Teaching about crime and criminal responsibility in school

[Bunnybigears]

An event has happened locally (which I won't go into as this thread isn't really about that) but it means some young people (secondary school age) have been arrested for manslaughter.

It has been really clear from the many Facebook posts about this that people don't really understand what manslaughter is and seems to think being arrested for this means the police believe they did what they did to purposefully cause loss of life.

These are adults making these comments. So if they don't understand then how can the children involved be expected to understand the consequences of their actions could result in criminal convictions.

I think there should be more taught, especially once children reach the age of criminal responsibility, about issues around crime and the repercussions. Everyone (I hope) knows murder is illegal but there are a lot of other situations that can have very very serious consequences for both the victims and perpetrator.

How many times have we seen at least two families destroyed by one punch outside a nightclub leading to death or serious injury for the victim and a long jail sentence for the perpetrator. Or a young person driving dangerously and killing their friends.

I know teenagers will always have bad impulse control and believe they are immortal but some education could definitely help. I've just asked 15 year old DS what the age of criminal responsibility is and he didn't know.

So what part of the current curriculum do you want removed to allow this time to be taught? Parents have responsibilities in this respect too.

If your son didn't know something like that then that's on you as his parent. I'm beginning to think people think schools should literally teach children everything.

This.

There needs to be more education around that one punch can do as well as the criminal responsibility. More education on the impacts of bullying too, children need to know they could cause someone's death from bullying.

Ds school has a day off timetable every half term where they cover things on a variety of topics including a lot of this type of thing. They have guest speakers in and do lots of workshops.

Yes, and at my DCs school they have half hour each morning either in assembly or form so there is time to cover things not in the curriculum.

Schools are for academic education. Parents are for parenting.

Of course parents have a responsibility but as I've seen it's the parents themselves who don't have the knowledge so you can't teach something you don't know.

Schools can't, and shouldn't have to, solve all of society's problems. If parents aren't equipped to bring their children up well, they need to address that by educating themselves.

If children came to school with better attitudes towards others they'd automatically get a better education and probably not end up arrested as often.

Schools cannot pick up the pieces for all of the parenting problems though. It’s just not possible.

Maybe parents should actually start parenting and stop leaving every thing to schools

But you say your own DS didn't know the age of criminal responsibility. Presumably you (at least think you) do, so it's for you to teach him.

Well yes obviously I have now told him, I assumed he knew.

we do teach it in schools.

all the time.

but kids still break into warehouses and set fires and people still die because, fundamentally, people think that it’s the kind of thing that happens to other people and won’t happen to them.

I think this is the sort of thing that could be covered by the BBC as well, but their tv stuff is so sensationalises and hyped up that my DS can't go near it. I wish they would calm their tv right down so it can educational without being alarming.

I learned such a lot from tv when I was a kid, but my DS can't go near it at all.

If you are referring to is what I am thinking, then surely it isn't so much criminal responsibility as the consequences of dangerous risks / stupid behaviour and having someone else's death on your conscience for life? This is similar to drugs etc and is covered in PSHE, isn't it?

My son has just picked his GCSE'S, one of his options is citizenship. Its sounds like just the thing your thinking off, they learn some law, economics and look at current world events. I was so impressed by this I will say I encouraged DS to pick it as an option.

They theoretically should learn some of this in PHSE but that subject seems to vary from school to school and which teacher is teaching it as well.

I agree this should come from the family, with the odd talk in school. Educating starts very on in the family, by teaching your children right from wrong, fairness, considering others feelings etc. When they get older letting your children know about responsibilities, laws, the court and prison system and the age of criminal responsibility are all part of being a parent.

I agree @Bunnybigears that more awareness should be raised about these topics in school, whilst it is also the parents responsibility to parent. However, not all parents parent but all schools teach!

I remember when i was in school, we used to have special assemblies at certain times of the year where police and firemen should come in and talk about specific topics and the dangers. Topics like the dangers of bonfire night, knife crime were covered. This was years ago and didn't deprive us of a lesson outside of these assemblies so it is hardly impossible to add into some form of mandatory schedule.

Of course parents have a responsibility but as I've seen it's the parents themselves who don't have the knowledge so you can't teach something you don't know

I don't imagine most teachers know the law here either.

Since I have been on MN, I have seen various posters want to see teachers be responsible for giving their child mortgage, savings and pension advice, teaching Makaton, self-defence, swimming to a high standard, learning to play an instrument again to a high standard, car mechanics, resuscitation, checking for headlice, teeth cleaning (this one does seem to be popular with the current government) just to name a few! Children are at home far more than they are at school-if parents want their child to do these things, it should ultimately fall on their shoulders.

I think part of the problem actually is that the school curriulum is too full, so kids are overwhelmed and have no headspace to learn from their parents when they get home from school.

I had to take my DS out of school eventually and it's only since he started home schooling that he's had the headspace to take in this kind of important information.

We used to think ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. Now it just seems everyone assumes it is the schools responsibility.

I presume you knew the age of criminal responsibility? But your 15 year old DS was still unaware. So even when the parents do know they aren’t passing this knowledge onto their children. You really can’t expect school to be covering all of this.

Well yes. Everyone has jumped on the criminal responsibility bit but really my main point was people (adults) included don't seem to realize that you can be charged with manslaughter even for an accident.

This is taught at school already.
Joint enterprise, one punch can kill, age of criminal responsibility - I've taught all this this term alone.

I remember when i was in school, we used to have special assemblies at certain times of the year where police and firemen

We used to have the police, fire brigade, nurses, dentists, library staff and traffic police all come in to talk to the kids when I first started teaching-we don't have any of them now. Whenever we have contacted them to come in, they've said they don't have the staff to do it any more. That doesn't mean teachers should just have to do it all anyway.