Thursday 16 July 2009

The Uselessness Of ASBOs…

A gang of yobs have had a ban on hoodies lifted because two of them still have their clothes bought for them by their mum.
Hey, if ASBOs aren’t shaming enough, perhaps having the details of how your mum still buys your clothes for you at 18 and 22 splashed all over the press will do the job?

Oh, but I forgot. There is no shame any more:
Police say the four thugs are linked to more than 300 crimes, including violence, burglary, car theft, assault and shoplifting.

They were given an anti-social behaviour order for terrorising their estate and banned from wearing hooded tops.
And then even that hopeless little slap on the wrist was rescinded by a do-gooder magistrate:
But the hoodie part of the ban was lifted because Jonathan Webb, 22, and his brother Joshua, 18, have a wardrobe full of hooded tops which were bought recently by their mother.
Might I suggest a handy solution?


Magistrates altered the Asbo to let the Webbs and two other gang members wear the tops, but only with hoods down.
Why the two other gang members? Did the other two’s mum buy their clothes too?
The Webbs, Jake Allen, 18, and Adam Langdon, 18, had made life a "living hell" for residents of the Honicknowle housing estate in Plymouth.

The list of previous convictions for the four over four years filled 200 pages.
Why, then, are they even ASBO’d in the first place?

Why are they not behind bars, where they belong?

7 comments:

Rob said...

Call it a wild guess, but I reckon the magistrate does not live on the estate.

Ross said...

"Hey, if ASBOs aren’t shaming enough, perhaps having the details of how your mum still buys your clothes for you at 18 and 22 splashed all over the press will do the job?"

You are assuming that these bright products of our education system can read.

North Northwester said...

"Might I suggest a handy solution? "

SCISSORS.
Good idea.

Or you could use the scissors to cut off the hoods instead. ;-)


But dear Lord wouldn't six of the best in Chav Square do a world of good and be over soon?

Doubting Richard said...

"Why, then, are they even ASBO’d in the first place?

Why are they not behind bars, where they belong?"

To make the government look good, of course! The ASBO is a political excercise, to show the government is doing something. Far better than actually enforcing existing rules, from Labour's point of view that is.

Tim Almond said...

There's no shame any more because even if you don't behave, don't work, break the law you still get things.

In a pre-welfare state era, a policeman could take a boy home to his parents and know they would do something. No forms, no lawyers. Home to the parents who would straighten him out.

In the current age, where parents have frequently become grubbing spongers, they'd rather not straighten them out and instead encourage them to follow their own fecklessness, looking for reasons to get even more out of the state.

Any attempts at youth discipline (including short sharp shocks, camps away or anything else) will mostly fail. Get rid of the welfare state and you'll create the incentive for parents to sort their kids out and you'll get rid of all of this.

JuliaM said...

"...I reckon the magistrate does not live on the estate."

Perish the thought!

"You are assuming that these bright products of our education system can read."

Ah, true...

"Or you could use the scissors to cut off the hoods instead."

Lol!

JuliaM said...

"The ASBO is a political excercise, to show the government is doing something."

God forbid a politician should be caught not doing something about something...

"There's no shame any more because even if you don't behave, don't work, break the law you still get things."

Oh, no doubt. I listened to a young girl on the radio today bemoaning that she couldn't find a job. A caller rang in with several, which were all pooh-poohed because if she took them, they'd be minimum wage.

And if she was working instead of on the dole, she wouldn't get her rent and council tax paid. She'd have to pay it herself.

Like everybodyy else!