Should kids be locked up if they are criminals?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7546453.stm

A lib dem is arguing that jail should be a last resort for kids found guilty of minor crimes, notably crimes that they are being put away for now. Do you agree?

Answer 1

Chastisement does not have to be Jail only. Punishment can be effective with a few good strokes of the cane or brush. When needed .

Answer 2

I don't agree with that at all.  A criminal is a criminal, and youth shouldn't exclude anyone from getting the rightful punishment they deserve.

Answer 3

Them and their parents.

Answer 4

I think public cane lashings would be a good start.

Answer 5

How minor.  Theft and felony crime should get jail.  Killing or raping should get them hung.  Let them do the big show dance.

Answer 6

Here in the U.S you can be sentenced to life in prison.

i.e: Eric Smith raped and murdered a 4-year-old boy when he was 13. He was sentenced to life and is still in prison.

Answer 7

This is a hard question to answer and should be judged on a case by case basis. I have heard from another parent how awful kids are today. They are very difficult and causing some teachers to leave the profession because they just can't handle it. There are other reasons too but kids are definitely a prominent factor. One of my friends gave up teaching high school because she said she was tired that so many didn't want to learn so she felt she was wasting her time so she started teaching college. She left that and has her own business. The problem seems to be parents.

We can jail kids but it's not going to solve the problem and it could cause an even bigger problem. In the short-term it might be worth it to jail the kids while simultaneously working on a plan to deal with the larger problem - the parents. Maybe parenting workshops are needed and support groups for parents? Get the word out to all parents that these things are available. So the long-term looks better.

What do you think?  

Answer 8

shoot the little f00kers

or whip their little 4rses till its raw.

Bring Back Physical Punishment

Answer 9

It is my firm opinion that the idea of crime begins in childhood and the major mistake our society makes is not addressing crime at its source. Children are now fully aware that they can get away with almost anything and can't be touched.

Borstal Schools were the answer at one time, the borstal was a deterrent whereby a juvenile would be removed from his home environment and his behavior checked. Giving children the idea that whatever they do will always be tolerated is a mistake. The borstal was removed and nothing put in its place. We now have to re-think that strategy as crime soars. I'm not saying that there should not be alternatives but violent disruptive teenagers for example who terrorize council estates and worry the vulnerable in our society should be removed from the area they frequent and corrected in a stern military style atmosphere which should make them not want to be there.

I often condemn New Labour because they are plonkers (and they are) but one thing they did do what is right,  was to make parents responsible for their child's acts. But, how many parents are actually being taken to task.

Its a complicated issue that needs to be removed from a Liberal monopoly.

ATB Red

Answer 10

I think they should be punished. If  they get locked up or not should depend on the crime. They need to learn at a young age that committing crimes are wrong.  

Answer 11

If kids that have committed crimes present a danger to the public or specific individuals then yes they should be locked up. But locking them up ought to have an element of rehabilitation otherwise wants the point of ever letting them out? They will only know a life of crime. Kids who are persistent offenders who are not dangerous should also be put away as they are a drain on law enforcement resources.

Answer 12

No, dropped into the middle of the Atlantic. Sounds harsh but I guarantee they wont do it again.

Answer 13

No,a spell locked up would probably teach them the lessons that their incompetent parents can't be bothered to teach !

Answer 14

I do agree.

There is a vast spectrum of what constitutes a criminal- I mean if we advocated locking up all adult criminals, then there would be half the population in prison for doing minor things like go at 32mph in a 30 zone, or even dropping litter.  To make ourselves feel better we define these things as not proper crime, but they are even if not as serious as armed robbery, fraud or murder.

I'm not saying we should never lock kids up who've committed serious crimes, and neither is the person in the link.  Just that there are other things to try first if they haven't.

Answer 15

I don't think anyone has the answer to be honest. Borstals were around whilst I was growing up and all they did was to fester more criminal activity - they were like 'crime universities', and this was a Thatcherite policy. One youth hung himself at a local young offenders institution a couple of years ago (I can already hear some going 'what a shame we didn't do it for him').  But isn't part of the sentence reform of the offender's character as well as punishment?

Answer 16

Depends on what is meant by "minor crimes" But i do believe for every action there has to be a reaction or how else are these kids going to learn whats right from wrong

Answer 17

I think it depends on the crime but i do think kids should be getting tougher punishments for some crimes.

Answer 18

YEAH

Answer 19

WHAT?!!!

What on earth is going on here? They're practically trying to ban wrist slapping! ..Just because it's expensive.. but at what cost to the rest of us??

"Instead offenders would appear before panels of local people to apologise, and pay the cost of damage caused. "

...do they really think that apologising is any kind of deterrent? They'll get off on it, by apologising with a cocky smirk on their face, and enjoy the whole experience so much they'll get their friends to do it in groups the next weekend!!

Give them something to do, and lock them up if they offend.. or find a replacement punishment if locking up doesn't work. (Which wouldn't surprise me, as prisons here are ridiculously cushy.. hence the "it's too expensive" complaint) It works in the rest of the world, why can't it here?

Answer 20

As the other contributions show, a controversial topic. But don't those answers ignore those youths who do make mistakes and then grow out of them? Just because some of us may have been lucky not to have made a mistake that amounted to a criminal offence when we were young, (or perhaps weren't caught!), does not the attitude demonstrated here forget that we all make mistakes and grow up and regret them? We get the chance to put them behind us and learn from them. So, if the offence is minor, is the suggestion worth looking at. Whilst there is some horrible youth crime which does justify custodial punishment, we are locking up kids for relatively minor offences as well. What is more, we are prosecuting kids for things which at one time would have been dealt with by a clip around the ear or within school. I have dealt with schoolyard fights in police stations!

Hope that helps

Answer 21

if you are found guilty of a crime, then you should be locked up...no exceptions on age or gender!

Answer 22

Bring back the stocks and put them the in town centres. Then Saturday shoppers could bung squidgy tomatoes and rotten fruit at them. That wouldn`t do much for their street cred would it?

Answer 23

NO THEY SHOULD BE SENTENCED TO ONE OR TWO NATIONAL SERVICE

Answer 24

i think they should be shipped off to fight in iraq

that will teach them.

Answer 25

I don't know the answer to this, but I know what the emphasis of child sentencing and punishment should be.

Our aim has to be to end up with productive adults who can look after themselves and hold down a job without being a drain on the tax resources that the rest of us provide.

We need to ask if locking children up will achieve this. Are there alternatives?

While we all want to see 'justice' done, and gut reaction tells us that very severe punishments are called for in some cases, we must not let our desire to see children punished for crimes lead to situations which criminalise for life or institutionalise children, leaving us with adults who we have to pay for, for the rest of their days.

And then they have children and the cycle starts again!

Answer 26

Troubled kids will get worse if you are hard on them.  In fact it is that brutish mentality that helps turn naughty naive kids into lifelong failures.

I think it is a good idea to not prosecute and label with a criminal record kids who will likely grow out of it later.  How many men haven't commited some crime, but just didn't get caught? Not many.