5. Why do vandals ¨riot¨ in Vancouver despite videos on cell phones?

The traditional media have broadcast cell phone videos of young men vandalising police cars and looting department stores in Vancouver, following the failure of the Canucks to win the Stanley Cup.

Surely these young men knew that their actions were being recorded on cell phones and that this would lead to punishment.  Some of the looters even advertised the goods stolen from shops on facebook using their own names.

One of the well established facts in criminology is that it is certainty of detection that deters –  not the severity of punishment but this behaviour runs counter to this.  These vandals acted even though they will be arrested and punished.

One other well established fact in criminology is that young men are disproportionately involved in offending and being victims of violence.  In addition to testerosterone and alcohol, it is known that the part of the brain that helps make sensible decisions does not mature in men until 25.

Not only have the Vancouver police accessed these cell phone recordings but social media sites on facebook have facilitated people posting their cell phone videos.   The cell phone has become a tool to be used by the public to increase certainty of detection.  We will have to see whether it increases certainty of conviction as the cases go through the Vancouver courts.

Scientific evaluations of the impact of closed circuit television (CCTV) in the UK on young men fighting are very clear – more arrests but rarely less crime.  CCTV is used in entertainment districts where young men come fighting out of pubs as often as they did before but this time get charged.  CCTV even recorded the young men going to blow up the London subway but did not stop them killing and maiming people.

The cell phone videos also empower good Samaritans and the public who want to stop the vandalism.  They have recorded young women and other men acting against the vandals.  Hopefully the City of Vancouver will recognise their actions and the Province will award criminal injuries compensation to any one hurt.

Now academics are concerned about privacy as they have been with public closed circuit television.  Somehow, public actions in public places should not be recorded because it violates some arcane notion of privacy.