NCJ Number
216511
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 45 Issue: 5 Dated: December 2006 Pages: 468-484
Date Published
December 2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
As an alternative to punitive responses by official social control agents in dealing with youths' antisocial behavior, the United States and subsequently the United Kingdom have focused on "intergenerational practice" (IP)--attempting to increase positive, informal social interaction between youth and adults--as a means of reducing youth's antisocial behavior and adults' fear of youth crime; this article critiques the effectiveness of IP.
Abstract
IP policies and practices, as developed and used in the United States and applied in the United Kingdom, have had a number of flaws, both in the simplicity of the theory underpinning the approach and in the belief that IP alone, without wider social and economic reforms, can reduce the alienation and antagonism between the younger and older generations. The IP approach, however, should be applauded for its effort to change the tendency of adults to call in police whenever the youth in their neighborhoods engage in antisocial behavior that is bothersome but does not rise to the level of crime. Recent developments in IP in the Netherlands may provide an effective model for IP practice that addresses some of these weaknesses. The Dutch experience is that contact between generations requires a structured program in order to change patterns of antagonism between the generations. The Dutch have used a "social broker" model. Under this model a social broker first establishes the nature and causes of conflict between youth and adults in a community by collecting information. After analyzing the problem, the social broker acts as coach and mediator in guiding the parties in the conflict toward a mutually accepted resolution that fosters an ongoing positive dialog. The social broker constantly monitors the intergroup dynamics and guides refinement of the conflict resolution. 40 references