Close X
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
ADVT 
National

Pandemic, social media at play in teen crimes

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 12 Jan, 2023 02:24 PM
  • Pandemic, social media at play in teen crimes

TORONTO - Violent crime committed by teenagers could be increasing in Canada's most populous city due to pandemic isolation and the influences of social media, experts say, as Toronto police investigate a string of assaults allegedly committed by teen girls.

Police said this week that a group of up to 10 teen girls allegedly assaulted several people at random at downtown Toronto subway stations on Dec. 17. Investigators have not confirmed whether the group is the same one that allegedly stabbed a homeless man who later died in hospital – those teens congregated after meeting on social media, police said.

Experts say attacks involving groups of girls are extremely rare but violence among young people might be on the rise.

Ardavan Eizadirad, an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, said recent data from Toronto police suggests more young people are becoming involved in violent criminal behaviour.

That increase could be attributed to a combination of factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

"Not having access to a caring adult or not being able to access programs in your community or programs that are culturally reflective of identities ... when those things don't happen, people look for other things, which are risk factors rather than a protective factor, to find a sense of belonging and find community," he said.

Toronto police data presented last month at a Toronto District School Board planning and priorities committee meeting shows 622 young people between the ages of 12 and 29 were victims of stabbings and 586 were accused of stabbings between January 2021 and November 2022.

Kaitlynn Mendes, a professor of sociology at Western University, said young people are generally struggling right now due to social and economic impacts of the pandemic.

"There's a lot of, maybe, isolation, loneliness. People are having mental health issues, maybe feeling disconnected from society, maybe they're feeling bored," she said. "It's really hard to know exactly why these people are engaging in these acts without actually speaking to them."

Social media platforms have helped strangers meet in real life to organize protests around the world, including the Arab Spring uprisings, she said, and they have also been recently used by some to connect with others who are interested in violence.

"What we're seeing is that digital technologies are just being used for more nefarious purposes rather than maybe some of the more hopeful or kind of positive purposes that we were initially seeing," she said.

Toronto police have charged eight teen girls, ranging in age from 13 to 16, with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of the homeless man.

They said that investigation is separate from a probe involving the group of teen girls who allegedly committed the subway assaults, a case in which they are looking to speak to victims.

"We have not confirmed whether or not it is the same group of girls," Const. Caroline de Kloet wrote in a statement.

Jerry Flores, a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, said attacks involving groups of women or girls almost never happen.

"We oftentimes associate this kind of behaviour more with .... boys ,usually gang-associated boys," he said. "Individually, when women fight back or girls fight back, it's usually fighting back against multiple forms of abuse."

Flores said the rates of crime among teenagers are generally hard to measure, due to privacy laws that protect young people in Canada.

He said young people may get involved with non-violent offences or drug related offences but it's unusual to have an underage child committing a violent crime like murder in Canada.

"When they are (committed), they are very sensational," he said. "So they get a lot of attention."

MORE National ARTICLES

93 year old man knocked to the ground and suffers broken hip in stranger attack

93 year old man knocked to the ground and suffers broken hip in stranger attack
The victim – a neighbourhood resident for 30 years – was walking to a bakery near Main Street and East Pender when he was pushed over by a stranger around 3:15 Tuesday afternoon. Several witnesses stopped to help the senior, who was taken to hospital.

93 year old man knocked to the ground and suffers broken hip in stranger attack

B.C. readies for post-drought flooding: government

B.C. readies for post-drought flooding: government
Emergency Management BC says when rain falls after long dry spells, the parched soil can increase runoff and river flow. It says the transition to the rainy season doesn't typically cause extensive flooding and the devastation wreaked by last year's atmospheric rivers was rare. 

B.C. readies for post-drought flooding: government

B.C. health workers, employers ratify contract

B.C. health workers, employers ratify contract
The B.C. government says in a statement the Facilities Bargaining Association, which represents about 60,000 people delivering health services throughout the province, has ratified a new contract. It says the nine-union association is led by the Hospital Employees' Union, which represents about 93 per cent of the health workers covered by the agreement.

B.C. health workers, employers ratify contract

Metro Vancouver urges shorter showers amid drought

Metro Vancouver urges shorter showers amid drought
A statement from the regional district of Metro Vancouver says water use is up by 20 per cent for this time of year because of the extended dry, warm weather. It says the area's watersheds have received about 50 millimetres of rain since the start of August, when it would typically see about 400 millimetres between Aug. 1 and Oct. 1.

Metro Vancouver urges shorter showers amid drought

Defence in Todd case now seeks 2-year sentence

Defence in Todd case now seeks 2-year sentence
Joseph Saulnier told a sentencing hearing in B.C. Supreme Court that his client is already serving an 11-year sentence for similar offences against 33 young victims in the Netherlands and more prison time would be "unduly harsh."

Defence in Todd case now seeks 2-year sentence

South Asian broadcaster and media personality Harjinder Thind awarded The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal

South Asian broadcaster and media personality Harjinder Thind awarded The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal
The commemorative medal marks the 70th anniversary of the Late Queen Elizabeth's coronation. The honor was bestowed upon Thind by Fleetwood-Port Kells MP Ken Hardie. Hardie was present for the award at the Red FM 93.1 studio in Surrey. 

South Asian broadcaster and media personality Harjinder Thind awarded The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal