Background to the Research

• Most of the research to date on young people and public disorder has focused on one specific type or category of violence, but what is becoming increasingly evident is that the boundaries separating the different types of violence are very porous. An explanation of disorder at interfaces can thus help to explain and understand city centre disorder and anti-social behaviour.
• This report looks at the attitudes of young people to a variety of forms of public disorder and violence in order to better understand the persistent problems being experienced in many parts of NI.
  

Research Approach

• The methodology included participant observation, interviews, focus groups, informal discussions, newspaper reviews, surveys, and a form of participative action research, which were spread over a variety of distinct areas in both Belfast and Derry/Londonderry.
  

Main Findings

• In areas such as the Fountain and Bogside in Derry/Londonderry and Whitewell and White City in Belfast, interface violence was the dominant type of disorder involving young people. In these areas, the fear of attacks and fights had become part of everyday life for many young people.
• Attitudes among Catholics and Protestants were noted to be similar, especially regarding the effects of violence and participation.
• In other interface areas such as Newington and New Lodge, the level of interface violence had decreased over the years, and young people there expressed a yearning for riots and disorder as it provided a buzz and excitement. This seemed to lead to a different tension within areas, and a rise in anti-social behaviour within the community.
• In areas such as Sunningdale and Galliagh which do not have any interfaces, the levels and experiences of young people of sectarian violence remained low.
• In Galliagh the levels of anti-social behaviour appear to be higher than in Sunningdale, perhaps in part due to fact that it is larger geographically, but Galliagh also experiences higher levels of fighting between groups of young people compared to other areas in the study.
• Derry city also experienced high levels of fighting and violence, much of it alcohol related due to the proximity of pubs and clubs, many of which young people have no difficulty in accessing.
• Some young people in Derry were reluctant to enter the city at night due to fear of attack.
• Complaints of boredom and a 'lack of things to do' featured heavily in the discussions with young people as factors which encourage their participation in forms of violence.
• Focus groups with young women revealed that, just like young men, they would be actively involved in a variety of anti-social and violent activities, such as underage drinking and 'hanging around'. The participants appeared to have limited experience in some of the more openly aggressive activities, but boredom, alcohol, and the nature of their social geography played a prominent role in explaining young women's experiences.
• Young women felt safe in their own residential areas, but they felt less safe when they moved further afield to neighbouring areas, regardless of the religious background.
• Young people in all areas complained about a lack of facilities, although in most cases it appeared that rather than there not being any facilities, the ones that are there were not stimulating enough, or were orientated to a different age group, not in a suitable area, or simply did not meet the needs of young people.
• Many young people could identify facilities that they would have access to in an ideal situation, and while some of these would cost considerable amounts of money, others could be met through more serious engagement with young people in order to identify their needs.
• The most successful interventions by youth, community, and arts projects appear to be those that actively involve young people from an early stage, and invite the young people to help design and develop activities. However, on another level, young people would be quite happy with a safe place where they could simply hang out with friends.
• Sectarian geography and divisions impinge significantly on the lives of young people, through restricting movement, limiting access to resources and generally narrowing their social horizons.
• While many young people reported having friends from the other community, many noted the difficulties in engaging in sustained work with people from neighbouring interface areas.
• In general, the relations between young people and the police and between young people and the paramilitary structures were not based on any sense of respect and trust, but rather on hostility and fear and were underpinned by a threat of violence.
• Many of the young people seemed to accept that their reality was a life in which forms of threat and violence were a norm. They might expect to be verbally harassed or on occasion physically assaulted by the police, or assaulted by the paramilitaries if they crossed certain boundaries of acceptable behaviour. The problem for young people was they were not sure where the boundaries were, or when/if the boundaries of acceptable behaviour might change.
• While many young people acknowledged that at times they had participated in anti-social behaviour, they also felt that they were often too readily identified as troublemakers.
• Overall there was a sense of mutual suspicion and distrust between young people and many of the adults who seek to impose a sense of order over public space or to impose their authority over the local communities. These mistrustful relationships are sustained by a lack of constructive dialogue and the legacy of violence that legitimates the use of force too readily and in too many contexts.