Understanding Youth Assaults of Police Officers in Australia: A Power Threat Meaning Framework Analysis

Abstract

This study explores youth violence towards police officers in Australia through the Power Threat Meaning Framework to better understand the underlying factors contributing to such violence; focusing on power dynamics, childhood adversity, and trauma. It examines power dynamics in past and present circumstances and the function of violent behaviours in these encounters. To do this, a content analysis was conducted using court findings and coroner reports of all Australian cases where a person aged 12–24 was found guilty of assaulting a police officer between 2010 and 2023, yielding 40 cases. Six key themes were examined: Power, Threat, Meaning, Exacerbating Factors, and Threat Responses and Functions of Threat Responses. The findings show that young people who assaulted police had substantial disempowerment across the life course, with disrupted attachments, childhood maltreatment, institutional mistrust, and social disadvantage. In the sample, violence predominantly functioned to reclaim a sense of control and power in situations when the young person was confined, unsafe, or disempowered. It is recommended that the pathway to safer interactions between youth and police requires awareness training and policy responses that understand the underlying factors and power imbalance that contribute to and exacerbate negative relations between police officers and young people.