Set work

I. Scan the article for the Russian equivalents of:

fag/fagging, swindling, to use slang words, overdue pills, to perfect blows, to suck up to sb., to do a paper for sb., to take the blame for sth., to prompt a a schoolmate in the lesson, covered in blood, to write a dying note, to surpass sb., to break down, to kick a car, to turn a blind eye (a deaf ear) to sth., to find the culprit, adhesive tape.

II. Say what is the English for:

«дед», издеваться над кем-либо, просроченный, состоять на учете в детской комнате милиции, повеситься на ремне, добиваться справедливости, привлечь к уголовной ответственности, инспектор по делам несовершеннолетних, стоять босиком на холодном кафеле, заклеить скотчем рот.

III. What is meant by:

а tape measure, Sellotape, a record tape, red tape, tickertape, a race tape.

5. Render the above article into English making use of the words from

the first two tasks.

6. Points for discussion.

1. Do you agree that army bullying is rooted in school fagging?

2. Should teachers step in if one of their pupils is being bullied? What can a

teacher do under the circumstances?

3. What is the author’s stand? Do you share it?

FORGOTTEN VICTIMS

They are often portrayed as offenders, but young people are also the most likely victims of crime. John Plummer finds out how an Enfield-based project is helping them.

Aaron Knight was beaten up by three bullies at school last year. He suffered a broken wrist and consider­able trauma. While the offenders were dealt with by the local youth offend­ing team, so too was Aaron.

He was invited to attend Britain's first centre dedicated solely to young victims of crime. In a converted three-bedroom police flat in Enfield, north London, he and other young victims aged six to 18 receive counseling and have the chance to take part in activi­ties such as photography, computer skills, cooking, music, drama, singing, self-defense and day trips.

When Aaron, 14, first went along his school attendance record was 12 per cent. "I used to bunk off school a lot but since I've been going to the centre my attendance has gone up to 58 per cent," he says. "I usually go once every two weeks and it cheers me up. Some of the other people go to my school and we've become friends."

There is growing evidence that young people suffer more crime than anyone else. According to Victim Sup­port, one in four 12- to 16-year-olds are affected each year.

Yet it's difficult to find people tak­ing the issue seriously. The Home Of­fice's annual UK crime survey doesn't even include under-16s.

The YPAC centre — an abbre­viation of "young people affected by crime" — is one of the first organisa­tions to focus on this area. It wants to balance the support given to offenders and young victims of crime, the latter of which are often ignored.

The flat, which is next door to Southgate police station, is rent free. The Children's Fund contributes £24,000 annually and Enfield Youth Offending Team and the local council provide £35,000 of statutory funding. Police charity Child Victims of Crime also helps out on an ad hoc basis.

The project involves six youth of­fending professionals and 20 volunteers, including members of Victim Support and the British Red Cross, who help with counseling and first-aid tuition. Of 34 young victims in­vited by the youth offending team, 16 attend. There are 155 youth offending teams in Britain.

Youth offenders redecorated the building and they could be involved again. Both Creitzman, who is a justice practitioner, and Keith Napthine, his manager at Enfield Youth Offend­ing Team, believe strongly in the value of reuniting victims and offenders.

However, it isn't always appropriate. "The offenders have to show remorse," says Creitzman. "In Aaron's case, that hasn't happened and it would run the risk of revictimising him."

Napthine, who estimates Y-PAC could help up to 250 young victims each year, believes restorative justice has wider benefits. "Statistics show victimization can lead to offending, so we are nipping it in the bud," he says. The Edinburgh study of youth transi­tions and crime, which has been track­ing 4,300 young people who started secondary school in 1998, provides the most powerful evidence for this.

The study suggests that being a vic­tim of crime at the age of 12 is one of the most powerful indicators that a child will offend at 15. Conversely, 12-year-old offenders run a high risk of being victims at 15.

David Smith, professor of criminol­ogy at Edinburgh University, is lead­ing the study. He says: "People think, of crime as random but many offences emerge out of relationships of people who know each other."

Victims and offenders, he says, often share similar backgrounds and personalities. "If a young person spends lots of time in clubs or amuse­ment arcades there is a good chance they will become victims or offend­ers," he says.

Although the Y-PAC centre is be­lieved to be unique in having a building dedicated solely to victims, other organisations support young victims. Victim Support has appointed a work­er in Croydon to visit young victims at school.

The Howard League for Penal Reform runs a citizenship and crime project in schools, which includes a crime quiz, an introduction to the criminal justice system and a court­room role-play initiative. The aim is to raise awareness of the consequences of crime, tell them about their rights and responsibilities and to encourage them to have a greater say in society.

Students are given a form with a list of crimes and asked to tick whichever ones they have suffered. Astonishingly, between 97 per cent and 99 per cent tick at least one category. Slowly, it is beginning to hit home that crime does not just affect more young people than originally thought, but that it is growing up.

By drawing attention to the lack of services, the Y-PAC centre believes it has already made an impact.

John Plummer

/ From Young People Now, №2, 2006/

Crime figures

- One in three children aged 12 to 15 is assaulted each year.

- Forty-eight per cent of boys and 35 per cent of girls worry about crime.

-Teenage gangs top the list of people that young people are most scared of.

-Forty-six per cent cite them as their number one concern.

-Sixty per cent of children are excluded from school and 71 per cent of

children in school have been crime victims.

-Only 17 per cent of young people report crimes. The main deterrents are

that they don’t think the police will listen or do anything about it.

SET WORK

1. Practise the pronunciation of the words below. Translate them into Russian:

bully, trauma, converted, counsel, survey, statutory, estimate, conversely, arcade, penal, impact, deterrent, council.

2. Say what the words and word combinations below mean. Refer to the context.

Solely, to bunk off, under-16s, rent free, to focus on, statutory funding, on an ad hoc basis, to show remorse, to nip sth. in the bud, youth transition, conversely, random crime, to run a project, to tick, to make an impact.

3. Clarify the meaning of the following phrasal verbs. Say how they were used in the article.

To be beaten up, to be dealt with, to go along, to go up, to help out, to hold

up.

4. What is meant by:

1. The local youth offending team, the Home Office, the Y-PAC centre, the

Children’s Fund, the Real Cross;

2. First-aid tuition, justice practitioner, restorative justice, victimization, criminology;

3. Amusement arcade, a court-room role-play initiative, a crime quiz.

5. Find in the article the English for:

обидчик, правонарушитель; ему сломали запястье; самооборона; экскурсия; посещаемость в школе; накапливается все больше и больше фактов, что …; один из четырех; страдать от преступности больше, чем кто-либо еще; жертвовать кому-либо сумму; свято верить в …; рисковать; проследить чью-либо жизнь/развитие; веские основания; возглавлять исследование; способствовать осознанию последствий преступления; привлечь внимание кого-либо.