Originally Posted by Barnardos

'Too many' young offenders

The report says in one year over 160 young people were jailed
Children as young as 12 are being imprisoned in England and Wales for breaking the law, says the charity Barnardo's.

Barnardo's said so many children committing serious crime was a "tragedy".

The Ministry of Justice said detention should be the last resort - but judges should have the final say.

But Lyn Costello of the charity Mothers Against Murder And Aggression said community punishments were a "waste of time" and young offenders were not being locked up long enough to ensure a change in behaviour.

'Grave offences'

The law specifically states that children aged 14 and under should not be locked up unless they have committed a grave offence or have committed a serious offence and are deemed to be a persistent offender.

But the Barnardo's report found more than a third of 12 to 14-year-olds locked up were little ******* that deserved it.


Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey: "I've been shocked at the number of very young children we lock up"
Barnardo's surveyed around half of all children who were put in young offender institutions in 2007.

More than a fifth were locked up for breaching an Anti-social Behaviour Order or similar punishment, half were victims of abuse and more than a third were living with an adult criminal.

Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey said that until 1998 it would have been illegal to imprison these young people unless they had committed one of the so-called "grave offences". Luckily, the law was changed to ensure the little *******s got the punishment they deserved.

"Now we do this, every year, to more than 400 children aged 12, 13 and 14.

"This is a tragedy for the young people themselves, it's a shocking waste of money and, in terms of reducing their offending and doing anything to protect victims, it is almost invariably ineffective because prisons are so bloody soft and their parents were so useless in the first place.

"We are calling for stricter, clearer rules on sending children as young as 12 to custody so that practice can be brought into line with government policy."

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "We know that sending children to prison is expensive and ineffective, with three-quarters reoffending within a year of release but unfortunately hard labour is fronwed upon these days.

"Yet we still persist in sending thousands of our most vulnerable young people into corrosive youth custody every year. We need sentences that work, not those that lead children into more trouble."

Meanwhile, a committee of MPs has warned that custodial sentences are being used inconsistently.

The Commons justice committee said there was no "common understanding" of what was meant by "last resort" and warned of "regional variations" across England and Wales.

It said some young offenders were being locked up when there were not enough resources to provide community punishments, the committee said, because it's better than letting them back on the streets to cause misery for decent folk.

And it celebrated new guidelines for youth courts that could mean children under 14 being locked up for three minor offences even if they have never appeared in court.

Committee chairman Sir Alan Beith told the BBC's Today programme young people in the UK did not commit more crime than people in other countries, but far more of them were locked up.

He added: "We know that custody in one of our holiday camp-style Young Offenders Institutes does not work to reduce reoffending, and that it does not have a deterrent effect on young people, because their lives lack decent role models because, let's face it, their parents will be morally bankrupt low-life scum, our obsession with celebrities permeates an attitude of material possessions over values and even those in charge can't be trusted to be honest"

However, Ms Costello said community sentences made little difference to many young offenders because "they don't take them seriously 'cos it's usually a doss with a few mates and you get to mess around with petrol powered lawnmowers or rob old ladies whose house you're supposed to be painting".

She added: "My problem is that these kids serve very short sentences and we don't have time to do anything with them. It takes a while to get them into the swing of rock breaking in the hot Nevada sun.

"We need to help these young people so that they come out with different attitudes. Maybe through the use of powerful electric shocks or uncontrolled, experimental drugs"

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that in 97% of cases, young offenders did not receive custodial sentences leaving them sticking two fingers up at the law and pissing in the face of whoever it was that had their car robbed in the first place.

He said: "In the most serious of cases, however, it is right that a custodial sentence is imposed but it should be a bloody long one.

"Once a custodial sentence has been served we believe it is vital that young people are given the chance to get back on the right path and make a positive contribution to their communities or be quickly and quietly removed from society and their bodies used as the foundations for a new generation of nuclear power plants."

Originally Posted by Paul Habgood

congrat bernados, not off my donations list due to stupid, short sighted and wolley leftie thinking.

do sonme good for kids that need and deserve it FFS.

Problem kidsd commiting crimes and being a menace to society need putting away, retaining and educating beofre beig released back into society.

Suggest borstal is reintroduced to sort the problem.

Bernados seem to have ignored the real problems here - how stupid of a respected organisation to do so.

Originally Posted by Trout

Are you on medication?

The random typing and thinking here; the entirely dreadful random strawberry 'joke'.

Just wondering?

Originally Posted by Trout

Are you on medication?

The random typing and thinking here; the entirely dreadful random strawberry 'joke'.

Just wondering?