Conclusion

Abstract

The evidence that young people are often the targets of physical, sexual and psychological attack from age peers, in most settings where the young congregate, has focused research attention on the nature and meaning of the violence. There is evidence that violence between young people is universal, at least in modern western society: for example, an internet search for information on ‘bullying’ produced over 500000 hits, on websites from many countries. The overview of research on violence in institutional and community settings given in Chapter 1 identified some parameters defining aggressors and victims which have been explored in this study, but it raised as many questions as answers. A number of recent quantitative surveys identify the high levels of victimisation of adolescents by other young people (Graham and Bowling 1995, Flood-Page et al. 2000, Beinart et al. 2002) and the link between youth violence and bullying in schools (Youth Justice Board 2002, 2003). The evidence is consistent that young people are both the most common victims and offenders, though violent offences are still very much a minority of youth offences.