Friday 5 October 2012

What Do We Do With Youths Like This..?

Because clearly, modern methods aren’t working:
Justin Lamb, formerly of Redcliffe Street, has been given an antisocial behaviour order for his actions towards workers at the Framework Housing building in Welbeck Street. Notts
Police said the 15-year-old had also been causing distress for other residents in the same road, in July this year.
The order bans him from entering or staying in Welbeck Street. It also bans him from drinking alcohol in public or using controlled drugs.
Oh, good. An order that stops him from doing what it’d be illegal to do anyway. That’s public servant’s time well spent, eh?
Police say Lamb would risk a fine or up to five years detention if he returned to Welbeck Street.
Or wouldn't, being just released time and again…

Meanwhile, elsewhere:
Now aged 13, Jordan Kemp Withey has been slapped with a two-year antisocial behaviour order (Asbo) that covers the whole of the Humberside Police area.
Withey's crimes started on Bridlington's Havenfield estate but soon spread elsewhere.
They have included criminal damage, theft, trespassing and causing harassment, alarm and distress.
And it’s not since he entered his teenage years, either:
East Riding Councillor Jackie Cracknell, portfolio holder for public protection, said: "We came into contact with him at the age of nine and he's been a prolific offender since then.
"That may be why the magistrates have banned him from causing problems anywhere in the force area.
"Offending like this has such a serious impact on people living in the communities or nearby.
"When someone is a victim of antisocial behaviour, it reduces how safe they feel, especially if it continues."
How safe does anyone feel knowing that we are still failing to tackle the problem?

15 comments:

Tatty said...

"How safe does anyone feel knowing that we are still failing to tackle the problem?

I'm in favour of Community Sentencing, meself. Y'know, when the Community dish out their own Sentencing.

A kid went round smashing headlights and wing-mirrors in a street near mine one night. The owners of the cars went round that same night around 4am...en masse...to his parents house and left them and the little shit in no doubt whatsoever what might happen if he ever did it again.

Operative word being might there...no outright threat so no chance to call in The Law...no witnesses, either...

He got one chance...one...and didn't dare do it again. Or anything like it.

Not that he's a saint or anything...or that it cured whatever his own problems where causing him to act out this way....just that he and his parents now know to keep their heads down.

Sometimes, that's all anyone could want or wish for.

KevinWard76 said...

How about we stop calling it 'anti-social behavior' and called it 'crime' instead?

Rob said...

He's been banned from causing problems, so that's fine. No more problems from him.

Anonymous said...

The whole point behind "the ASBO" wasn't to deal with "problem youths" but sell the lie that you can deal with certain types of obviously criminal behaviour by changing its status - so not "criminal" JUST "anti-social", as if the impact of the behaviour on the people affected by it was somehow lesser than, and less important than, criminal behaviour - criminal behaviour being something that might even justify er withdrawing the offenders personal freedoms and liberties for a spell = anti=social behaviour on the other hand being best addressed by "collective tutting" accompanied by "you really shouldn't oughta, and you know that, don't you, you scamp you" talking to's. And it has to be said hearing that magistrates have, once again, punished one of these miscreant scamps by "issuing an order forbidding them from indulging in behaviour which is or would be illegal" well, the surrealists and satirists might as well give up, because you can't top that sort of "actual world" madness ....

Robert the Biker said...

Fuck it, time to power up the Daleks.
Exterminate
Ex Term In Ate

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX Tatty said...

I'm in favour of Community Sentencing, meself. Y'know, when the Community dish out their own Sentencing. XX

Using the same logic, that is why I would NEVER fail to give my FULL suport to suspended sentences. So long as it was by the neck.

Tatty said...

Yep Teut...enough of this "tough on crime"...let's get "literal with sentencing" ;)

microdave said...

As I said before - cut their goolies off!!

Even if it doesn't change their ways, at least they won't be able to father another generation of useless layabouts...

Anonymous said...

ASBO's were never about crime reduction. They were a bureaucratic solution to 'case disposal' and something front line police and the public in general saw through straight away. But, the police senior managers, ACPO and the LAbour shower of shit running things just disregarded all the warnings based on experience and common sense and told us all to 'fuck off' - as usual.

asbo 'Arry said...

Anti-Social behaviour was an ingenious way to lower crime figures.

You see, we have really clever people in charge of us. You can stop worrying now.

You feel threatened? You are troubled by yoofs ripping up your world? You are anxious about hordes of kids pissing up your wall? No worries! The people who rule us immediately wheel out the big guns who come up with a way to change the name and reassure you.

God, the power of words. It makes you just stand in awe...

blueknight said...

ASBOs are a good idea, but the system is let down by the Court's inability/reluctance to punish ASBO breaches.
The first ASBO we issued was trumpeted in the press as a great success, but the shine soon wore off when after something like eleven different breaches of the ASBO, the worst he got was a 10 pm curfew.
Problem was that he did most of his offending in the day early evening..

banned said...

Some of the lads were in a local authority 'secure unit' (LOL). One of them was off his head coming off glue and creating such a racket that no-one could sleep.

I gave a lift to his older brother who took him around the back for a good dose of restorative justice. The staff? Yeah, they all knew and kept their distance while community sentencing was administered.

JuliaM said...

"Sometimes, that's all anyone could want or wish for."

Amen! Once, it wouldn't have been left to the residents to do it.

Now, we have police scared of their own shadow and prepared to do the most ridiculous things should a child make a complaint...

"How about we stop calling it 'anti-social behavior' and called it 'crime' instead?"

As anon points out, it was an attempt to massage the crime figures and avoid criminalising the kiddiewinks.

Worked about as well as you'd expect.

"As I said before - cut their goolies off!!"

These ones happen to be boys. What about the girls?

"ASBOs are a good idea, but the system is let down by the Court's inability/reluctance to punish ASBO breaches."

No punishment can survive inconsistent application...

Furor Teutonicus said...

So, what ever happened to "Bound over to keep the peace"?

But NOOO, they needed to invent something new, to keep their lawyer friends in pocket.

The same goes for MOST of these "new" laws.

Andy said...

Time to bring back the stocks,a couple of days in those should bring them around,especially if you let folk throw rotten fruit at them.
Or a good whipping for the nasty ones.