Child Crime in Britain – What is Wrong?

Today, we hear once again on the BBC News that a fifteen-year-old has been arrested for killing someone. It has almost become a daily occurrence in Britain, and yet the police and politicians seem powerless to stop it. Why are we, as a society, allowing children as young as eleven to carry guns and knives, and commit murder and rape? Where has Britain gone wrong?

The public seem intent on blaming the government, as always. Whenever something happens it is easy to blame the country’s leaders, but instead, we should be looking inward, perhaps the fault lies closer to home!

It is fair to say that in most deprived/poor areas, where the majority of violent crime comes from, parents have little or no control over their children. It is also true they have very little time for their children’s upbringing, for it is usually necessary for both parents to work in order to make ends meet. So how can they have time for their off-spring?

But is this an excuse? I don’t think so, because the phenomenon of two working parents is seen as much in middle-class areas as in the poorer areas, but the crime statistics show most violent crime is committed by people from the latter. The fact that many of these child criminals come from deprived areas is often used as an excuse by the so-called ‘Experts’ and the ‘Bleeding Heart Brigade’ (BHB’s). To that I say ‘Rubbish’! The one thing the kids of today do not get from their parents, or anyone else, is discipline, especially in their formative years.

Partly to blame are the BHB’s. Stupid, mindless individuals who have failed to make a success of anything else in their miserable lives, but feel they must contribute to society by stirring up, among other things, race hatred by having nursery rhymes banned because they contain the word ‘Black’. It’s true! It happened. Remember ‘Ba-Ba Black Sheep’!

The BHB’s gave us bans on discipline in schools, and then included the home environment. “You may not smack a child because you might hurt him/her” What a bunch of crap! Now, no-one may hit a child except another child???

With the introduction of these laws, discipline in schools was the first thing to go, and now more than fifty percent of teachers have been physically attacked by their pupils, and three out of every five children leaving school cannot read or write properly, and as for Maths, forget it. Duh!

Next they introduced laws to ban smacking in the home, as if they hadn’t done enough already! How many parents do you know who say they have no control over their children? Children are not stupid! They find out very quickly when they can do anything they please, and Mummy and Daddy can do nothing about it. So where does that leave us? Today!

Also to blame is the loss of family life, and a general erosion of a parents commitment to their children. We have become a ‘Me First’ society. These things have been a creeping disease in Britain since the sixties when we had all that ‘Flower-Power’ and ‘Free Love’ crap. I know, I’m from that generation!

We have now reached an era where children go unpunished for any infraction of the rules of decency or morality, and often escape the law because of their age. What you have to ask yourself is this. Where do we go from here? What is tomorrow going to be like when the current youth are parents themselves? Total Anarchy?

So where does that leave us, and what do we do about the problem? Many say bring back National Service and put them all in the Army, but the trouble is, the Army don’t want anything to do with it and who can blame them. I suppose they could form Penal Battalions like the Nazi’s did during WW2 but that wouldn’t help either.

Perhaps a compromise might work. There are sufficient closed down Army Camps in the country, so why not open them up under the Prison Service and turn them into Boot/Training Camps? I am sure there are sufficient ex-military drill instructors who would relish the chance of cutting loose on fresh meat!

Just imagine these misfits getting out of bed at 06.00hrs every morning, and parading ready for the days work. A bit of ‘spit and polish’ never did anyone any harm. I should know I spent twelve years in the RAF and went through it too.

Some regular military training would teach them the discipline required for daily life on the outside, something they have never had, and the opportunity would be taken to teach them a trade that will give them a fair chance in society.

It would require major investment by the Government, but how do you get them to even consider such a proposal? The question was raised half-heartedly some years ago but it died a silent death after only a short while.

What is cheaper? Must we keep things the way they are now, spending millions on a losing battle, or give the wayward youth a goal for the future, and eventually stamp out youth crime altogether in successive generations? In the long term I suspect the latter! I leave you to decide.

Keep the faith,

Roy