Qualitative research on Young People and Rough Sleeping in London

Qualitative research on Young People and Rough Sleeping in London

Introduction

It is challenging to obtain a very accurate picture of homelessness in London because those involved are the hidden population. Most of the young people in the streets don’t associate with the people who they are not familiar with. This is an acceptable nature of human beings, but it is a disadvantage when conducting research. In this research, we will perform some qualitative research on young people and rough sleeping in London.

Homeless people have been listed as the most vulnerable people in society. There is a lot of crisis that happens to the homeless people, and it has been reported that the homeless are more likely to be 13 times affected by these crises compared to the members of the public. These crises include violent crime. It has also been reported that the homeless are 47 times more likely to be a victim of theft compared to the general membership of the public. Comparing the relationship between the young people who are homeless and the level of crime is sometimes tricky because many researchers who study the crime tend to focus on the young people who practice crime instead them being victims of crime. However, it has been obtained that homelessness has a significant relationship with criminal victimization. The young homeless individual is easily targeted compared to the adult homeless because they lack experience with the routes within the streets. Thus, they are likely to be vulnerable to crime compared to adult colleagues. Also, there is a significant difference in crime vulnerability between the female and the male. Male has been reported to be a risk from theft, physical assault than the female. On the hand, the female is more likely to have a sexual victimization risk compared to the male. The young people are more likely to experience physical victimization, sexual harassment and abuse because they are exposed to a lot in the street (Wardhaugh, 2017; Fitzpatrick, Bramley, and Johnsen, 2013; Purdam, 2014; ).

Their homeless peers sometimes target the young homeless individuals, and frequently, they are targeted by the general public. However, it is scarce for the homeless to victimize themselves because of the sense of solidarity. The members of the public frequently victimize the homeless, especially after they have taken drugs or them under they are under the influence of alcohol. The young homeless individuals have deployed some strategies to avoid the risk of victimization from the member of the public. The strategy that they have implemented includes carrying a weapon, keeping a low profile, walking or staying as a group, and owning a dog. Some of the homeless individuals have looked for safer places for their stay. The areas that they choose to spend their night are perceived to be less risky compared to most of the areas where they spend their time, especially during the night. Places such as the hostel are seen to be less risky compared to other places in the street (Hampson, 2012).

It is evident that most of the homeless know less about the law and their legal rights. Following the lack of knowledge from the homeless, the crimes that have been committed against the homeless are not or are underreported. Some of the homeless are not willing to report these cases because they feel unworthy. They have difficulties in getting the witness or evidence of the crime, they don’t trust the criminal justice system, and sometimes they don’t want to assume victim status (Wilson, 2018).

The homeless usually have the belief that the police will not act on their crime report when they are victimized because they feel the people will perceive that they asked for it. The homeless drug users are less likely to report any incidents to the police because they are afraid that they might be prosecuted. Therefore, they prefer to deal with them instead of following the formal procedures as allowed. Sometimes, this strategy turns the victims into offenders (Crane and Warnes, 2010).

There have been increasing cases of homelessness in London, and homeless individuals are facing a lot of challenges. There is also a lot of instances of victimization that are being reported in London that are associated with homelessness. The crime victimization is so rampant among the youths. It would be better to obtain more and in-depth information from the ground. Therefore, a study that mainly focuses on young people and rough sleeping is very crucial. In this report, we will conduct qualitative research on young people and rough sleeping in London. The data was obtained through interviews. The participants that participated in the study were both the female and males. The participants were given a choice to volunteer to be included in the research. Two participants took part in the study. An interview between the two participants was conducted in a non-formal way. The participants were allowed to speak up their minds during the survey. Meaning the study was an open-ended study. The participants who took part in the study were about 18 to 26 years old. The participants were from Britain and were of British origin. The participants selected were currently living in London or the streets of London. The study wanted to obtain their experiences and understanding of the lives of young people on the streets.

Findings

Following the interviews from the two participants i.e., Luke and Gemma, these three main themes can be observed;

1. Poor parental care

In both the two cases, one can notice that both Luke and Gemma didn’t have good parental responsibility. Good parental care involves taking care of the child so that they have adequate physical, sociological, and psychological satisfaction. In both cases, the participants were going through some material, sociological, and psychological problems that were not well handled by their parents. One of the psychological issues that children go through is the fact that not all of their parents are there to take care of them. The participants were not living together with their biological parents. Both of the participants lived with their mother and their stepdad. The real dads didn’t play their roles well, and even after landing in the streets, none of them came for their rescue. There were also cases of domestic violence in both the families of the respondents. Her biological father frequently assaulted the mother of Gemma. The stepdad of Luke was always quarreling with his mother over his mistreatment by his step-father. The mother of Gemma allowed her to be adopted by the foster parents and later to the children home without doing anything. Similarly, Gemma neglected her child and ran way without checking on her child again. These are some of the scenarios of poor parenting observed in both the two transcripts.

