless otherwise stated.

Q1 n the last 12 months, have you personally seen groups of teenagers hanging around the streets in your local area?

Q2 When you are out in your local area and you see groups of teenagers hanging around the streets, generally, how worried do you feel about your own personal safety? Base: All who have seen teenagers hanging around their local area (708)

Q3 Thinking now about the last occasion that you felt worried about groups of teenagers hanging around on the local streets, what were they actually doing that was causing a problem? Base: All who are worried about their personal safety in response to teenagers hanging around (315).

Q4 Of every 100 crimes recorded by the police, how many do you think are committed by young offenders, that is people aged between 10 and 17? [note 1]

Q5 Do you think that the number of young offenders (that is people aged between 10 and 17) has increased, decreased, or stayed the same over the past two years? [note 4]

The next questions ask you about whether or not you'd be likely to intervene in different situations.

Q6a If you saw a group of two or three teenagers spray-painting graffiti on a building in your street, how likely is it that you would ask them to stop? Would you ...

Q6b If you saw a group of two or three teenagers abusing, harassing or insulting an elderly person in your street, how likely is it that you would ask them to stop? Would you ...

Q6c If you saw a group of two or three teenagers loud, rowdy or noisy outside your home, how likely is it that you would ask them to stop? Would you ...

Q6d If you saw a group of two or three teenagers damaging property or cars in your street, how likely is it that you would ask them to stop? Would you ...

Q7 Why would you not ask them to stop? Base: All who would probably/ definitely not intervene in at least one of the situations Q6a,b,c,d (548).

Notes

1. Roberts & Hough (2005, p. 112) report that young offenders actually account for somewhere between 10% and 20% of all recorded crime in Britain. [Roberts, J.V., & Hough, M. 2005. Understanding Public Attitudes to Criminal Justice. Open University Press.]
2. The mean refers to the average of all numerical percentage figures provided by respondents.
3. Respondents' numerical responses were banded into 10 percentage point categories (i.e. 1-10%, 21-20%, etc).
4. Roberts & Hough (2005, p. 112) report that in their 2004 research (Hough & Roberts. Youth Crime and Youth Justice: Public Opinion in England and Wales. Bristol Policy Press) most people (three quarters) in their sample believed that the number of young offenders increased over the period 2001-3. In fact, statistics suggest that youth crime rates in Britain over this period have been stable or declining with the exception of certain crimes including alcohol-related crimes.