Graffiti – Crime or Art? – Take Two!

Upon browsing through my fellow students CRIM2027 Blogs I came across one, Siobhan Wright’s Blog. Within her “Blog #2: Graffiti – Crime or Art?” I noticed two distinct photos that stood out by comparison to many I had looked at for guidance in my final compulsory text based on the analysis of a fellow student! The first is a photograph of a “throwie”, surrounded by numerous “tags” as they are commonly known in the world of graffiti. Secondly, the highly recognisable works of one of the worlds most notorious stencil artists, Banksy! Siobhan had me interested, so I looked for more information on her blog to no avail! So here I am with, “Graffiti – Crime or Art? – Take Two!”

The common perception of graffiti is a sensationalised one, often linked to gangs and youth violence as well as the degradation of what the typical middle class would recognise as acceptable. This view is highlighted in D'Cruze’s 2003 article, “Lifestyles: Street Art or Street Vandals?” where she states that “media's portrayal of graffiti is almost solely negative, concentrating on the cost of removal, vandalism and loss of property value. Rather than look at graffiti as a form of urban expression it has generally been seen as a sign of urban decay, and the decomposition of middle class values.” Though times are changing… There are many arguments portrayed by graffiti artists themselves and below is a great video on the ideologies and reasoning’s behind one of Australia’s largest growing cultural trends. Of particular interest are the first few minutes with one of L.A’s top graffiti artists “TLOK” (excuse the language, but aren’t they just ferals!?”).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlPmkQFNq7k

According to the Liberals and Nationals hilariously named report, “Graffiti Crackdown: You Spray, You Pay”, between 2001 and 2008 there was a total of 809,411 incidents of malicious damage to property reported to police with 9% of these being incidents of graffiti. They also state that in 2002, the State Government estimated graffiti cost the community $100 million per year though the lack of reporting and proper statistical monitoring of graffiti crime means eight years after this figure was first provided that the state is no closer to knowing the cost of graffiti today.

Now, I’ve got two young brothers, they are artists, they DO graffiti and they are influenced by those around them. The media hating graffiti makes it worse, they don’t care, it’s the risk involved, the thrill, being known, looking good and being artistically different that makes the graffiti world go around. Supporting people like Banksy doesn’t help, his pieces going for record prices including 102,000 pounds in England! Again, here is another video for your viewing.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnTfjWixICo

In the end there must be a way to cater for this rise in popularity and hate in public eyes; public walls and spots are an option but in the end I believe what will be, will be…

Turning Away From a Law & Order Debate

With the New South Wales State Election drawing further into the distance and with a new state leader in the Liberal Party, it is safe to say through even a small level of evaluation that the issue of law and order was raised to a rather limited extent compared to previous state elections. Upon looking into the subject it is fairly common to see that the economy had a rather large influence in leading parties away from the typical, rambling tirade that so commonly attaches itself to these elections in NSW. Of paramount importance to the state candidates shying away from the to-and-fro of law and order promises is money and realisation of rehabilitation! Aside from the Labor leader, Kristina Keneally, and her promise of “Anti-Mafia” style laws to get “tough on crime” (as bloody usual), the Liberal Party and leader Barry O’Farrell highlighted the importance of confronting the issue of recidivism and turning one step closer towards a more rehabilitative form of healing for criminals in NSW.

With NSW holding up to 40% of Australia’s prison population and with a rate of 58% of prisoners returning to prison at some stage in their life it is clear that the states focus must be on reducing the numbers of people re-offending and limiting the money that taxpayers are contributing to this “rotating-door” style of rehabilitation. As a result, the opposition took into account some valued information given from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, unlike poor Kristina. The ABS believes that with a 6% drop in prison population the state will save $28,000,000 a year, and that’s only six percent! They also punctured the myth that innovations in sentencing, not just in NSW, but around the nation, had helped cut prisoner numbers. As part of their Crime and Justice Bulletin, the ABS stated that “there is limited evidence that these alternatives to prison have been effective in reducing the use of imprisonment” – again, pppppoooooorrrr Kristina.

To conclude, it is good to see there has been a change of focus in state election in NSW, although a Labor supporter I wasn’t too sad in seeing Kristina go and I welcome the introduction of Barry O’Farrell as it seems he has a focus on more important things rather than “law and order auctions” as he put it. Hopefully in time we will see a shift towards a rehabilitative for of aid for criminals not only for them but for taxpayers like you and I as well!