Project Description
Develop a social crime prevention method, for Rural Victoria.
Rural areas in Australia have been affected significantly by drug use where most of the young people have engaged in the crime. One of the most affected areas is the Rural Victoria, where the Crime Statistics Agency report said the number of people using and possessing drugs is double those that used them in the last five years (Hemphill et al. 2011). The report was based on police reports, where the number increased rapidly, mostly in the small towns. For example, around the Gisborne-Macedon area, which is in the north of Melbourne, drug use has increased by 300 percent in the last few years (Coomber et al., 2011). Chris Major, who is the police Inspector of the area, said that the many policies put against drug use have contributed to more crimes in the area. The issues have attracted the attention of many community members in the area because the effects of drug use have impacted those (Degenhardt et al., 2010). For example, robbery cases have increased, where many houses have been robbed in towns. Interpersonal crimes like a child and elderly abuse have also increased, as well the public toilets being used as points to abuse the drugs. Therefore solutions to the problem ought to be developed.
The aim of the project is to develop a social crime prevention method, for Rural Victoria. The reason for a social approach is due to the idea that drugs used in the area have affected the young people mostly, indicating that peer pressure must have played a role. One of the notable aspects of the issue is that social factors, for example, poverty and lack of education have contributed to most of the young people engaging in the crimes. Therefore, developing the approach would have several benefits to the area. One is that crime rate would reduce because people who abuse drugs engage in crimes than the other population (Law et al., 2010). The other benefit is that development in the area would be experienced, as people would take part in legal activities that lead to development (Rouch et al., 2015). With that, the future of the young people would be better, leading to fewer reports about crimes in the area. The social crime prevention approach would, therefore, aim at reducing drug use and selling in the Rural Victoria, by the application of the necessary measures in ensuring that the public is safe.
Limitations
The research has several limitations, which may affect the reliability of the information given. One is the on reliable data, which limits the scope of the research. Most of the reliable studies have been conducted in the United States and relating them to Australia is hard as the people involved are different. Few people have specifically decided to study the Rural Victoria region, making the study too hard as a comparison is not possible. The other limitation in this study is on sample size. Considering that the data needed involves an illegal act, it is clear that the data to be collected would be gotten from police information which is at times little. Therefore, the conclusions to be made could be wrong as the sample taken is too little, yet the people affected are too many. Apart from that, there is the possibility for wrong information from the community people. Since it is known that drug use is a crime, when the researcher asks the people about the activity, most would deny as they have the attitude that if they said the truth, some people would suffer for example being sent to jail. Even though the community members who do not use the drugs wish that the practice is prevented, they do not readily identify the issue. The researcher is therefore required to rely on observation, which is time wasting and may not get as much information as the action is privately carried out.
The key issues noted in this situation are on what the policymakers need to do, and how well the Victorian Community would accept the recommendations for drug use prevention. As said by the Inspector of the place, the lawmakers have played a role in increasing drugs use and possession in the place. This is by putting in place strict laws against drugs usage in the nation not considering the addicts. According to data, most of the people in the area have been addicted into the drugs, meaning that despite the laws, they would engage in any activity so as to get the drugs (Strang et al., 2012). On the other hand, the people selling the hike prices, where the addicts are forced to break houses and steal so as to get money used to buy the drugs. In short, putting in place laws against drug use is not the solution to the problem. The policymakers should, therefore, lessen the laws to make the struggle for the drugs less so as to reduce the number of crimes in the area. However, legalizing the crime would also not solve the issues, if other actions like educating people are not ensured.
Key Issues
The other key issue relates to the community and their attitude towards the crime. The possibility of the society accepting recommendations are high because most have complained that drug use has not only affected peace and harmony but poses risks in the near future (Auerbach &Hoppe 2015). Thus, the people would work together with the change makers to prevent the practice in the area. The other reason as to why they would accept the recommendations is because the issue has affected a specific population that is the young people where the rest would wish that it is stopped. However, implementing the measures could be tough as most of the people affected to believe that it is not possible refraining from the practice, indicating that some factors should be considered so as to get the social and political support of the initiative. One of the factors is to communicate effectively to the people (Oberschall 2017). In this case, the people engaging in the activity should not be condemned but should be accepted which is the first step to stopping the activity in the area. While seeking for support politically, leaders should be involved in the planning process, for them to understand the need of preventive drug measures for Victorians (Reiman &Leighton 2015).
Regarding the condition at Victoria, several recommendations are helpful in making the young people avoid drugs. One is on education, where people are to be informed about several issues. One is about the dangers of drug taking, for example, health wise (Schuckit 2013). Young people should be informed that taking drugs leads to health issues that would require huge amounts of money to treat or death. Also, the education should inform them of the social and economic problems realized in taking drugs for example violence and poverty (Foxcroft et al., 2018). Educating the people is necessary as most do not know the effects of the substances, as they are illiterate. Educating people on ways to prevent the substance is helpful, mostly to those that have not started using those (Carson et al., 2017). On the other hand, educating addicts do not end the practice due to the addiction aspect. Therefore, the other recommendation would be on establishing community-based groups to help the addicts stop the behavior gradually. Notably, it is not possible for an addict to stop abusing drugs at once, but where gradual steps are taken, the people would change. For example, if a person took the drug three times a day, they would be advised to take twice, and then after some time, they take once and eventually they would stop the practice. The other vital recommendation is to create job opportunities for the people, as this would ensure that they are not idle. Considering that the place is rural, it is expected that jobs are rare, leading to the people being idle and thus engage in substance use. The government should, therefore, provide jobs to the affected which is useful in making them refrain from the activity.
Future Directions
Currently, several policies are evident, though they are not specific to the Victoria area. For example, in 1985, a national campaign was launched which was to fight against drug use in Australia (Evans et al., 2015). However, the laws were not much effective, which has led to the development of policies, aiming to reduce drug use in the nation. one, there have been the use of social marketing campaigns as well as the distribution of information products, that have informed people on ways to prevent drugs. There have also been the developments of community projects that have implemented some policies in preventing the practice (Moore et al. 2015). Peer education policies are also evident, where the young people have been informed on ways to prevent using and possessing of drugs (Vitry et al., 2015). In addition, laws to alter the supply of illicit drugs into the nation, as well as internal production, have also been applied in the war to fight drugs in the nation (Lancaster et al., 2017).
In curbing drug use in the area, short and long-term activities are needed. The short-term activity is on educating people on problems related to substance abuse in terms of health, economy and the social life. The other short-term activity is on involving political leaders in the planning process; of developing measures to assist the affected quit the behavior. The long-term activities, on the other hand, involve the implementation of gradual steps in helping the affected people recover. For example, letting the affected reduce the number of times they use drugs, which would eventually make them recover. The other long-term activity is on making amendments in the policies against drug taking, which would make the situation better as discussed above. Job creation and area development are also necessary, making the people occupied and thus reduce the urge for substance abuse.
In implementing the option of educating people, several considerations are important. One is on finding out specific areas that have been affected by the behavior. Even though the entire Victoria is affected, there are small towns that need more care than the others. Where the points are identified, the educators should, therefore, put more emphasis while planning. Also, the cause of the behavior should also be known. With information on that, the educators would determine the suitable information to pass to the people. For example, if the cause is poverty, it would be right to teach people on how to boost their economic status. Determining the number of people affected and their educational level is also important, as it guides the informers on the educational tool to use and the language that the people would understand.
In evaluating the performance of the said options, data comparison would be carried out. For example, police records would be used in comparing the number of crimes recorded in the place before the implementation of the measures and after. The other way is through interaction with the people of the area while asking them on how the implemented measures are helpful to the community.
Several negative consequences would be expected from the listed recommendations. One is that the people educated would be different from those that are affected. This would happen, where the addicts are not willing to change and therefore would not listen to the informers. The other negative aspect is that the gradual way of making the affected people change would not be consistent. If that happened, the options would be said to be unhelpful, as the people would recover for some time and later get back to the behavior.
