Vandalism

What is it?

What is vandalism? Vandalism is the deliberate destruction of private or public

property. Vandalism comes in different forms, but the most commonly known is graffiti.

Graffiti is usually marked by gang members or a tagger, which is a graffiti artist who

spray-paints his or her name or symbol on a public structure. Other acts of vandalism

include stealing signs, such as a stop sign, tearing or writing in library books, spray

painting signs, keying cars and knocking over trash cans and mailboxes. The latest

national percentage of vandalism between years 2003-2004 has gone down 1.1, but in

Washington State it has gone up 3.2%. The vandalism during school hours has been

shown to have a direct link to drinking during school whether cause of boredom or

aggression, but a lot of vandalism happens outside of school hours because of the easy

access to the schools.

Why?

There are many reasons why people vandalize property. A lot is by gangs, but also is out

of people’s boredom, anger, defiance, alliance, peer pressure, hostility towards the school

and wanting revenge. Some people take out their aggression while on drugs or drinking.

It can also be done by racial views on other people, or political conflicts. Most vandals

are between 13 and 14, and over one half the crimes associated with vandalism in the

U.S. occur in high school.