WIP notes on Stress and Abuse, based on integrating cycles of alienation, emotional regulation in brain development, addiction, and violence/abuse, inspired by harry burns keynote video on Glasgow alienation due to housing estates. Peggy Thoits 2010 Stress and Health article added

About the model

This model depicts crime patterns among the youth population of Bourke, within varying levels of policing expenditure, risk factor, rehabilitation expenditure and soccer club expenditure.

 

Underlying Assumptions:

1. Only the youth population of Bourke has the tendency to commit crime
   
2. No further external factors other than those presented have an effect on criminal tendencies
   
3. ‘Risk Factor’ refers to any factors that increase the likelihood of youths to commit crime. This may include exposure to domestic abuse, income level, education level, family background
   
4. No ‘jail effect’ -  jailed youths do not return to town being more corrupt than before through learning off their cellmates
   
5. Only 2 outcomes of participating in the soccer club: being engaged by the social activity and deterred from committing crime, or disengaged and become at risk of committing crime
   

 

Constants:

• Criminals have a 60% chance of getting convicted
  
• A jail sentence for convicted criminals is 6 months
  
• The top 20% of the most serious offenders get sent to the rehabilitation centre for 3 months, after which they return to town in a better state and less likely to repeat crime
  
• 1 session of the soccer club participation is 3 months
  
• Soccer club participants have a 10% chance of being disengaged
  
• Investments into policing, rehabilitation services and the soccer club are felt immediately – no time delay
  

 

Interesting results:

1. A high number of criminals does not necessarily mean they all end up in jail. A stimulation with risk factor at maximum (0.2) and policing at minimum (0.01) shows high numbers of criminals, but they all seem to be in town. When the slider for policing is adjusted to maximum (0.5), the criminals are moved from town to jail. Thus, a high investment in policing is needed to detect and detain criminals.
   
2. A generous investment into the soccer club (>0.35) results in a higher number of actively engaged and enlightened youths who then return back to town in a better state. This has an effect of bringing down the number of criminals (implications for long term)
   
3. In an ideal world, Bourke would invest maximum levels into policing, rehabilitation and the soccer club, and there would be a minimal risk factor for crime committing tendencies. A stimulation on these settings reflect few criminals, low jail rates and high engagement in the soccer club. However with the towns budget constraints, this is not a feasible solution for the long term.
   
4. Instead, a long term solution for Bourke (assuming a moderate risk factor of 0.1) is to allocate some of the policing expenditure (Eg. Down to 0.37) towards maximising community development services:
   

- The rehabilitation centre will tame the most serious offenders, making them less likely to commit crime the next time round (Eg. Setting at 1.0)

- The soccer club will distract youths from crime temptations, as well as nurture a sense of societal inclusion and wellbeing in the long term (Eg. Setting at 0.4)

A stimulation on these parameters show that criminal rates are moderated, the ratio of youths in jail to town is lowered, and the outcome for the soccer club is very good with majority of participants feeling engaged. 

​The Model

Concepts are designed for Universatility and local variables without forcing a one size fits all model. 

Measurements in the course are designed to maintain a system perspective in all planning and measurement systems. 

A Model of the Rate of Adult and Youth Crime and Community Spending in Bourke:

This is a model which displays whether community spending and the number of police can affect both adult and youth in committing a crime and becoming involved in community activities. 

The Underlying Assumptions:

It is assumed that adults and youths in the town of Bourke are the populations that we are interested in modelling. It is noted that a high number of people in Bourke are engaged in crimes. Therefore, people in Bourke are tempted or likely to commit petty crimes. Since petty crimes are not serious offences, both adults and youths who commit petty crimes will return to being adults and youths. However, if the crime is thought to be serious, people are sent to jail as a consequence. Once the people in jail serve their jail sentence, they are released from jail and returned to being themselves. 

In addition, the community introduced community activities, such as football clubs to reduce the number of crimes. Adults and youths in Bourke can be engaged with community activities and then return to being themselves. 

The variables of community spending and number of police are sliders which demonstrate the level of influence on different stocks and relationships when the number of police and community spending are adjusted. The simulation will reflect the adjusted pattern/trend. For example, if we hold community spending constant while adjusting the number of police, we see at one police officer, many people are committing petty crimes and not many are caught and placed in jail. However, if we change the number of police to 30, we can see a decrease in petty crimes and an increase in going to jail. Furthermore, if we change police to 60, almost no one is committing a petty crime and no one is sent to jail. 

• There are no other influences besides community spending and the number of police.

• The number of police is negatively related to the amount of petty crime.

• People are not learning from past mistakes.

• Community spending is negatively related to the amount of petty crime, but positively related to engaging in community activities.

• All values and time period, concepts are made up for the purposes of the model and for simplicity. They do not reflect real-life figures or time periods. 

