Analysis: Researchers are using VR headsets to better understand how low levels of self-control can contribute to youth offending
Sean is 14 and lives in Tralee. He just got invited to a Halloween party by his friend Megan, but doesn't have a costume. He walks by a shop in the town and thinks 'what if I run in and grab a few things?' He goes in, sees the shop assistant is on her phone, grabs a costume and runs out without much thought.
In 2023, over 7,000 young people aged 10 to 17 like Sean were referred to the Garda Diversion Programme for committing offences such as theft, public order offences, and assault. Like Sean, young people may choose to steal because no one is watching, go out partying with friends and end up vandalising a neighbour's property, engage in underage drinking or use illicit substances. All these actions get them in trouble with the youth justice system.
The main goal of the Irish youth justice system is to divert young people from crime. The Garda Youth Diversion Programme refers young people who have accepted responsibility for their offending behaviour to Youth Diversion Projects. There are about 100 such projects in communities across Ireland which work with young people to prevent reoffending.
Accurately measuring the risk factors for youth offending is central to creating effective interventions designed to stop youth offending.
To understand why young people commit crimes, researchers begin by examining the risk factors for offending. Risk factors are personal, familial, societal or environmental factors that make it more likely that a young person will commit crimes. Some examples include individual factors such as low self-control and interpersonal factors such as peer pressure, poor social support, and living in an economically disadvantaged environment. When these factors are present, the chances of engaging in criminal activity increase.
Accurately measuring the risk factors for youth offending is central to creating effective interventions designed to stop youth offending. Those with low levels of the dimensions of self-control, including self-centeredness, impulsivity, and risk-seeking, tend to prioritise short-term gain over long-term goals. Low self-control has been consistently linked in research literature to youth offending. In a study underway at the University of Limerick as part of the Stable Lives, Safer Streets project, I am looking at how Virtual Reality headsets can be used to better measure these three dimensions of self-control and understand how low levels of self-control can contribute to youth offending.
When working to help young people divert from crime, a risk assessment is done to determine the risk of the young person reoffending. Assessing levels of self-control is usually done by asking young people questions about their self-control (self-reports), creating stories that require the use of self-control and asking young people what they would do if they were characters in those stories (vignettes and scenarios), observing them during their daily life (observation reports) or asking those around them what they think about the young person's self-control (witness reports).
These methods come with challenges that make us doubt the truthfulness of the results we get and the information received from these assessments may be unreliable for various reasons. The young person may pretend or try to look good (social desirability). The stories or questions created may be far removed from what really happens in the young person's life (reduced ecological validity). In some instances, witnesses may also give insufficient information.
VR can be used to get results that are more reliable. It makes use of computer-generated 3D simulations of situations, environments, and experiences through a head-mounted display (also referred to as a VR headset). By wearing it, a person can experience and interact with simulated environments and objects as if they were real. VR allows researchers to record the motion of the hands, head, face, eyes, and body in varying resolutions. This allows us to analyse implicit and natural behaviours, which may show more subtle behavioural patterns that traditional measurement methods may miss.
The primary aim of this research is to develop and test the feasibility of a VR game that can be used to assess levels of self-control by making use of the components of VR. It focuses on developing an immersive and interactive VR-ready 3D experience tailored to measure self-control.
This VR game could potentially change the way we assess a young person's likelihood of committing crimes in the future.
The study began by conducting a systematic scoping review to bring together research findings on the use of technology (including VR) in measuring risk factors linked to youth offending, and a concept paper to identify why VR is particularly valuable for measuring self-control. I then asked young people in universities, the Youth Diversion Projects and youth justice workers in focus groups what they thought self-control looked like in young people and the scenarios where decisions were dependent on levels of self- control.
Using the General Theory of Crime as a framework, I incorporated the findings from the systematic scoping review and the answers from the focus group discussions to develop the game script for the VR game, making sure to focus on the three dimensions of self-control (self-centeredness, impulsivity, and risk-seeking). The game story/script is set authentically in Ireland, reflecting real-world pressures young people face in their environment. The story takes you on a journey with a young person as they navigate decisions and choices. They get to decide whether or not to skip school, drink, steal from a shop or join a fight.
This game script is currently being developed into a VR game. When young people play this game, the choices they make will be used to generate a personalised self-control profile report, useful both for self-awareness and for youth justice workers supporting their development. They will be able to support young people to develop coping strategies and make better decisions should they encounter similar situations in real life. This VR game may be a more fun way to measure self-control and could potentially change the way we assess a young person's likelihood of committing crimes in the future.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
