Dangers of Graffiti
Aside from the legal dangers that potentially face graffiti writers, there are many other elements that present danger to taggers. Graffiti is a high risk activity and those involved in the practice of graffiti subject themselves to the potential of physical, mental and emotional trauma. According to the New South Wales Crime Prevention Division (2009) graffiti “participants reported exposing themselves to a variety of risks by doing graffiti including: getting caught by police, vigilantes or ‘public heroes’, fights or threats from other graffitists and personal injury” (p.33). With many young people, graffiti often becomes a psychological compulsion where writers find themselves becoming obsessed with tagging that is “addictive and often lifelong pastime” (Taylor, Marais, & Cottman, 2012. P. 165).
Beyond addiction to graffiti, Spicer (2005) states that graffiti activity is often associated with violence as conflict between rival taggers often escalates to assaults and weapons related incidents. The competitive nature of graffiti writing often leads to feuds that range from trying to outdo a rival by getting up in more places, painting over their tags, or through physical assault. As many affiliations involve crews or groups, it is not uncommon for assaults, gang beatings or swarming of rival writers to take place (Taylor, Marais, & Cottman, 2012). Connected with these graffiti related affiliations often comes the use of narcotics with many in the graffiti community at high risk of not only addiction, but cognitive and mental damage to those using illegal street drugs. As well as the violence and substance abuse, practice of graffiti itself puts participants at a high risk of physical danger in the very nature of the writing that is created.
The very nature of graffiti and one of the strongest motivational factors is the desire to have their work seen by as many people as possible in the most noticeable and audacious locations. This practice, which is rewarded with respect and accolades from the graffiti community, involves painting in locations that are often extremely difficult and often dangerous to access. Graffiti writers put themselves in danger of being injured or killed climbing to rooftops, water towers, along bridge support beams, on highway overpasses, and a multitude of other high risk environments. Several writers are hurt or killed every year in train tunnels, electrocuted, or struck by vehicles in the pursuit of painting graffiti. Many members of the graffiti community, instead of being deterred by the harmful and dangerous elements of graffiti, actually attribute their crave for graffiti to the need for the risk and the adrenalin rush that goes hand in hand with graffiti writing. Many writers have explained that over time their need to paint has taken on an extreme compulsive like obsession that has become so habitual and dominating in their lives in many cases to the point of addiction (Spicer, 2005).