 • Initial values are as follow:

           Bourke youth: 1000

           Bourke adult: 1000

           Bourke petty crime: 500

           Bourke jailed population: 500

Explanation of the model:

This model begins with adults and youths engaging in petty crime. Petty crime activities may include theft, assault or disorderly conduct like domestic violence in adults. Petty crime or the more serious crimes that lead to jail are affected by the number of police, and amount of community spending. The number of police affects the amount of people getting caught committing a petty crime or placed in jail. In addition, if people are not caught or did not commit a serious crime, they are returned to being adults and youths. 

Moreover, for the people in jail, they are sentenced for a period of 4 months before being released back to being themselves. This period of 4 months can vary for different crimes and does not represent the actual or real-life time period for any crimes. 

It is assumed that the justice reinvestment plan in Bourke will have community activities like football clubs. The purpose of the plan is to reduce the amount of crime and people going to jail. Thus, people in Bourke are engaged in these activities for 4 months, during which it prevents people from committing a crime.

MODEL EXPLANATION:

This model simulates possible crime patterns among the youth population of Bourke, where levels of alienation, policing and community engagement expenditure can be manipulated. Here the youth in Bourke have a minimum percentage of interest to participate in community activities in which the government aims to improve their lifestyle and therefore reduce the rate of criminal activity. ASSUMPTIONS:There are 1500 youths of Bourke in the population susceptible to committing crime and simulations of criminal tendencies are only based the factors presented, no external influences.
VARIABLES:“Alienation” includes any factors that can increase the likelihood of youths to commit crime such as exposure to domestic violence, household income, education level, and family background‘Community engagement Expenditure’ is the total monies budgeted into community activities to develop youths in and out of Juvenile detention‘Policing’ is the amount of police placed onto patrol in the town of Bourke to reinforce safety and that the law is abided by. STOCKS:Conviction rate is set to 60%A juvenile detention sentence for convicted criminals is set to 3 monthsThe top 30% of the most severe offenders are sent to rehabilitation for 3 months, to which they return to Bourke, assumingly in a better state and less likely to repeat a petty crimeCommunity activities are set to last for 3 months to align with the seasons: these could be sporting clubs or youth groupsCommunity participants have a 20% chance of being disengaged as it may not align with their interestsInvestments into policing are felt immediately& community engagement expenditure has a delay of 3 months
INTERESTING FINDS:1.    Alienation set to max (0.2), policing and community engagement set to minimum shows a simulation whereby all criminals are in town rather than being expedited and placed into juvenile detention, even after a base value of 200 youths placed into juvenile detention – this shows that budget is required to control the overwhelming number of criminal youths as they overrun Bourke2.    Set community activity to 0.01, policing to max & Alienation to max. A lack of community activity can produce high disengagement amongst youths regardless of police enforcement to the town of Bourke that has a high criminal rate. Juvenile detention only lasts for so long and not all youths can be rehabilitated, so they are released back into Bourke with chances of re-committing crime. 3.    Alienation plays a major role in affecting youths to consider committing crime. To keep criminal activity to a minimum, ideally the maximum rates of budget in policing and community engagement within youths highly at risk of committing crime should be pushed. Realistically, budget is a sensitive case within a small town and may not be practical. 4. Set policing to 0.25, community engagement to 0.2 & alienation to 0.04. Moderate expenditure to community activities and policing can produce high engagement rates and improved youths in the town of Bourke.

Model Explanation 

WIP Social determinants of health from Michael Marmot's  ABC 2016 Boyer Lectures on Social Justice and the Health Gap See US Data website for data and AIHW website for concepts. See also IM-83417 Marmot Essay 2017

MODEL EXPLANATION:

