JUVENILE JUSTICE

YOUTH IN CRISISNANETTE DAVIS and LAUREN COSTELLO argue for a reconsideration of attitudes to homeless

youth and consider the forms of structural violence which helps to perpetuate the cycle.

'Youth in crisis" has been used as a descriptive term for various forms of be­haviour which under pre-1987 NSW legis­lation often resulted in young people being placed on protection orders. This behaviour may include running away, homelessness, chronic truancy, aggressive and difficult behaviour at school or home, drug and alcohol abuse, and prostitution. Under the Children (Care and Protection) Act, welfare interests of children are paramount as is "harmonious develop­ment of personalities". This act specifically directs children's services and facilities "to protect them against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation". This implies that the political order is responsible for protection of children and youth not on grounds of their misbehaviour but on their experiences of victimisation. This ap­plies especially to vulnerable groups, such as female youth, who are most likely to suffer sexual, emotional and physical abuse within their families. But the system is mightily confused or at least is unsure of how to protect and care for a vast number of youth who lack family, home, educa­tion, resources, jobs and basic citizen rights. Homeless youth are the most symptomatic of this growing culture of neglected and abused young persons.

Dimensions of Youth Homelessness

In Australia, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (Bur- dekin Report, 1989) estimated that be­tween 50,000 and 70,000 youth were homeless, or in danger of becoming homeless. The same report stressed that homelessness was not merely a condition of being on the streets or the threat of homelessness, but included having a high­ly mobile life, or experiencing a lack of security or stability. In 1991 the Youth

Refuge Association estimated that in New South Wales there were between 20,000 to 25,000 young people, aged 12 to 18 seek­ing accommodation because of homeless­ness. This number does not include the discouraged homeless nor those living in squats, sleeping outdoors, living in tem­porary housing arrangements and the like. Furthermore, covert homelessness for girls is similarly patterned in Australia, as in the United States, where the practice of short term live-in relationships with boyfriends or 'sugar daddies' may ac­count for the gross under-representation of girls in official counts.

“There are structural conditions of violence that

must be confronted...”

Research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies on youth applying for the Young Homeless Allowance found a number of recurring themes often as­sociated with "extreme domestic dishar­mony" (Bettina Cass, 1991): (1)Re-partnering of parents precipitating conflict; (2) Strong cultural and value dif­ferences between generations affecting young persons from different ethnic back­grounds wishing to adopt the values and practices of their Anglo-Australian peers; (3) Violence and sexual abuse affecting young women in particular; (4) Un­employment by parents or by youth; or lack of employment for rural or outer sub­urban youth who then seek jobs in the city, and inadvertently become homeless

in the urban centre as limited work, inade­quate support and life skills lead to youth joblessness; and (5) Young women, espe­cially, are more likely to be unemployed and remain so for longer periods, less like­ly to be in education and training and more likely to be found in marginal part­time or casual work and more prone to seek employment in a narrow range of oc­cupations.

Structural Sources of Victimisation

Major structural factors that have special impact upon youth are the current economic crisis, urban dislocation, feminisation of poverty, changes in social welfare policy and provision, and public concerns with law and order. A deep recession that shows little sign of dissipat­ing both in Australia and America, prevents young people from moving into the labour market and contributes to an increase in crime. Loss of manufacturing jobs, and the transformation of the city from working class residences and job sites to centres of entertainment and con­ventions, as well as gentrification proces­ses, have nearly eliminated low income housing and raised rents beyond the capacity of poor and working class groups.

Criminalisation of welfare cases, whereby young people who run away from home, foster care or institutions, may be subject to custody or detention, is a serious defect in the system. Processes de- institutionialisation so work to create homelessness, as 'de-waiding' or the removal of state wards from care at age 16, generates literal homelessness' among persons ill equipped for independence. Cuts and closure in community-based ser-

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vices, and underspending below alloca­tion have had deleterious effects on main­taining programme continuity and coherence.

