Should children who commit serious crime?

Question

be named and shamed. Children who commit manslaughter, rape & murder have their identities kept from the public for legal reasons.

The most recent story of children that have been charged for manslaughter are the ones that threw stones at a father while he played cricket. These children went around in a gang called The New Estate Gang and set out to cause trouble. They started shouting abuse & insults at a man aged 67 and then they hurled stones at him. The stress causing him to have a heart attack.

Most kids of today know that their identies are kept a secret as and when they commit crime. If this was changed and they were publicly named it could reduce the amount of crime committed by kids.

I feel that they should be named & shamed as well as being placed in young offenders institutions and NOT given playstations and holidays in these places.

Answer 1

Yes they should be Names & Shamed.

If they are big enough to Rape & Kill then they should be treated as a adult would be.

That includes the punishment, If they commit murder they should be locked up for life and not just a couple months in a detention center.

As for naming & shaming the parent well i dont actually agree.
Not all Kids that commit crimes come from broken homes
Some parents do all they can to ensure their children have a good start in life and are taught right from wrong, And when they turn to crime there really is not much they can do about it.
Other than give the little shits a good hiding............... But oh we cant do that in th UK anymore can we,

Parents dont stand a chance in this day and age, Because if you slap your kid for doing wrong you can get arrested, What message is that law sending out to our children.

Kids today know that they can have their parents arrested for doing what has been done for thousands of years, and all they get is a nice little ASBO Designer label for the crime they commit.

Look at the 2 scum bags who killed poor Jamie Bulger, They are out living their lifes with new names etc mixing with everyday people when they should have been locked up for life and the key thrown away. what was their punishment..... Oh yea they was locked up in a holiday camp for a few years and given a pat on the back and set free.......... Wrong Wrong Wrong

its about time they gave out punishment to fit the crime,

* just read page 36 & 37 in the sun today this is just proof the goverment have got it all wrong, and teenagers know that they rule and there is nothing that their parents can do about it.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Children that go this far, to commit felonies, have been in a psycological quandry for years now, between criminalists and the courts, it's simply not known what to do about these childhood Mafiosos.
The parents scream false, they stand behind them at every turn to "ptotect them" as the child stands, teary eyed and looking sad, at the way they're being treated, for maybe "harassing an older person and even killing another child. Knowing all to well, they are the ones protected by the law, also.

So, what's the answer? "boot camps" don't work, it makes them tough. Detention until of age, then prison, lock them away forever, a waste of life but, whos to blame and, now what, forever?

Bill Cosby asked, "where's the parents" when they had a gun and the parents knew, where's the parents when both worked and the kid was a latch key kid?
I worked for a large complex in the Southwest, we had a huge problem with kids at night.
Due to single parent families, and both parents working, we had at one time twenty-seven (27) kids that wandered the complex of thirty-five four plexes and six plexes, 27 mind you. This was an invasion.
Guards couldn't walk a beat at night, they, The kids would get on the roofs and drop water bombs on them, rocks and toss fireworks at them.
The parents were at a quandry as to what to do. When we started arresting them, fourteen one night, six of the parents never missed the kid, the parents then screamed "fault" against us, the adults.

We had to start evicting the parents and, eventually went to "no kids" adults only after a time. It settled the argument but, bless the apartments they moved to, they were going to need it.

Answer 4

The judge has the option to remove reporting restrictions when sentence is passed, if he believes it is in the public interest. This was done with James Bulger's killers. I struggle to see, however, what public interest it would serve. These boys have committed a horrendous crime, with consequences far beyond those they envisaged. They will, no doubt be given custodial sentences for this manslaughter. I don't think that you will find that Young Offender Institutions are holiday camps. But what then? Do we want to competely criminalise these boys or should we rehabilitate them? What is best for the rest of us - that they are marginalised into lives of crime and violence or that we seek to allow them to follow useful working lives. With hardened adult criminals rehabilitation is probably too late. But, maybe, with children we have a chance. As for 'naming and shaming' them, what will that achieve? What will you and I do with that information? The family of the victim were present in court and will already have this information, they are the important ones here. You and I don't know the boys' identities and probably have no need to. It is not up to public vigilantes to ensure that their punishment continues after they have left a YOI. So, let's preserve their anonymity from the general public, in the hope that they can lead useful lives.

