British Journal of Criminology Advance Access originally published online on July 28, 2006
British Journal of Criminology 2007 47(2):293-310; doi:10.1093/bjc/azl053
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The British Journal of Criminology 47:293-310 (2007)
© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Schools, Pupil Behaviour and Young Offenders
Using Postcode Classification to Target Behaviour Support and Crime Prevention Programmes
* Dr Carol Hayden, Reader in Applied Social Research, ICJS, University of Portsmouth. Dr Tom Williamson, ICJS, University of Portsmouth. Professor Richard Webber, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. Correspondence to Carol Hayden, ICJS (Institute of Criminal Justice Studies), University of Portsmouth, St Georges Building, 141 High Street, Portsmouth, PO1 2HY; carol.hayden{at}port.ac.uk.
This article is concerned with the role and potential of school as a site for programmes designed to prevent and reduce anti-social and criminal behaviour from young people. It sets out to evaluate the relevance of geodemographic analysis, based on the MOSAIC postcode classification system, for the targeting and development of appropriate behaviour support and youth crime prevention programmes in and around schools in different circumstances. We use youth crime data from Nottinghamshire, for a four-and-a-half-year period (19992003), as a case study,1 in order to demonstrate the relationship between patterns of youth offending and type of residential neighbourhood. The paper draws upon research from diverse sources in the fields of criminology, education and social policy in order to consider the possible use of geodemographic analysis to target school and neighbourhood programmes. It concludes by presenting some of the tensions in this role for schools.