Children are our future - we should not demonise them
December 20th, 2007 by Stephen Jakobi
From the Guardian Tuesday December 18, 2007
Any article that begins “Britain is in danger of becoming a nation of paedophobics” must be highly commended; but in fact it has missed the bus (Thinktank calls for use of asbos to be reviewed, December 10). We became the worst demonisers of children in Europe many years ago.
Your summary of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) report on the “asbo culture”, which says that asbos “can be a self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to offending, and suggest their use should be reviewed. Children under 12 should not be given asbos.”
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It is also significant that asbo court orders were introduced by Tony Blair, whose government continued and expanded on the thinking of Tory home secretary Michael Howard in regard to the criminal prosecution of the very young.
In 1992 only 100 children under 15 were sentenced to penal custody, and sentences for children who had committed serious offences, such as robbery or violence, were all awarded under the “grave crimes” provision of the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act. In 2005-06, 824 children under 15 were incarcerated, although only 48 of these came into the same grave crimes framework.
Our organisation would join with the IPPR in deploring any use of the courts, whether criminal or civil, for very young children. Indeed, many of the report’s recommendations for alternatives (staffed adventured playgrounds, more social workers, behavioural psychologists and family welfare officers attached to schools) might well be incorporated into a holistic approach to the problems of children in trouble.
We would, however, in the interests of a common approach, suggest that the IPPR modify its demands to include all children under 14. This would have the merit of bringing us into line with most of Europe.
Your article ended with a direct quote from Carey Oppenheim, the IPPR co-director. “The problem with ‘kids these days’ is the way adults are treating them. A nation fearful of its young people: a nation of paedophobics. We need policy, which reminds adults that it is their responsibility to set norms of behaviour and to maintain them from positive and authoritative interaction with young people.” And so say all of us.
It is against this background that we were hoping, as part of the 10-year plan for children announced last week by Ed Balls in the House of Commons, for a strategic review of asbos and of the criminal justice system as applied to the very young.
Notably, there was much argument over educational standards between government and official opposition, citing international comparisons and league tables. No one mentioned that we are bottom of the European league tables for both age of criminal responsibility and number of young children in custody.
It is a scandal that the last time the age of criminal responsibility was fully reviewed was in the 1960s. There can be few social problems of such importance that have been neglected for more than 40 years.