Medidas de atención a la diversidad

The regularity and seriousness of offences increased for most participants during this time, and custodial sentences began to occur. Due to increased violent behaviour, Joe was excluded from two secondary schools by the end of second year. At this point he was placed in a residential school but this environment did not support him as intended, and his behaviour worsened. Outside he was descending deeper into his gang lifestyle and was beginning to disappear from both school and home for weeks at a time. Joe attended the residential school for six months before he was given his first custodial sentence. When discussing his move towards offending, Joe also described a more positive route he may have taken had his parents encouraged his academic abilities.

It would have given me direction an gied me something tae focus on as well cause obviously I didnae know how tae grow up an be an adult. I wis jist too busy living this party life where every day just ran intae the next…it wis jist one big waste. – Joe

The limiting of Joe’s educational attainment restricted his capability of senses, imagination and thought. His comment that “I didnae know how tae grow up an be an adult” indicates Joe’s inability to think in a fully informed manner which is an inherent skill of functioning within this capability. Joe verbalised a connection between the powerlessness he felt during his formative years and his attraction to regaining this through physical violence. The instability of his parent’s lives meant they offered him unstable guidance when growing up. Joe took direction from his father as and when he could, but this memory infers that it affected his behaviours in a negative manner and encouraged his fascination with fighting. His capability of practical reason was also affected as the fulfilment of this particular capability dictates that a person is able to critically engage with and plan one’s own life (Nussbaum, 2000). Instead, Joe felt he did not know how to grow up and find his own way in life and so just adapted into the option open to him which was “living a party life”.

At points throughout interview, Joe reflected on the development of his offending behaviour. He described a movement towards this as he disengaged further from school.

Every day wis different but the same – drinking, smoking hash, goin wi lassies, constant fightin wi other schemes, selling stuff, no tae any great extent but tae like school kids an stuff. But I wis trying tae think of how tae advance it. I wis constantly focused on avenging stuff. That wis a huge part o me at one point. - Joe

By this point Joe became more involved in the activities described in this comment. He had moved towards his offending identity and was “trying tae think of how tae advance it” and away from more stabilising areas of his life such as school. He reflected further on why this path took precedence during this period of his life.

The way ma thinking was at the time wis that I wis consumed wi having power cause I didnae have it. Cause o being powerless as a kid I then became consumed wi having power over stuff…Naebody told me I could dae something wi education in ma life. – Joe

Joe made the connection between his spiralling behavioural problems and his pursuit of agency. Nussbaum (2000) asserts that through functioning within the capability of practical reason, an individual should develop their ability to critically reflect and plan their own life in an autonomous manner. For children, she explains this is achieved, in part, through attendance of compulsory education until they have developed the capabilities that are central in enabling them to have and make informed and autonomous choices. For many of the participants, including Joe, remaining in school was not a straightforward choice or action. As previously discussed, the instability in participants’ lives often meant school could not be prioritized and was eventually disengaged from. This is another example of options being adapted to a reduced state as school engagement became unfeasible for many. The repercussions of this (as previously discussed) is that less education and skills development generally result in a lowered capability set and options for participants. For Joe, his unstable

home life and his feelings of abject powerlessness were overwhelming, meaning he had little focus left for the classroom.

A lack of role model(s) was discussed by Joe throughout his interviews. He was a bright student in primary school but the lack of guidance he received meant he never felt encouraged to use these skills to shape his future.

Obviously, kids seek approval an positive reinforcement and nurture, but the only nurture I wis getting wis ootside the hoose. So the mair o this nuture I wis getting ootside the hoos, the mair I wis allowing maself tae be nurtured . I mean I wis being nurtured by who I wis socialising wi an getting intae trouble wi. – Joe

I think havin nae power as a kid, whit I mean is jist aw these things happening tae you and you have nae power tae stop it so it jist turned me intae a pure maniac. – Joe

A kid should look up tae his father, well a boy anyway, but I didnae ever once look up tae ma dad. Aw ma role models were people that were uber assertive, people you didnae want tae cross an I prided maself in the fact that I could be like that someday. But they wernae jist violent. They always had beautiful women and money an I thought that I wanted a bit o that. – Joe

As previously discussed, when role models are lacking in the traditional areas, young people may look for them elsewhere. Joe keenly felt the lack of guidance from his father, describing how he looked for strong male role models amongst his older peer group. He looked up to them in a way that was different to how he viewed his father, so he adopted their guidance instead. Pursuit of education was not verbalised as an option for Joe and he followed the only logical path that he saw open to him. Through this he hoped to gain the agency and power his childhood had lacked by emulating his peers’ lifestyles.

Other participants verbalised similar outside influences on their early offend ing.

The people I wis looking up tae, it wisnae the sort of people I should hiv been looking up tae an I realise that now…Basically I wis looking at the wrong role models. – Conor

I basically got flung oot the children’s home intae a bail hostel wi guys that were a lot older than me an a lot mair streetwise and they ended up showing me how to steal cars an that. – John

Even noo I think I still look up tae the wrong people but see when you’re young you jist want tae have the motor an the best o gear. I jist wanted tae be a drug dealer. That wis my goal. – Ross

These comments described structural and personal constraints that led participants to enact agency in a particular way, often culminating in violence and offending. Each one of these participants verbalised the need for positive guidance, but instead they could only connect with more negative versions of this. Like Joe, both Conor and Ross sourced their nurture from role models that directed them towards offending behaviours. For John to survive the challenges of living in a homeless unit he had to take guidance from those around him who were more ‘streetwise’. This also narrowed his options into criminal behaviour in order to make money.

A further restriction on agency occurs when life is or has become a constant struggle to satisfy the basic needs of survival, such as sourcing food, shelter and warmth. The continual battle to survive removes any space to engage with wants and desires that are not a basic need. The quest to direct and plan one’s life is a luxury not afforded in such conditions. Past research indicates that poverty has psychological as well as physical dimensions such as powerlessness, voicelessness, dependency and a lack of affiliation (Narayan et al., 2000). The lower placed in the social hierarchy, the less likely an individual is to have full control over their life and opportunities for full social participation. Research has indicated this can

have a negative effect on a person’s health and longevity, both physically and psychologically. The more weakened the social bonds, the more likely the person is to be prevented from being properly educated or have any great control over their environment (both personal and political) (Marmot, 2005). Vivid descriptions of these types of agency restrictions emerged from the participants’ narratives. Lack of state support and intervention also contributed to an increase in offending behaviour which will now be looked at in detail.