Topic: Crime and Punishment
The UK's War on Unpleasant Children
The Nanny State Issues 1000 Time Outs...
by RS Davis
(libertarian)
Monday, August 25, 2008
They take you to court, and often using hearsay evidence, convict you of being unpleasant, then ban you from perfectly legal endeavors, like "riding bikes, feeding birds, being sarcastic, and wearing only underwear in front of a window."
According to Home Office, they've been used in some outrageous ways:
- Two teenage boys from east Manchester forbidden to wear one golf glove.
- A 17-year-old forbidden to use the word "grass" as a term of abuse in order to threaten people.
- A 15-year-old forbidden to play football in his street.
- The oldest recipient of an ASBO, an 87-year-old man who was abusive to his neighbours.
- An 18-year-old male was banned from congregating with more than three youths, and subsequently arrested when he entered a very popular youth club
Penal reformers and children's groups warned last night that the heavy-handed use of Asbos against youngsters risked turning them into criminals in adult life. And new figures showed that 986 children aged 10 to 17 were jailed for breaking Asbos between 2000, when they were launched, and the end of 2006. Another 300 to 400 youngsters are thought to have joined the total in 2007 and 2008.
(...)Almost half of those locked up for breaching their Asbos have been jailed for four months. The average sentence was 6.4 months, compared with the 4.9 months handed to adults.
In his report, Professor Morgan warned: "There is a good deal of anecdotal evidence, for example, that behaviour, particularly that of children and young people, is being criminalised which arguably would be better dealt with informally, and in previous times was."
Throwing kids in jail must always be done as a last resort, as it can turn behavior problems into criminals. And these orders are so restrictive in many cases, it is all but impossible for these kids to adhere to them. Almost half of all ABSOs are violated.
Critics also claim that "30 per cent of children given Asbos have been diagnosed with mental health problems or learning difficulties," making this writer wonder how many of these kids would benefit more from Ritalin than the big house.
Attention Deficit Disorder or Rowdy Youth? In the end, does it matter? As home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said, "It is totally unacceptable to send a single child to prison for breaching an Asbo, let alone the 1,000 children who have been sent."
You bet your bollocks it is.
©2008 RS Davis, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Monday, August 25, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, October 23, 2008
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: DigitalBob
Date: 2008-08-25 08:11:02
The girl with pink hair, which is her way to support cancer research, would have made her eligible for this law. It's between the parents and the school officials to decide what's a "distraction", not centralized blanket police codes.
The girl with pink hair might be allowed in some school districts and not others. Six months in jail doesn't make sense under any circumstance.
Posted By: trd
Date: 2008-08-25 12:52:49
So who defines what is an anti-social behavior? this is bullshit. if we do not come to our senses we are going to have the same crap in America soon.
Posted By: DirDem
Date: 2008-09-21 19:40:22
The United Kingdom has become outrageously restrictive of personal freedom, having people found guilty with just hearsay evidence, having people registered as sex offenders for having sex with bikes in private, and now this. I'm not for foreign military intervention just to straighten out tyrannies, but the United States should do something such as break off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. With our long history of friendship this would shock the British people, and maybe wake them up to their authoritarian problem and finally get them out of the Victorian Era.