Young Offenders - What should the law do with them? (Young Offenders - What Should The Law Do With Them?)

Member Name: johnbutt

Product:	Young Offenders - What Should The Law Do With Them?
Date:	15/07/06 (422 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Put the cork back in the bottle

Disadvantages: Before it's too late

There have been millions of words spent attempting to explain why certain individuals habitually offend, and while we've been busy analysing it, the problem has steadily grown worse, particularly amongst young offenders.

The bleeding heart brigade with their newly acquired degree in Sociology will tell you it's the fault of Society. These little toe-rags apparently never had a chance. We need to understand them, to discover the root-cause of their behaviour, explain to them, "now look, you probably didn't realise this, but you really shouldn't stamp on other people's heads you know".

Little Jamie Bulger, taken from his mother, tortured and killed by two little bastards who knew exactly what they were doing..and we're expected to understand them. "Oh well they were abused you see", incredible how many of these miscreants were "abused", which is the get-out clause allowing you them to abuse others. No one seems to have the guts to say, "They committed this horrendous crime because they are a pair of evil little shits"..end of.

The streets of so many of our towns and cities are becoming no-go zones with hoards of swaggering kids, misbehaving, intent on causing harm to innocent passers-by, and we stand by, empowering them by our apathy. The police, too busy persecuting motorists to notice the growing cancer that will one day be terminal.

I believe that there is only one answer to reverse this epidemic, and that is a policy of complete 'Zero tolerance'.
It turned New York around within a few years, and began to have a real impact in the North East until politicians 'bottled out' and betrayed Ray Mallen, the top cop who implemented and drove the concept.

By 'Zero tolerance', I mean exactly what it says. Find the ringleaders. If they drop litter, lock them up. If they spit on the pavement, lock them up. If they look sideways at an ordinary person going about their business, lock them up. I'd also impose a curfew on anyone under the age of 16, forcing them off the streets after 9 p.m. , and if they refused to comply I'd lock their parents up as well.At that age they should be at school the next day, and I believe 9'o'clock is late enough.

This is in danger of sounding like the rantings of lunatic, but drastic situations demand drastic solutions, and I genuinely believe the situation we have with young offenders at the moment has got to be stopped dead in it's tracks. We haven't got any more time to evaluate, or analyse, we need action, because these thugs are going to grow up to be the parents from hell if we don't act soon.

I should like to add as a postscript: I served 5 years as a prison officer in a young offenders institution. The inmates were all aged under 21, all were serving life sentences or being detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure. I saw many young lives being wasted because nobody had put the brake on when they were younger. I'm sorry, but I believe in the old adage "an undisciplined child is an unloved child". I'm not anti-teenager, I'm anti-yobbo, and believe that we are failing kids as a society by being too politically correct, and too bloody soft.

Summary: The 'softly softly' approach hasn't worked, we need action.