To think that the prosecution of these boys was inevitable but depressing

[travellinglighter]

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/romford-attack-teenagers-charged-after-assault-on-boy-15-in-park-a3357801.html

I have seen the video of this happening and frankly it really depresses me. You listen to the “gangsta speak" and wonder what the hell do we do with people who would do this sort of thing. The assault is bad enough but the fact it seems so normal to them that they would post it on social media. Insult added to injury It’s almost a badge of honour for them to act like a bullying bastard.

What punishment will they receive?? It won’t be adult prison and any prison time means that they will be unemployable (not sure they were hugely employable in the first place). If they are fined??? Big deal, I suspect that whatever happens, rather than vilification from their peers they will get kudos for being a hard man.

What can you do to these kids (and they are just big kids) that will make them worthwhile citizens?? I can’t think of anything.

I have kids who have to go out in the world where people like this wander the streets. Thank god I live in a small town on the right side of the Welsh border but we have our feral element as well and I wonder how many of them see this and think “That looks like fun.”

How do you teach your kids to be streetwise enough to avoid these situations? Lets face it, no amount of self defence lessons would have saved this boy from older, stronger more aggressive teenagers.

The kids both have a phone that are a worth a lot of money, it’s time to talk to them about not getting the phone out in public. Avoiding back streets and parks where large groups gather. Isn’t it awful that I potentially have to scare them like this.

Op you dont have to be on the ball, I have never visited Wales but I don't assume they are all shagging sheeps and live in corn farms

I have kids who have to go out in the world where people like this wander the streets. Thank god I live in a small town on the right side of the Welsh border

What a ridiculous unpleasant thing to say.

Ahem.

Please read my link below. This is what's needed. And I love the farm work approach.

I'm not criticising their culture just their actions.

Well, no, you were criticising their accents too. They are utter shitstains, but I thought we'd moved on a bit from judging people based on how they talk.

I thought JVs letter was a bunch of self serving nonsense too.

Also very glad I live very far away from the kind of place where this would happen.

Haha we can't judge young inner city thugs on the basis that they speak like young inner city thugs?

Are you for real??

Each time I came out I had planned the next crime inside and my ambitions got bigger," Fleming says. "When I was in Portland for my last sentence, I was dreaming up an armed robbery."

From the link. Exactly what I was saying. They go into YOC and spend time honing their skills with encouragement and ideas from more seasoned offenders. It's just a breeding ground for more crime. Totally the wrong place for young men like this.

Also very glad I live very far away from the kind of place where this would happen.

Where do you live??

Not in the uk.

To be fair OP, there's not much to choose between England and Wales when you're looking at knife crime statistics.

Haha we can't judge young inner city thugs on the basis that they speak like young inner city thugs?

Are you for real??

Yeah, because the funny thing is that if you dismiss everyone who talks like that as 'young inner city thugs' you don't actually improve things, do you?

We could try taking grown up approaches that don't tar everyone with a certain accent as 'thugs' for a start. Radical thinking.

Not in the uk.

But you do live where there are people right?

"From the moment I got into crime, I was treated as though I were muck, so that's how I started thinking about myself," - and therefore treating everyone else like muck. From the link.

Ergo, dismissing everyone as an intercity thug will simply perpetuate the issue.

Haha we can't judge young inner city thugs on the basis that they speak like young inner city thugs?

No, you can't. Judge them for punching a lid in the face, not because of how they talk.

Lid? Kid.

Actually, I lived in a rural area in the 1980s and 90's and I saw more young kids (around 8-12) being aggressive and abusive and physically bullying than in the city I had lived in till age ten.

I may be blasted for this but there was a series on ITV I think called bad lads army, it showed (in a very easy media way) how discipline, male role models and structure made a huge difference. I wouldn't be sending them to prison (where they will learn worse behaviour) I would be putting something like that army facility in place to help them become useful members of society. Probably a bit right wing for MN ...

I may be blasted for this but there was a series on ITV I think called bad lads army, it showed (in a very easy media way) how discipline, male role models and structure made a huge difference. I wouldn't be sending them to prison (where they will learn worse behaviour) I would be putting something like that army facility in place to help them become useful members of society. Probably a bit right wing for MN

Because they wouldn't mix with other 'bad lads' there...??

Jeremy Vine's open letter was brilliant.

Doing, this is the approach used by the ex marine in the link below. But with the underlying idea of respect and encouragement besides a very firm routine and boundaries, plus lots of physical training experiences and literacy and numeracy and communication lessons.

Yes they would but all the same age, not career criminals and that is where the army structure stops them sitting around all day, that programme showed a positive reward system, just my view.

The approach in the article mentioned 11 weeks of post program volunteering (I think) and lined them up with jobs or mentors etc in order to become useful.

I'm sorry but if this happened to my son I'd deal with it myself and film the little bsdtards being beaten up by a woman, how gangster that would look

Yes the Cfar programme linked by violet. 11 week programme, where they did conflict resolution, numeracy, literacy, team work activities, (and probably other stuff I can't recall) and then a guaranteed employment or education placement with a mentor for 9 months.

Well you'd be really silly then pissedoff because they'd get to look pretty smug watching you being sentenced for assaulting a child. And your child would be left to defend themselves whilst you served your time.