This model simulates possible crime patterns among the youth population of Bourke, where levels of alienation, policing and community engagement expenditure can be manipulated. Here the youth in Bourke have a minimum percentage of interest to participate in community activities in which the government aims to improve their lifestyle and therefore reduce the rate of criminal activity. ASSUMPTIONS:There are 1500 youths of Bourke in the population susceptible to committing crime and simulations of criminal tendencies are only based the factors presented, no external influences.
VARIABLES:“Alienation” includes any factors that can increase the likelihood of youths to commit crime such as exposure to domestic violence, household income, education level, and family background‘Community engagement Expenditure’ is the total monies budgeted into community activities to develop youths in and out of Juvenile detention‘Policing’ is the amount of police placed onto patrol in the town of Bourke to reinforce safety and that the law is abided by. STOCKS:Conviction rate is set to 60%A juvenile detention sentence for convicted criminals is set to 3 monthsThe top 30% of the most severe offenders are sent to rehabilitation for 3 months, to which they return to Bourke, assumingly in a better state and less likely to repeat a petty crimeCommunity activities are set to last for 3 months to align with the seasons: these could be sporting clubs or youth groupsCommunity participants have a 20% chance of being disengaged as it may not align with their interestsInvestments into policing are felt immediately& community engagement expenditure has a delay of 3 months
INTERESTING FINDS:1.    Alienation set to max (0.2), policing and community engagement set to minimum shows a simulation whereby all criminals are in town rather than being expedited and placed into juvenile detention, even after a base value of 200 youths placed into juvenile detention – this shows that budget is required to control the overwhelming number of criminal youths as they overrun Bourke2.    Set community activity to 0.01, policing to max & Alienation to max. A lack of community activity can produce high disengagement amongst youths regardless of police enforcement to the town of Bourke that has a high criminal rate. Juvenile detention only lasts for so long and not all youths can be rehabilitated, so they are released back into Bourke with chances of re-committing crime. 3.    Alienation plays a major role in affecting youths to consider committing crime. To keep criminal activity to a minimum, ideally the maximum rates of budget in policing and community engagement within youths highly at risk of committing crime should be pushed. Realistically, budget is a sensitive case within a small town and may not be practical. 4. Set policing to 0.25, community engagement to 0.2 & alienation to 0.04. Moderate expenditure to community activities and policing can produce high engagement rates and improved youths in the town of Bourke.

MODEL EXPLANATION:

This model simulates possible crime patterns among the youth population of Bourke, where levels of alienation, policing and community engagement expenditure can be manipulated. Here the youth in Bourke have a minimum percentage of interest to participate in community activities in which the government aims to improve their lifestyle and therefore reduce the rate of criminal activity. ASSUMPTIONS:There are 1500 youths of Bourke in the population susceptible to committing crime and simulations of criminal tendencies are only based the factors presented, no external influences.
VARIABLES:“Alienation” includes any factors that can increase the likelihood of youths to commit crime such as exposure to domestic violence, household income, education level, and family background‘Community engagement Expenditure’ is the total monies budgeted into community activities to develop youths in and out of Juvenile detention‘Policing’ is the amount of police placed onto patrol in the town of Bourke to reinforce safety and that the law is abided by. STOCKS:Conviction rate is set to 60%A juvenile detention sentence for convicted criminals is set to 3 monthsThe top 30% of the most severe offenders are sent to rehabilitation for 3 months, to which they return to Bourke, assumingly in a better state and less likely to repeat a petty crimeCommunity activities are set to last for 3 months to align with the seasons: these could be sporting clubs or youth groupsCommunity participants have a 20% chance of being disengaged as it may not align with their interestsInvestments into policing are felt immediately& community engagement expenditure has a delay of 3 months
INTERESTING FINDS:1.    Alienation set to max (0.2), policing and community engagement set to minimum shows a simulation whereby all criminals are in town rather than being expedited and placed into juvenile detention, even after a base value of 200 youths placed into juvenile detention – this shows that budget is required to control the overwhelming number of criminal youths as they overrun Bourke2.    Set community activity to 0.01, policing to max & Alienation to max. A lack of community activity can produce high disengagement amongst youths regardless of police enforcement to the town of Bourke that has a high criminal rate. Juvenile detention only lasts for so long and not all youths can be rehabilitated, so they are released back into Bourke with chances of re-committing crime. 3.    Alienation plays a major role in affecting youths to consider committing crime. To keep criminal activity to a minimum, ideally the maximum rates of budget in policing and community engagement within youths highly at risk of committing crime should be pushed. Realistically, budget is a sensitive case within a small town and may not be practical. 4. Set policing to 0.25, community engagement to 0.2 & alienation to 0.04. Moderate expenditure to community activities and policing can produce high engagement rates and improved youths in the town of Bourke.

Summary of US apa2017 report pdf link

This is a simple model that depicts the interactions between certain parameters in a hypothetical situation. It is designed to model the effects of investments in Policing and Community amongst Youth inside the town of Bourke.

This model highlights the effects of community expenditure and policing expenditure on youth and adult detention within Bourke. We can see the role these expenditures play within the crime rates for both groups.

- Adults include all those individuals above 18 years old

Assignment 3: Bourke Crime and Community Development​

WIP summaries of bill mitchell's blog postings related to the connections between macroeconomics and wellbeing, particularly via unemployment and inflation

Justice Reinvestment in Bourke

 

A simple model of the township Bourke, showing the effects of community engagement within the youth population.

 

In-depth Explanation

This model uses the youth of Bourke and their temptation to commit crimes. These crimes are usually committed out of boredom and generally include: Breaking and entering, stealing, vandalism etc.  The model depicts that the increase of police presents means that will be an increase of youths caught and convicted whilst also providing in the reduction in the temptation to commit a crime. Those youths that are caught and convicted are sent to juvenile detention where they undertake rehabilitation. Depending on this rehabilitation youths will either be released back into the community where they may attend school or youth activities or become bored again and re-commit or released back into a life of crime pending unsuccessful rehabilitation.

