Vandalism

Vandalism has numerous and diverse definitions, but most agree that it includes the intentional destruction of other people's property. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines vandalism as follows:

Most of the definitions emphasize three essential features: intentionality, destructiveness, and property ownership. Nowadays, the results of vandalism may be found on buildings, billboards, street signs, bus stops, vehicles, tunnels, many other public places, and even public or personal computers and websites by computer hacking.

Of French origin, the term vandalisme refers to a Germanic tribe, the Vandals, who conquered North Africa and Rome and looted the regions in the 5th century CE. Because of their acts of destruction of buildings and works of art, such behaviors began being referred to by their name. The term vandalisme was first used by Abbé Gregoire to denote barbaric behavior after the willful destruction of works of art during the French Revolution.

Although there are several ways to categorize vandalism, the most cited one was proposed by the sociologist Stanley Cohen. He categorizes vandalism into six types:

• 1.
  Acquisitive vandalism: Damage caused to acquire money or property, such as looting and petty theft.
• 2.
  Tactical vandalism: Damage as a means, such as breaking a window to be arrested and get a bed in a cell.
• 3.
  Ideological vandalism: Damage for an explicit ideological reason or to deliver a message.
• 4.
  Vindictive vandalism: Damage for revenge like arson.
• 5.
  Play vandalism: Destruction as a part of children's game.
• 6.
  Malicious vandalism: Damage as an expression of frustration and rage.

Another way to categorize vandalism is by specifying targets: public telephones, public transport, schools, and so on. Among these types of vandalism, school vandalism is the most common and most studied.

Traditionally, motivations for vandalism were explained by one of three theories. First, psychologists consider vandalism as a pathologic behavior. They suggested that juvenile delinquents have the same personality and social background as those who are pathologically ill. Second, sociologists understand vandalism, which is often committed to express feelings against authority figures, as a social behavior. Vandalism has been shown to be more common and more serious when unemployment is [Page 770]high. This theory suggests that vandalism is a malaise of modern society characterized by deindividuation (i.e., losing individual uniqueness), alienation, and meaninglessness. The third theory, developed by Oswald Newman, emphasizes environmental factors as a cause of vandalism. Architectural factors, including a building's location, size, design, materials, and associations with social lifestyles, affect vandals' choice of targets to attack. These classical theories of vandalism have been criticized, and most recent theories developed from newer research.

One of the major studies on vandalism, the Safe School Study, was done by U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the mid-1970s. School size, age of the student population, teacher turnover, and parental support for the school's discipline policy were found to explain school vandalism. Other studies found that negative school climate and students' sense of belonging or not belonging to a school are important factors in vandalistic behavior.

...