Vandalism

Definition: Willful or malicious destruction, injury, disfigurement, or defacement of public or private property

Significance: Although vandalism arrests have declined since the early 1990s, vandalism remains an ongoing problem that adversely affects cities, schools, businesses, and residential communities across the United States, and it accounts for a large portion of juvenile arrests.

The word "vandalism" derives from the name of a Germanic people called the Vandals, who were known for their frequent and spirited raids into the Roman Empire during the fifth century CE. In modern times the term "vandal" has come to be applied to individuals who willfully damage and deface public and private structures and vehicles. During the twentieth century vandalism became a widespread problem throughout the United States and in other industrialized nations. It includes such acts as ravaging schoolrooms and offices, smashing windows and mailboxes, and painting graffiti on buildings, vehicles, and public places.

One of the most common and most visible expressions of vandalism in the United States is graffiti—words and pictures painted on walls, signs, buildings, buses, and other vehicles and public places. Usually applied with aerosol spray-paint products and other permanent markers, graffiti is closely associated with youth gangs, which use it in many cities to mark distinctive symbols and words on their "turf"—the areas they claim as their own territories. Such graffiti advertises the gangs’ presence and serves to warn members of rival gangs to stay away. Ironically, the same graffiti sometimes also assists police to identify and track gang activity within their jurisdictions.

In many urban neighborhoods, graffiti is also recognized as street art that symbolizes more than simple vandalism. Its creators view their paintings as forms of artistic self-expression and symbols of neighborhood and cultural pride. Some graffiti artists have been featured in museum exhibitions and even accepted as major artists of renown, such as Banksy. Many established and up-and-coming artists have also employed graffiti stylings into their gallery work, often to communicate themes of postmodernism, urbanism, socioeconomics, and politics. However, although some graffiti art may have nothing to do with gang activity, it is nevertheless regarded as a form of vandalism when it is carried out in unwanted places, and property owners must deal with the reconstruction and cleanup of the art left by these individuals. Many communities try to reduce graffiti by banning the sale of spray-paint products to minors. Some promote positive graffiti and mural art in designated spaces or provide other artistic opportunities to encourage budding artists to avoid breaking the law by committing vandalism.

Prevalence

The news media tend to convey the impression that vandalism is a crime that is always on the increase. However, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime statistics have shown that arrests for vandalism were actually declining in the early twenty-first century. In fact, vandalism has gone through several historical cycles in the past. Between 1980 and 1982 arrests for vandalism declined, and then gradually increased each year until 1994. They then began another period of decline until 1997. Overall, during the ten-year period between 1993 and 2002, total arrests for vandalism of persons under the age of eighteen in the United States decreased by 33.3 percent. However, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports also showed that vandalism in some suburban and rural areas increased by slightly more than 3 percent.

According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which is conducted by the Census Bureau for the US Department of Justice, vandalism of private residences has also shown a steady decrease. In 1994, 9 percent of the families in the United States experienced incidents of vandalism. After that year, the rate went down steadily until it reached 5 percent in 2002.

Although vandalism has declined, it remains a major problem, and one that is estimated to cost cities, schools, homeowners, and business owners more than $15 billion a year. In the year 2000, about 6.1 million households experienced incidents of vandalism that cost approximately $1.7 billion in repairs and cleanup. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, 44 percent of the damage occurred to motor vehicles, while 13 percent of the damage was done to mailboxes, 13 percent to structures, and 9 percent to yards and garden areas. The most common types of damage were broken windows, graffiti, driving over properties, and leaving burn marks on houses and yards.

Schools are also common targets for vandals. In studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 1999–2000, approximately 51 percent of the schools in the United States—a total of more than 42,000 different schools—reported at least one incident of vandalism, for a total of more than 200,000 separate incidents. Most of the damage reported included broken windows, graffiti, and defacement of school property.

Businesses have also been targets of vandals for many years. According to the Small Business Administration businesses spend more than $1 billion every year to repair damage caused by vandals. Vandalism costs are then reflected in higher prices charged by businesses, which are passed on to the consumer, and can even appear in the form of higher taxes by cities and schools that must repair and replace the damage.

Male offenders account for about 83 percent of all vandalism arrests in the United States, and white offenders account for about 76 percent of arrests, while African Americans account for only about 22 percent. Although people of all ages are arrested for vandalism, most acts of vandalism are committed by youthful offenders. For example, in 2002 the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports listed a total of 75,955 arrests for vandalism cases for those under the age of eighteen.

The 1980s and 1990s saw heavy attention to the problem of graffiti and other vandalism, especially among youth, as part of an overall shift in public attitudes and government policies toward a tough-on-crime approach. Though this fervor diminished in the ensuing decades along with a general decline in crime rates, after the turn of the twenty-first century vandalism still ranked as one of the most widespread offenses of all property crimes that are reported to law-enforcement officials. Police officers spend enormous amounts of time investigating vandalism complaints from a wide variety of victims. Among the frequent complaints they hear are those concerning graffiti, which appears on walls, freeways, buildings, and other noticeable public properties. It is difficult to apprehend perpetrators because they tend to leave few clues and can disappear rapidly.

Adults who are arrested for vandalism are usually charged with a misdemeanor, which is punishable by one year or less in jail or prison. However, most vandals are under the age of eighteen. Juveniles arrested for vandalism usually make contact with juvenile probation officials, who conduct presentence investigations to understand the individual cases and offenders. The officials typically interview family members, school officials, and other people with connections with the offenders to learn as much as they can about the offenders. After cases are referred to juvenile courts, decisions are made whether to handle them formally or informally.

When cases are handled informally, the juveniles may be sent to diversion programs or similar first-offender programs. The goal of the courts is to keep youths out of the juvenile justice system. Approximately 49 percent of vandalism cases are handled informally, and about one-half of those cases are dismissed after the offenders meet all of the requirements set forth by judges. Most cases require offenders to participate in community service, pay fines, or furnish restitution.

In approximately 54 percent of the vandalism cases that are handled formally, youthful offenders are adjudicated as juvenile delinquents. In these cases, formal probation is generally ordered for the majority of the offenders, and restitution may be required, along with fines and community service.

Bibliography

Clement, Mary J. Juvenile Justice System: Law and Process. 2d ed. Woburn, Mass.: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001. Print.

Leet, D., G. Rush, and A. Smith. Gangs, Graffiti, and Violence: A Realistic Guide to the Scope and Nature of Gangs in America. 2d ed. Incline Village, Nev.: Copperhouse, 2000. Print.

MacDonald, Nancy. The Graffiti Subculture: Youth, Masculinity and Identity in London and New York. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave, 2001. Print.

Phillips, Susan A. Wallbangin’: Graffiti and Gangs in L.A. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Print.

Taylor, Ralph. Breaking Away from Broken Windows: Baltimore Neighborhoods and the Nationwide Fight Against Crime, Grime, Fear and Decline. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2001. Print.