Feelings of insecurity and young people in housing estates

Abstract

Introduction Many residents of major parts of large housing estates experience feelings of insecurity. Some of the estates have a major problem with juvenile crime, in other estates it is mostly youngsters ‘hanging around’ that ‘cause’ feelings of insecurity. Residents and officials label such behaviour as deviant, and apply different types of measures aiming at decreasing the level of insecurity in the neighbourhood caused by deviant behaviour. The solutions to these problems can be divided into environmental (or physical), socialisation and criminalisation strategies. This chapter will focus on discussing examples of criminalisation and socialisation strategies in France, the Netherlands and Poland. Advantages and disadvantages of both strategies will be depicted and by comparing examples from different countries, we will decide which of them is more successful in dealing with feelings of insecurity. We take our examples from three different countries: the Netherlands where very explicit links are made between young immigrants and feelings of insecurity; France where this link is also explicit, but where officials do not want to discuss it for ideological and political reasons; and Poland where immigration is not a major issue, but where similar links are made between the presence of young people in public space and feelings of insecurity. The issue at stake is, however, not just an issue in these three countries: the problem is also recognised in other countries. In her widely cited study on housing estates in Europe, Power (1997) notes that issues of insecurity and violence among disaffected youth had become a common problem. In several of the RESTATE reports similar issues are raised. In Italy for example: ‘Minor delinquent behaviour such as painting graffiti or breaking windows is common. (...) Young people do not have many attractions here or places to meet, so they gather in the streets. Their behaviour concerns the rest of the inhabitants, who have no contact with young people and do not connect with their anxieties and needs, but feel that tensions between the generations is growing’ (Mezzetti et al., 2003, p. 47).