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24 Aust. & N.Z. J. Criminology 1 (1991)

handle is hein.journals/anzjc24 and id is 1 raw text is: AUST & NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (March 1991) 24 (1-14) VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE: THE CASE OF HOMELESS YOUTH* Christine Aldert Especially in the media, young homeless people are frequently presented as posing a violent threat to other members of the public. However, the economic circumstances, living situation and age of homeless youtf are consistent with factors identified in victim research with vulnerability to violent crime. The present research explored the nature and extent of violent victimisation of homeless young people after they had left home. Intensive interviews were conducted with 51 homeless youth who were under the age of 18. Almost two-thirds of these young people had been physically assaulted and half had been sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months. The perpetrators of this violence were predominantly male. There were major differences in the nature of the violent experiences of the young men and the young women in terms of the relationship to the perpetrator, the location of the assault and the motivation. The demand for sex was a factor throughout the experiences of the young women. Introduction The National Inquiry into Homeless Children conservatively estimated that there were between 50,000 and 70,000 young people who were homeless in Australia (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1989:69). Especially in the media, when violence is discussed in relation to this increasing segment of our population it is most often either in terms of the violent backgrounds from which they fled, or the threat they are presumed to pose to other members of the general public. However, both victimisation research and the experiences of people working with these young people suggest that they are particularly vulnerable to violent victimisation. The objective of the research reported here was to explore in more detail the nature and extent of the violent victimisation of homeless young people after they had left home. Both the formation by the Federal Government of the National Committee on Violence in 1989 and the work conducted by it, are indicative of the public, political and media interest in violent crime. The subject of most of this interest has been those crimes described as 'street crimes', that is, crimes such as assault, murder and robbery. While there has been increasing concern about corporate crime or 'white collar' crime, this has been predominantly in terms of various forms of 'property' or economic crimes and less often in terms of such violent acts as the continuation of unsafe work practices and conditions, or pollution. This lack of interest is despite the fact that '. . . more Australians perish in industrial accidents than from intentional attacks, and the number of injuries sustained in the workplace dwarfs those occasioned by assault' (National Committee on Violence, 1990:52). For this reason the study of 'street crime' was for some time considered a conservative project which left unchallenged the crimes of the more powerful members of our society. However, violent 'street crimes' are predominantly intra-class and intra-racial: the victims of this form of crime are often the more economically oppressed members of our society. In recognising this, it has been argued more recently by the Left Realists * This research was funded by the Criminology Research Council, Canberra. The author would like to thank Danny Sandor (Co-Principal Investigator) for his contribution to the research and for his on-going support. t Senior Lecturer, Criminology Department, University of Melbourne.

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