 

Taking into consideration the Justice Reinvestment plan some of the funds used to increase policing will be used instead to improve community development. This has a knock on effect on crime as there will be better youth activities running to keep youths engaged and free of boredom. This keeps youths out of juvenile detention and also encourages them to go to school.

 

School attendance also has an effect on the temptation to commit a crime, if a youth is attending school then they are less likely to be out and about committing crimes. It was noted by Bourke High school Annual report 2012 that their attendance was a little over 60%.

 

Upon simulation there are a number of graphs that have been generated, these include Crime & Detention, Crime vs School, Crime vs Youth Activities, Town, Detention & Youth Engagement and School vs Youth Activities. These graphs along with the variable sliders show what sort of impact increase and decreasing the variable will have on the town and the youth’s rate of crime and detention. These graphs can then be used to make a informed decision on where it’s best to spend the money of the Justice Reinvestment plan.

 

Variables

• ·         Policing - is positively related to the likelihood of being caught and convicted whilst also being negatively related to commit a crime
  
• ·         Community development -  is positively related to likelihood of youth partaking in youth activities and is negatively related to the likelihood to commit a crime
  
• ·         Rehabilitation Effectiveness – is positively related to successful rehabilitation and re-joining the community and is negatively related to Reoffending and committing crime after release
  
• ·         School Attendance – Positively related to the likelihood of youth to attend school, and is negatively related to the likelihood of committing a crime
  

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Assumptions

• ·         Youth will be in school for 3 months before going on holidays
  
• ·         Youth activities will be run for 6 months
  
• ·         Youths will be held in detention for 6 months
  
• ·         No other factors other than Policing, community development, rehabilitation effectiveness and School attendance.
  

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Initial values

• ·         In 2014 ABS noted that 35% of Bourke are youth age 0-25 that means of the 3000 population 1050 people are youths.
  
• ·         Crime there are currently 100 youths committing crime
  
• ·         There are currently 100 youths in Juvenile Detention
  

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This model highlights the effects of community expenditure and policing expenditure on youth and adult detention within Bourke. We can see the role these expenditures play within the crime rates for both groups.

- Adults include all those individuals above 18 years old

Model Explanation 

WIP based on Tom Keneally's Three Famines Book

Michael Marmot's Eur J Epidemiol Essay 2017 See also IM-62760  Social determinants of health from Michael Marmot's  ABC 2016 Boyer Lectures on Social Justice and the Health Gap

Summary of US apa2017 report pdf link

Summary of Buchanan 2008 AJPH article

THE MODEL

Underlying assumptions:

•      Police Force has a negative relationship with committed crime (criminals) and has a positive relationship with Juvenile Detention.
  
•      Community Investment has a negative relationship with committed crime.
  
•      Family – Police relations is negatively related to domestic violence rate, which has positive relationship with committed crime.
  
•      Only the youth are law-breaking citizens (as this model mainly focuses on this population).   
  
•      Coefficients are chosen arbitrarily. We may need more real data and research to determine the appropriate ones.
  

Constants:  

• It took six months for Community Investment (which includes soccer team, trade-skills class and driving class) and Family – Police Relations to work.
  
• Juvenile detention length is also 6 months.
  

Things to note:

•      Youth in Bourke committed crime mainly because of the influence from high domestic violence rate, low police force rate (police investment), as well as low community investment rate. The figure was used to calculate the number of youth committing crime is the average of these three rates.
  
•      Those violent families were detected by the Police Force, but then supervised by the responsible team, therefore reduce bad effects on the youths who have been suffering from that and finally reduce the likelihood of committing crimes.
  
•      Community Investment in forming soccer team, trade-skills classes and driving classes moved a portion of returning criminals (the ones not got caught) to community engagement, therefore reduce the chances of committing crimes of these individuals.
  
•      Maximizing the Police Force rate is probably the best way to reduce crime in short-term, but not likely in long-term because detention facilities cost much of the budget and it is not going to benefit the community. Since it is assumed that the total budget for justice reinvestment campaign in Burke is 50 units, an initial setting of 10, 25 and 15 units for Police Force, Community Investment and Family-Police Relations respectively is recommended.
  

Initial values:

Youth in town: 1200.

Criminals: 100.

Juvenile Detention: 100.

Violent families: 300                      

Detected violent families: 100.

This is a simple model that depicts the interactions between certain parameters in a hypothetical situation. It is designed to model the effects of investments in Policing and Community amongst Youth inside the town of Bourke.