2.4 CAUSES OF CRIME IN SCHOOL 30
2.4.4 The availability of alcohol and drugs 52
activities (Bezuidenhout & Joubert, 2003:69). Male learners traditionally enter puberty ill- prepared for the world of aggression and competition they encounter in the activities of their peer groups because of their strong physique. The consequent emotional strain leads them to engage in school criminal activities. Female learners, on the other hand, always maintain traditional, relatively static behaviour patterns that protect them from the pressures of transition into adult world (Conger, 1991:520).
According to Curcio and First (1993:8) the following are examples of serious learner on learner criminal acts:
rape;
murder;
drive-by shootings;
Discharging fire-arms in the school building or terrain;
carrying a fire-arm on the school premises, and
wounding or killing a fellow learner with a knife or sharp metal object.
Most learner on learner acts of aggression are committed by boys, and the aggression is generally directed at other boys (Conklin, 1995:132).
age and come from local schools (Sookha, 2006d:2). The increase in drug and alcohol abuse in peri-urban and rural areas is deeply concerning (Kusinitz, 1988:24-27).
According to Sanca‟s 2004/05 annual report, alcohol continues to be the most dominant substance of abuse by learners (Sookha, 2006e:30).
Bezuidenhout and Joubert (2003:56) argue that the high level of substance abuse by learners not only contributes to crime, but the existence of profitable criminal activities also means that the expected loot from crime is more attractive in South African schools.
The most important example of profitable criminal activity is the illicit drug trade. The profitable criminal activities also involve the elements of violence and official corruption required for these activities to occur. Learners in need of an income easily fall prey to involvement in drug dealing (Shone, 2007:27).
Mbuya (2002:11) and Gwynne (1988:22) believe that drugs are freely available in many areas, such as clubs, coffee bars, dance halls and youth clubs that schoolboys would be likely to visit. They base their beliefs on the following opinions:
The more people that learners know have taken drugs, the more likely they (learners) are to take drugs.
The time learners have been in the company of other boys or girls who have taken drugs the more likely they are to take drugs.
Dependency on drugs and alcohol is expensive and this drives learners to crime as they have no other means of supporting their habit (Perumal, 2006:30). According to Cronje, et al.(1987:227) the following characteristics of drug dependency negatively affect the behaviour and conduct of a learner:
An irresistible craving for the drug which can be indulged legally or illegally, because drug dependents are so obsessed by having and using the substance that they will do anything, even commit a crime, to obtain it.
Drug-dependency is coupled with an ever-increasing physical tolerance, which results in the need to increase the dose to obtain the same desired effect.
A physical and psychological dependency develops in the users until they cannot manage without the drug.
Drug-related violence in schools has increased. There are learners in schools who are dealers and are encouraging other learners to start taking the drugs. The dealers get paid for their services and they use the money to pay for their own habit (Sookha, 2006a:5).
Fourie (2000:33) maintains that property crimes committed by learners are wildely associated with an addiction to illegal substances. Drug abuse and even alcohol use directly contribute to violent learner-crime if taken in excess, especially if taken in a group context where there is strong social pressure to conform to the group‟s rules. In the form of a gang, learners may have certain initiation rituals involving serious crimes of a violent nature such as rape and murder (Conger, 1988:523-524).
Gwynne (1988:9) points out that an acute intoxication with alcohol is related to aggression when an individual is provoked. This heightened aggression happens when alcohol causes changes within a person that increase the risk of aggression from an intoxicated learner or educator. These changes include (Perumal, 2006:43):
reduced intellectual functioning;
reduced self awareness;
selective disinhibition, and
the inaccurate assessment of risks.
Conger (1991:38-39) argues that the behaviour of a learner influenced by substance abuse depends not only on his level of aggression, but also on the dynamics of the situation and the strength of general, cultural and social control mechanisms.
High doses of alcohol results in the lack of judgment and inhibition which lead to learner crime. In terms of developmental consequences for the adolescent, regular and high doses of alcohol make it impossible to succeed in learning (Trojanowicz & Morash, 1992:395).
The criminal incidents often take place on Saturday afternoons or evenings after liquor off-sales outlets have closed. Murders frequently occur in and around shebeens. In most cases, the perpetrators or the victims or both are learners who are under the influence of alcohol (Bezuidenhout & Joubert, 2003:57).
Compared to the abstaining learner, the drinking, smoking, and drug-taking learner is much more likely to be getting into fights, stealing, hurting other learners and educators, and committing other delinquencies (Alkers, 1984:4).