This model
displays the effects of youth crime and the influence of community expenditure,
social support, and policing in the town of Bourke, NSW.
The traditional
lifestyle for youth in this town involves either a chosen path of committing
crimes, or, that of community activity and various forms of education.
The model has
been designed to mimic a system where community expenditure and support
services are adopted in order to inject a positive lifestyle for the youth
population. The phenomena studied in this simulation is the balance between
policing, community support and social influence versus not using them.
Assumptions
-1000 Youth Population
-Youth are
either influenced by criminal activity or by productive educational activities.
- Adoption rate
of community activities is influenced by personality, relating to current personal
skill level of youth and willingness.
-If youth you
do not become involved in community activity or some form of Education, then
they turn to the path of crime.
-Punishment
facility time is up to 12 months with a 2 year probation period
-Community
expenditure and support only begins in the probation period, unless
“Juvenile Support” slider is used.
-For the
purpose of this study on youth crime and support before a crime is committed, we do not include a possibility of
relapse in the rehabilitation phase.
STOCKS
- Youth
- Crime – all
offences committed by those under 18
- Punishment
Facility – juvenile detention
- Probation – release from punishment
- Education
system – various programs
VARIABLES
Policing Units – Policing Bourke's criminal activity, and convicting after a crime has been committed.
Juvenile Support Units – The
variable change in crime IF the community funds Support Units for youth before
a crime is committed.
Social Support Units – The
number of social support units available for released offenders during rehabilitation phase.
Community expenditure – the amount of time and money being spent on social
services and policing.
Birth rate, crime rate, dicharge rate, recidivism
& conviction rate
INTERESTING RESULTS
Slide any of
the 3 variables to the extreme.
This model
shows that adoption rate of a positive lifestyle is directly influenced by
social influences.
1/ Juvenile
Support Unit impact
Press Simulate.
Slide Juvenile
Support Units to the extreme. Simulate again.
Juxtaposition of Juvenile Support impact on Behavior Graph shows
that Crime and Reoffend rates drop significantly. More people turn to law-abiding positive
activity.
This will again
all change with the manipulation of the Social Support unit slider…..
2/ Social Support
Unit impact
Social Support
Units only influence those released from the Punishment facility. The more social services on hand to support rehabilitation phase the less chance of committing
crime for the second time, with Reoffend rates dropping significantly when
the Social Support Units Slider is adjusted to the extreme.
Rehabilitation
rates only increase marginally, in spite of more social support feeding into that phase.
The greatest
impact is shown on Law-Abiding and Crime. How could this be? A logical conclusion
is that there is a finite number of youth in the community and those who have received positive social support during a learning phase
of rehabilitation, then go on to influence their friends, their family, and have
a positive influence on those around them.
3/ Police Unit
Impact
Slide Policing
Units to the extremes. Simulate. Policing Units Graph shows there is a
significant decrease in Reoffend rates, and a higher rate of Conviction.
Curiously, rehabilitation
rates drop and crime rates go up. How could this happen? A logical conclusion
is that conviction and punishment is not a crime deterrent. It needs the added influence
of social support services for there to be a positive impact on decreasing criminal
instincts and activity on the whole.
Conclusions
Social support
and home visits need to happen in the flow between Youth Population and Crime -
“Juvenile Support Units”.
Investment in
youth via these juvenile social support officers before they commit an offence,
limits the amount of criminal activity over time. So, crime effectively decreases
with the direct influence of social services at a young age.
Equally, with
more police presence in the community, for those tempted to re-offend, they have
a deterrent.
The most
efficient management of the community issues faced in Bourke however lies with
a combination of both Policing and Social Support services at all levels within
the community.
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