Youth socialization in public spaces and “metropolitan bullying”. An exploratory selfreport delinquency study

Abstract

The ways in which young people socialize in public spaces and their disorderly behavior have gained political, media and social relevance, leading to the emergence of urban violence as a security issue. Alongside the traditional forms of youth deviance bullying and cyberbullying we are beginning to speak of “metropolitan bullying”: vandalisms and crimes against property and persons enacted by groups of adolescents in certain areas of Italian cities. A
delinquency selfreport survey carried out in Modena, Parma and Reggio Emilia aimed to analyze these new phenomena by directly interviewing boys and girls who socialize in public spaces, in order to study the incidence of
deviant behaviors on the broader youth socialization in urban areas, and analyze their features.