Conclusion
In conclusion, basing the paper on Victorian drug use and possession problem, it is clear that the condition is solvable. The paper has described that the issue has affected the area in terms of socialization and economy, requiring a solution. On that note, the solutions needed are several, where their implementation would solve the problem. One is that the policymakers should reduce the number of laws made against drug use, as they have not reduced the behavior and have led to other negative issues like robbery. The other solution is educating the people on ways to prevent the practice and the effects. Also, developing gradual steps in making the affected youths refrain is also useful as well as creating jobs for them to get occupied and improve their economy is helpful.
References
Auerbach, J.D. and Hoppe, T.A., 2015. Beyond “getting drugs into bodies”: social science perspectives on pre?exposure prophylaxis for HIV. Journal of the International AIDS Society, 18(4S3).
Carson, K.V., Brinn, M.P., Labiszewski, N.A., Esterman, A.J., Chang, A.B. and Smith, B.J., 2017. Community interventions for preventing smoking in young people. Health.
Coomber, K., Toumbourou, J.W., Miller, P., Staiger, P.K., Hemphill, S.A. and Catalano, R.F., 2011. Rural adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use: a comparison of students in Victoria, Australia, and Washington State, United States. The Journal of Rural Health, 27(4), pp.409-415.
Degenhardt, L., Coffey, C., Carlin, J.B., Swift, W., Moore, E. and Patton, G.C., 2010. Outcomes of occasional cannabis use in adolescence: 10-year follow-up study in Victoria, Australia. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 196(4), pp.290-295.
Evans-Whipp, T.J., Plenty, S.M., Catalano, R.F., Herrenkohl, T.I. and Toumbourou, J.W., 2015. Longitudinal effects of school drug policies on student marijuana use in Washington State and Victoria, Australia. American journal of public health, 105(5), pp.994-1000.
Foxcroft, D., Ireland, D., Lowe, G. and Breen, R., 2018, April. Primary prevention for alcohol misuse in young people. In Society for Social Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting & European Congress of Epidemiology.
Hemphill, S.A., Heerde, J.A., Herrenkohl, T.I., Patton, G.C., Toumbourou, J.W. and Catalano, R.F., 2011. Risk and protective factors for adolescent substance use in Washington State, the United States and Victoria, Australia: A longitudinal study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 49(3), pp.312-320.
Lancaster, K., Ritter, A., Hughes, C., and Hoppe, R., 2017. A critical examination of the introduction of drug detection dogs for policing of illicit drugs in New South Wales, Australia using Kingdon’s’ multiple streams’ heuristic. Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, 13(4), pp.583-603.
Law, M., Morris, J.K. and Wald, N.J., 2009. Use of blood pressure lowering drugs in the prevention of cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of 147 randomised trials in the context of expectations from prospective epidemiological studies. Bmj, 338, p.b1665.
Moore, D., Fraser, S., Törrönen, J. and Tinghög, M.E., 2015. Sameness and difference: Metaphor and politics in the constitution of addiction, social exclusion and gender in Australian and Swedish drug policy. International Journal of Drug Policy, 26(4), pp.420-428.
Oberschall, A., 2017. Social movements: ideologies, interest, and identities. Routledge.
Reiman, J. and Leighton, P., 2015. The rich get richer, and the poor get prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice. Routledge.
Rouch, L., Cestac, P., Hanon, O., Cool, C., Helmer, C., Bouhanick, B., Chamontin, B., Dartigues, J.F., Vellas, B. and Andrieu, S., 2015. Antihypertensive drugs, prevention of cognitive decline and dementia: a systematic review of observational studies, randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses, with a discussion of potential mechanisms. CNS Drugs, 29(2), pp.113-130.
Schuckit, M.A., 2013. Educating yourself about alcohol and drugs: A people’s primer. Springer.
Strang, J., Babor, T., Caulkins, J., Fischer, B., Foxcroft, D. and Humphreys, K., 2012. Drug policy and the public good: evidence for effective interventions. The Lancet, 379(9810), pp.71-83.
Vitry, A.I., Thai, L. and Roughead, E.E., 2015. Pharmaceutical pricing policies in Australia. In Pharmaceutical prices in the 21st century (pp. 1-23). Adis, Cham.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