2. Drug abuse and violence

There cases of drug abuse and violence from the two transcripts. The father of Gemma used to assault her mother. Her parents were also on drugs, and this is one of the reasons why they neglected Gemma when she was taking away by the police. The issue persisted, and Gemma didn’t have time to be with her parents. Gemma’s parents used to fight until the police were called, “He used to hit her, and the police were called.  They found drugs in the flat, and I was taken into care.”

Similarly, Luke used to smoke weed while we were still in school and also in the hostels where he was staying until he was kicked out. Because of the drug abuse, Luke engaged in violent activities in school, and this made him suspended from the college. Therefore, it can be stated that drug abuse was one of the reasons why Luke and Gemma ended up in the streets.

3. Victimization

The case victimization differed between the female and males. The female was sexually victimized; the girls who were in the children’s homes were trafficked and turned into prostitutes. The males mostly victimized the girls. The boys victimized one of Gemma’s friends during their stay in the hostels. Luke was victimized in the streets where some of the homeless individuals could take his sleeping bags when he was not around. Sometimes, he was moved by fellow homeless individuals when he finds a new place to sleep.

Discussion

The problems of drug abuse and violence have been rampant among the homelessness. Similarly, according to Parsell (2011), homeliness is associated with cases of alcohol abuse among individuals in the street.  According to Wardhaugh (2017), they had been an increasing youth homeliness in the street from early 1990, and youth homeless had led to an increase of crime from the youth. The majority of the places that are affected by the risk of crime is the urban centers. The homeless youth on the streets are less likely to get jobs, and this has made them engage in drugs and crime (Jackson, 2015). Inadequate parental care has been one of the reasons why some of the youth end up in the street. According to David, Gelberg, and Suchman (2012), poor parenting has been experienced with the mothers who get pregnant at a very tender age, i.e., early pregnancy is one of the courses of poor parental care. Another factor that has led to inadequate parental responsibility is the use of drugs. Parents who are under drugs rarely take care of their children. Therefore, this creates a high possibility for their children to live in the streets and use drugs.  Lastly, the homeless youth experience a lot of victimization from their fellow individuals and the members of the public. According to Roy et al. 2014, rates of criminal behavior, victimization, and contact with the justice system were associated with the mental illness of the victim. These issues have led to homelessness individuals to be rested. However, the victimization had been influenced by both the members of the public and fellow homeless individuals.

Conclusion

It has been seen from both the findings and the literature review that the homeless youth goes through a lot on the streets. The problems range from the gender of the victims. The females have been affected by trafficking where they are forced into prostitution. The male has mostly been affected by drug abuse. The excessive use of illegal drugs has led to increased crime among the homeless and the public. The homelessness engages in crime so that they can obtain something to eat and also a way of survival. The primary reason why the homelessness find themselves homelessness is because of poor parental care. Some of the parents might be affected by drug abuse, and some are affected by divorce and physical assault by their partners.

References

Crane, M. and Warnes, A.M., 2010. Homelessness among older people and service responses. Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 20(4), pp.354-363.

David, D.H., Gelberg, L. and Suchman, N.E., 2012. Implications of homelessness for parenting young children: A preliminary review from a developmental attachment perspective. Infant Mental Health Journal, 33(1), pp.1-9.

Fitzpatrick, S., Bramley, G. and Johnsen, S., 2013. Pathways into multiple exclusion homelessness in seven UK cities. Urban Studies, 50(1), pp.148-168.

Hampson, K.S., 2012. The role of Emotional Intelligence in the criminal activity of young people involved with the Leeds Youth Offending Service. University of Leeds.

Jackson, E., 2015. Young Homeless people and urban space: Fixed in Mobility. Routledge.

Parsell, C., 2011. Responding to people sleeping rough: Dilemmas and opportunities for social work. Australian Social Work, 64(3), pp.330-345.

Purdam, K., 2014. Citizen social science and citizen data? Methodological and ethical challenges for social research. Current sociology, 62(3), pp.374-392.

Roy, L., Crocker, A.G., Nicholls, T.L., Latimer, E.A. and Ayllon, A.R., 2014. Criminal behavior and victimization among homeless individuals with severe mental illness: a systematic review. Psychiatric services, 65(6), pp.739-750.

Wardhaugh, J., 2017. Sub city: Young people, homelessness and crime. Routledge.

Wilson, W., 2018. Rough Sleeping (England). Briefing Paper, (02007).