The Other View

Problems in the Community

Anti-social crime and agendas of social
and political control

by John Nixon

Is society (northern Irish) facing a break down or are the increasing levels of crime, drug usage/trafficking, anti social behaviour, joy riding, etc, all symptomatic of a 'return' to normality? The term 'normality' is employed here to distinguish deviant behavioural trends from political and sectarian orientated. There is an argument that we in the North have never really experienced normality. Reams of pulp have been devoted to highlighting and defining the changing nature of post-conflict society here. One rationale for the increase in anti-social (or anti-community) behaviour is that what is being witnessed is a transition from an era in which civil warfare was endemic to a society whose social and anti social trends are becoming compatible with other regions in the UK/Republic but which have, to some degree been retarded by the political upheaval of the past thirty years in general and the iron rule of paramilitaries in particular.

Social 'deviants' hail from diverse socio-economic backgrounds but this article will present a focus on one particular maligned group, young people, aka the Hoods. Any weekend go to Armagh, Derry, Belfast or Ballymena or read the local papers there and you will soon get an insight to the nature of what is termed anti-social crime or behaviour. A report recently released They shoot children don't they? commissioned by the so-called 'Northern Ireland Committee Against Terror' group supplies stats which in a perverse way define the impact of anti social behaviour/crime in the wake of the cease-fires.

Loyalist paramilitaries have carried out 496 shootings and republicans 636. These figures were supplied by the old RUC. Add to this enforced exile, threats and beatings and it amounts for a very busy agenda of social and political control by paramilitaries. Since September 11th there has been a notable decrease in republican punishment attacks even though the problems have not gone away nor are likely to. If anything they seem to be exacerbated and the defiance and resistance of those at the other end of the gun or hurley stick is more marked. There is an emerging culture of resistance against the social and political agendas of the paramilitaries whose own members are also involved in organised crime and racketeering. There is undoubtedly a strain of hypocrisy in their justification of shootings and beatings. Their political apologists prefer to shy away from it all.

The question is posed: what has all this to do with maintaining the Union or the establishment of a democratic socialist republic of workers and small farmers? Nothing! Paramilitary reaction to anti-social behaviour is part response to strong community representation to elected and non-elected reps who are seen to have 'influence' and their need to extend or stamp their political territory and authority in the absence of an acceptable police force. Young people are invariably more prone to deviant social behaviour and thus are a target for communal anger and disciplinary measures by the paramilitaries. Being classified as a 'hood' can carry a stigma or status depending on your area or peer group perceptions. Ex-prisoners know the feeling. If you give a dog on the street a bad name most people will shun it or call for the warden.

Only recently a fourteen year old boasted to me he had been
threatened with 'a trip to the border'. His crime: using his pellet gun for anti-social activities. There are about thirty pellet guns in the same estate in the hands of youngsters. Other areas are the same. It's a fad activity. But if the paramilitaries are going to threaten, shoot or beat young people for deviant social behaviour whether it be pellet guns or 'smoking the blow' they are in for a very busy time. Most republican (and all loyalist) punishment beatings and enforced exiles stop at the border yet there is any amount of anti social behaviour or crime in Dundalk, Monaghan or Bundoran where few social deviants¹ if any, are shot or beaten.

Some punishment operations have had dire consequences for the causes of the enforcers notably the callous murder of Andrew Kearney (and subsequent death of his mother) and barbaric mutilation of Andrew Peden. One argument is that it keeps the more veteran bully boys and the new truce-a-leer wannabes happy thus ensuring their continued loyalty. Endurance or tolerance levels of anti-social crime among the working class communities in the north is very low if at all existent in the wake of thirty years of conflict, deprivation and military pogroms.
Young people all of them from deprived working class backgrounds have bore the brunt of paramilitary reaction and a number of patterns are emerging that denote a hardening of attitudes on all fronts. The drugs and underage drinking culture, gratuitous vandalism, car thefts/burnings, drunkenness and gang fights, attacks on property and person are all symptomatic of a society adapting to changing landscapes. Young people are experiencing fast changing times but the legacy of the past is all too present and there is a direct clash of values between the generations who have borne the brunt of the Troubles and those who are coming of age in post-conflict society.

Deviant or anti-social behaviour as long as it does not extend to violence against property or people is in the short term tolerable when subject to restraints. But what everyone agrees and this includes the reps of paramilitaries is that shooting and mutilation is not an effective panacea. After all there is always the discordant afterthought that next time it could be 'one of your own' on the receiving end...even if he/she is the sibling of an ex-prisoner or republican/loyalist icon. There is, however, deep resentment against the wanton and unwarranted destruction and vandalism against people and property. There is also a class dimension to this issue which needs to be acknowledged in that anti-social behaviour seems to be almost endemic in working class areas and which would never be tolerated in middle or upper class districts. It is argued that such a mindset is a legacy of the troubles. Sanctions against the perpetrators irrespective of where it comes from, therefore, are condoned when effective and condemned when excessive. Ultimately they flag up the dire need for a proper process and the only viable alternative (at the moment) on the table is the restorative justice process which appears to be lost in limbo.

But the nature of society here in the north itself acts as a brake on the limits of paramilitary control; strong family connections and networks and close knit communities can bring certain moral influences to bear and paramilitaries tread tentatively when support or votes tend to wan and indignation spreads like a prairie fire.


The murder of Joe O Connor in West Belfast is a supreme example of political control which led to accusations that the Provisional IRA were murdering Irishmen in order to 'police' an agreement that copperfastens partition. The Provisional IRA denied involvement but as Brendan Hughes said 'the fact remains, there is a gang of men running around Ballymurphy with guns murdering people'. Indeed, this writer was told by someone representing the 'Republican Movement' that if he stood in this years local elections he would 'never stand again'. He stood and is still standing.

Into this equation come the media and the moralists and every child beaten and body broken is grist to the mill of their argument. The only people who have come up with any practical alternatives to the paramilitaries are those promoting the concept of restorative justice. Several projects aimed at helping young people have been initiated by ex-prisoners. The Criminal Justice System is currently under major review and proposed changes are in the pipeline. The forthcoming Bill of Rights for the north is near completion and hopefully will be legislated next year. The current draft should be read and consulted by those who are advocating rights for all while denying them to others. If the Patten report was/is fully implemented and the PSNI Gaelic team is top of the GAA's league, then there is hope and scope for the future. In the interim we just have to put up with the precarious journey toward normality.

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