A law and order regime prevails in cer­tain sectors. A policy that moves youth from care to custody is implicit in the lan­guage of the welfare system that criminalises those guilty of no wrong doing as in phrases, "charged with being neglected" or "charged with being uncon­trollable".

Victimisation, as a way of life for large numbers of youth, whether at home or in the streets, places them at severe risk for both general and specific life conditions that are inherently violent in nature. This is more than a private family affair or having a run in with a few street persons. There are structural conditions of violence that must be confronted. Structural violence is a concept which realises the unequal distribution of resources and facilities to youth, such as employment opportunities; access to welfare expendi­ture; and shared family and community resources. Young users of services become vulnerable to poverty, homelessness, and access to local support networks.

The Descent into HomelessnessThe increase in homeless youth has be­

come a disturbing phenomenon for society as a whole in Australia. Runaways of the 1990s appear to be younger, more abused and emotionally disturbed, and composed of more children from increas­ingly dysfunctional families than their counterparts of earlier decades. The problems associated with youth home­lessness include accommodation, un­employment and the provision of welfare services. Welfare assistance is hindered by "the eligibility criteria.... (being) overly stringent, the procedures complicated and the amounts provided inadequate."

Similarly, it is almost impossible for youth to afford housing costs, and in­creases in unemployment have made housing more unattainable. Increases in unemployment and decreases in low cost housing availability have resulted in the

Home away fron home?notion of family responsibility filtering through society. There is an underlying assumption, reinforced by government policies, that parents are expected to be financially and legally responsible for children under 18 years of age. Similarly, the problems of homeless youth are not exclusively linked to unemployment, but rather the wage structure employed in Australia.

Although some youth experience instan­taneous homelessness, because of poverty, severe family dysfunction, and loss of housing due to being evicted by parents or released from institutions, the majority of homeless youth follow a process that youth workers describe as a gradual movement from initial crisis to chronic homelessness. Interviews with homeless girls in Sydney and environs over a six month period indicate that some steps are missing, or that the time between steps may vary between a few days to years, depending on the individual's age, paren­tal resources, school participation, and other factors. Thus, the model should be viewed as one possible modality of move­ment into full-time streetlife.

Stage 1: Domestic Crisis

As a result of accelerating domestic tur­moil, there is growing conflict between parents) and child. The conflict arena may involve a worsening of domestic

violence, or the individuals expressed hos­tility towards physical, emotioral, and sexual abuse or neglect, parent or step­parent substance abuse, perceived disad­vantaged situation in relation to siblings, resistance to being a 'slave', inability to have friends, drug use, etc. Resentment, shame and anger dominate pareut/child interaction, and the youth either begins running or acts out in ways that precipitate confrontation. At ths stage, lasting about six months, they may alter­nate between staying with family or sym­pathetic relatives and friends. Family counselling is often attempted during this period, but posturing on both sides con­tributes to a situation of ongoing tension and emotional distancing. Because the youth remains either at home, or with supportive persons in the local area, they are able to retain links with lccal net­works. The young person continues to at­tend school and remains 'officially in the family; but interactions become more strained, as counselling and other recon­ciliation attempts fail.

Stage 2: Leaving Home

The negative situation intensifies and the youth sees little possibility of reconcilia­tion. They do however, remain in the local area with established networks intact If successful at this stage, they will actively seek and locate appropriate refuge care, and make strong efforts to adapt into the new setting. After establishing trust, they

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may become willing to share and disclose confidential information to staff and a few trusted relatives. Weekends are spent with local friends, occasionally visiting family (still hoping for workable solutions to end the separation), or continue seeing rela­tives and adults, who have been helpful in the past. Eventually, the youth in highly supportive accommodation, stabilises suf­ficiently to attempt returning to school (but this area remains problematic for both youth and staff) and, for a fortunate few, a regular job.

