NCJ Number
215696
Journal
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 328-344
Date Published
October 2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study explored the meanings of violence in interviews with young people in two Finnish reform schools.
Abstract
Two major themes regarding violence emerged from the focus group interviews with youth: the youth made a distinction between instrumental violence and expressive violence. The perspective of violence as instrumental conveys that the youth view violence as a means to an end. Instrumental violence was perceived as useful to the youth to achieve three main goals: (1) belonging to a group and sharing the group membership; (2) producing social order; and (3) as a means to solve problems. Descriptions of expressive violence came up less frequently during the focus group interviews but the youth were clear that in their opinion, expressive violence was a legitimate form of violence. Expressive violence was characterized in three ways by the youth: (1) as “madness;” (2) as emotional; and (3) as fictional violence expressed in an effort to deal with anger. Overall, in their talk about violence, the young people continually highlighted the collective nature of violence. Instrumental violence was employed in situations in which young people felt they lacked power, such as in institutional settings. The authors note that the preeminence of instrumental violence in the discussions of violence lend support to the rational choice perspective that holds that crime (violence in this case) emerges out of a rational thought process. Participants were 38 young residents, aged 12 to 17 years, of 2 Finnish reform schools who participated in 15 focus group interviews during the spring of 2002. Focus groups were loosely structured but focused on violence in various physical contexts, norms related to violence, and the relationships of boys and girls to violence. Data were analyzed qualitatively for emerging themes. The perspectives of young people should be taken into account in the design of prevention and intervention programs. Notes, references