Graffiti Is Vandalism Or Art

Graffiti: Vandalism or Art? Vandalism is an action involving intentional demolition of or damage to public or private residence. “Art is the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.”(Holland) Graffiti can fall under both categories but which one is it truly defined as? After doing research and seeing many articles, the conclusion people have come up with is that graffiti is vandalism. It is one thing when someone is hired to draw or paint a mural on a building, but when they are just drawing some letters that mean something to gang members that is not defined as art. Vandalism is a problem that is difficult to stop. The causes can be from peer pressure or peer influence, parents and family, and a materialistic society.
Peer influence can lead to vandalism. It can characterize the attitudes, values and behaviors of the teens, particularly the teenage school drop-outs and those with family problems. Teens who partake in vandalism are usually members of a group. They do not have specific goals and tend to give in to impulsive behavior when they are together, including scribbling on and damaging public properties. Teenagers are the generation that will become the future. They are exposed to many things that can affect their behavior either to be the good person or not. These days, we can see there are many problems among the teenagers, especially social problems. “Gangsters” and vandals is an example of some of these problems. The heavier problem among teenagers these days is vandalism. Vandalism is the deliberate abuse, harm or destruction of any portion of someone else’s belongings or common or shared property such as our community provision, equipment or public property. Vandalism in...

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...the country. Instead, it incurs unnecessary costs to clean up and repair the damage. Those who commit acts of vandalism seem to have lack conscience and any feeling of guilt over their actions. Vandalism should not be tolerated as it reflects the personality of the people of this country. There are many reasons why people vandalize property. A lot is by gangs, but also is out of people’s boredom, anger, defiance, alliance, peer pressure, hostility towards the school and wanting revenge. The state suggests that fines are the best solution for punishments, and I agree, but there are other sufficient ways to decrease the amount of vandalism. When teenagers commit and get caught for vandalism, they should be punished, instead of the parent. Vandals should be charged more with community service than fines due to the fact that it would have a positive effect on teenagers.