Stage 3: Chronic HomelessnessIn the final stage, fulltime street involve­

ment leads to reduced or no contacts with family and conventional friends. Now, the youth has lost meaningful contact with reality, has serious drug or alcohol de­pendency that involves illegal activity, and a lifestyle that centres around the urban street culture. Whereas a few in­dividuals will be supported by welfare, most activity focuses on illegal or deviant activities such as prostitution, drug sales, theft and for a few, assault and armed rob­bery become part of the lifestyle. For an unknown number of youths, streets be­come their home{ street youth their family and significant others, and street life their culture and society.

Street Culture: The Culture of Chronicity

Homelessness is a complex issue and for this reason it is suggested that differing levels of homelessness exist. Perhaps the most identifiable is the condition referred to as chronic homelessness. This is the result of an inability of the homeless to es­cape from the culture. The experiences of the chronically homeless on the streets can severely affect their chances to escape. Life on the streets can affect the physical and emotional capacity to emerge from home­lessness. This toll can also speed up their entry into the culture of the chronically homeless. The results of this seem to be "economic dislocation rather than service dependency". They become a new and distinct 'underclass', one which has no so­cial mobility for its members but volun­tary spatial mobility. That is, the members of the homeless youth subculture can

choose to be mobile because they have few concrete ties to the mainstream cul­ture. However the place and length of duration can be controlled by outside for­ces (e.g. police, planning regulations). The cycle of homelessness needs to be broken so that individuals and families do not enter into the culture of chronicity. Emer­gency stop gap measures have to take place along with a stabilising period in which homelessness can be abated.

“They are victims of social indifference, legal inflexibility and lack of

political will...”

Certainly, an argument can be made that having a street identity is better than having no identity at all. As members of the new homeless, youth are obliged to create their own culture, space, social routines, and networks. As a culture, street youth have a sense of belonging, a hierar­chy based on gender, age, and physical size, an argot (much of it borrowed), and a special mode of communication, such as graffiti, that marks them as a special group. Street youth occupy territory, a large proportion of which is either shared with traditional homeless (usually male) and the mentally ill, or which they have expropriated, often pushing out former occupants. Some of this culture is positive supporting street mates, forbidding adults or other street youth to injure children, serving as police against outsiders, who harass or exploit street youth, and sharing their food, drugs and material posses­sions.

Parts of this culture are highly destruc­tive, given the backgrounds of these youth. Death is an ever present concern, and suicide attempts are common. Among homeless youth, self mutilation as in wrist and forearm slashing is both an activity (something to do to reduce the

boredom) and a strong signal of distress. In a culture that is almost wholly repressed and denied, violence becomes a legitimate form of self expression, and a statement of power relations.

Homeless girls are subject to specific forms of street abuse and violence which become regular forms of the street life­style. Most homeless girls are initially of­fenders in name only; violators of gender role norms, and social expectations of file feminine. The systematic victimisation of women, because of sexual abuse from fathers, stepfathers, uncles, brothers, and other male relatives; and in neglect cases, male family friends, and neighbours, babysitters, priests, and ministers results in the degradation and loss of bodily in­tegrity with lifetime consequences. The outcomes are predictable and perpetuate the victimisation of women. Most heterosexual girls try out the 'romantic route', alliances with a man or a series of men in hopes of escaping their past But such men typically are, at best, unsuppor- tive; and at worst, young women and their children become victims of battering and abandonment The victim cycle is repeated as their children enter the stream of abuse, perpetuated by either the mother, or the men in her life.

Devices they use to cope with their powerlessness are often violence, street crime, alienation, and suicide. They have become "the children our parents warned us about". The streets, and youth home­lessness, generally, generate a highly criminogenic situation, where crime be­comes a survival strategy. Children and youth outside the law are defined as of­fenders. In reality, they are victims of so­cial indifference, legal inflexibility and lack of political will.

Nanette J. Davis was a Visiting Fulbright Professor of University of Sydney Law School. She has intensively studied homeless youth in Sydney and environs in 1992, and street youth in Portland, Oregon in 1991. Lauren Costello is currently a Teaching Fdlow at University of Wollongong, Department of Geography and has researched street youth in Newcastle in 1991. m

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