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| Originally Posted by Mark Davies There's always been youth and they have always had a tendancy to rebellion and mischief. What is different now is that there is just no fear. It all comes down to "You can't touch me!" The problem is, they are right.
None of these little bastards would be half as bold if they thought they'd get a good pasting if they were caught - or even if they expected the criminal justice system would do a damn thing to them if convicted of a crime. But they know they are immune to consequence. So what happens? Well, if we let them continue to 'get away with murder' for long enough then eventually, that is just exactly what they do. So at the moment we have a great outcry in the press about all the teenagers being shot all over the place, and decent family men being stoned to death by packs of feral youths. Why are we surprised?
I remember the day when I knew if I got caught doing something wrong I was likely to get a thump for it - and there'd be no point in going home crying about it because my Dad would thump me for it too. And for pity's sake, I certainly wouldn't go complaining about it to the police because then I'd get done for whatever crime I'd committed aswell! That's what kept us all in line. I'm really not sure why it changed, because I don't remember any outcry about thousands of kids getting beaten to a pulp for scrumping apples - none of us were because the simple fear of the possibility was enough. But now we've made chastisement virtually illegal and our children have become 'untouchables' - and free to do whatever they bloody well like.
It's a sad situation for us all, because it's doing our kids no favours. There's now a bunch of children in Warrington (the youngest being only 12 now) who are facing going to prison for the rest of their childhood after stoning a man to death. I've no doubt they never had any intention of doing it - it simply didn't occur to them that there might be any consequences to what they were doing. If only some years earlier they might have been properly disciplined for whatever was their first minor misdemeanor then no doubt it would never have come to this and that one father wouldn't have been lost and all those young lives wouldn't have been ruined. We are letting our children down by failing to teach them discipline.
Our children need to know that there are consequences for their bad behaviour in order to stop them doing it again. When we actually catch them committing a crime and convict them we have to stop just letting them walk out of court with 'supervision orders'. What on earth does that mean to a 13 year old? We are going to keep an eye on you. Yeah, that really makes them quake in their Reebok Classics! It's no punishment at all. There's no point in dishing out a punishment unless it is something we can be sure they don't like.
And we need to introduce some statute that returns the power to individuals to apprehend lawbreakers without fear of legal reprisals. To be fair, we all have that power anyway - but we are just afraid to use it. But it needs to be strengthened to the point that the general public can feel confident to act in a reasonable manner - just to send the message out to these kids that they are not in charge.
Do I have much hope that this is ever going to happen? Well, the swell of public opinion is heading that way, so you never know. But I expect it is going to take a load more deaths and many more young lives destroyed before we have a government with the bottle to take a hard line with our sweet little children. |
Couldn't agree more.
I don't give a toss what any one else thinks but FFS bring back corporal punishment.
I know the thought of getting the cane kept me on the straighter and narrower. Mind you, not so much as what would happen if my Mum found out!!!!
There may be decent people who will treat others as they would have others treat them but for a large majority it is the threat of comeback that keeps them in line?