Answer 5

I agree with 17pdr. Prison is about rehabilitation as well as punishment. These kids can be helped to go an and lead decent lives eventually, but if you treat them like dirt then they will rebel and will more than likely go on and commit more crimes when they are eventually released, especially if they can't get a job because of their past. I'm not excusing their actions in any way though, kids do know the difference between right and wrong, and they deserve to be punished for their crimes.

Answer 6

Hi tabbyfur
thank you for this voice of reason question, there's been too many 'bleeding hearts' posts on here in recent days, talking about 'poor poor prisoners' and 'poor poor children' I wonder how many of the people that share that view have actually been the victim of a violent crime, or seen their families hurt or victimised by these 'poor poor' thugs.
I am of Korean/Asian descent, although born and raised in the UK, and one of my earliest memories is walking home from school with my mother, who was heavily pregnant at the time, and seeing her jostled and manhandled by two men walking towards us, she grabbed my hand and we pushed past them and ran home. This was my first encounter with racial assault.
Three weeks ago, she was out with my brother, his wife and their four year old son, and went into the nearby park to allow my nephew to play on the swings etc.
My mother was pushing him gently, when four or five children, aged roughly seven or eight decided they wanted to play on the swings and because they were all occupied they stood around my mother and nephew, at first they were just giggling and nudging each other, but then the comments began, 'dirty asian whore' 'fat pakki slag' 'go back where you came from c**t'
My mother was distressed and had no alternative but to take my nephew and leave the swings, and even after she had done this, and they were heading back to the car, several of these children followed my family spitting and giggling and making abusive comments,, two of them kicked the car and accused my brother of having stolen it.
Sadly this type of event is far from uncommon, and while I can understand my brother was angry and wanted to rpotect his family, the safest thing for him to do was what he did, remove them from the situation. It denied them a little trip out on one of the few nice summer day we've had this year, it made them feel they had to leave the park rather than risk being assaulted and it showed that children as young or seven and eight now feel they can terrorise and intimidate anyone without fear of consequences.
Sadly the option of naming and shaming them is never going to happen, because there are too many people out there who operate on the basis that these 'poor poor children' are the victims and must be protected at all costs,
I wish the sight of a policeman was still enough to send children scarpering home, I don't know what the answer is, the softly softly approach hasn't worked. Reducing the role of motherhood to a second class 'job' hasn't helped, children want everything and they want it now, and so parents work all the hours they can to provide those material things now, inevitably it means no-one is home and children are left to their own devices and as my Nan always used to say, 'the devil finds mischief for idle hands'

Answer 7

These children put activities like this as having a
laugh. Well it's about time they were shown
that their actions are serious, and punishable.
If the parents cannot control them then they too should be in the dock along with their child.
I have said this before about communities, we
all should be vigilant, and report to the police
anything that looks suspicious.
If strict action isn't taken soon heaven only knows where all this will end up.
NAME,SHAME,AND BE TOUGHER on these
offenders.

Answer 8

I agree with you about the institutions should be tougher, but I am not sure that 'naming and shaming' would work, most kids who do things like this do not have the wit to realise the implications of being named and would actually be quite proud of their actions. Tougher sentences and actions put in place to help prevent the crimes in the first place.

Answer 9

you have a valid point. the problem is, even if their names were made public. Unfortunately, they would be forgotten over time because some other low life would commit a more heinous crime, that would overshadow the crimes the kids committed....till the kids who then become adults, if they turn into career criminals , then some people will remember them....other than that, there is too much continual disregard for human beings these days, the news proves it is a never ending thing......very sad the way things are today with kids, and adults for that matter..............

Answer 10

Most small communities already share information about who's children have done what and they all have opinions as to what lead up to the act and they all have their thoughts on how they would attempt to put a stop to it, trying to keep the action from spreading further out into another community. I think a public gag to protect the young adults should be brought down and not used to protect them from shame, shame is a teaching tool to replace a failed teaching method.