Psychology of Vandalism

• NCJ Number: 161318
• Author(s): A P Goldstein
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 298 pages
• Sale Source: Plenum Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology

Annotation

Vandalism is a serious and growing problem in the United States, and schools, parks, playgrounds, mass transit vehicles, city streets, museums, and libraries are common targets.

Abstract

Recognizing that society pays a high price for ignoring the problem of aggressive behavior, the author examines the status, causes, and prevention of vandalistic behavior. The first book chapter addresses deviance and the costs and consequences of vandalism. Subsequent chapters explore the demographics and ecology of vandalism, theories of vandalism causation (enjoyment, aesthetic, and equity control), and intervention strategies (altering the physical and social environment, changing the vandal, and person-environment strategies). Specific intervention tactics are described that concern target hardening, access control, deflecting offenders, controlling facilitators, exit- entry screening, formal surveillance, natural surveillance, target removal, rule setting, education, publicity, punishment, and counseling. A research appendix provides additional information on site vulnerability to vandalism, school vandalism prevention, the use of public service advertising to counter sign vandalism, theft and mutilation of library materials, the equity control model as a predictor of vandalism among college students, shame and embarrassment as deterrents to vandalism, environmental correlates of school vandalism, the role of public involvement in reducing vandalistic behavior in recreation settings, and littering. References, notes, and tables