AIBU to think parents should lose benefits /homes for persistently antisocial children?

[Soddingcat]

This has been suggested, im not sure if it will happen , but i think this is a great idea, if the parents think they will lose their council house and benefits , they may attempt to to control their feral offspring .

My friend is in a local harriers group that starts at a local sports centre in the rough part of town, they are now having to stop their favourite route because of gangs of young teens who intimidate them , run along side them and are abusive, one delightful boy said “ lift your legs higher you c**t ,

How have we come to this ?
Do you think it will make any difference ?

I would remove child benefit from them too , maybe this will force them to parent if they risk losing money or their home

Obviously not all the parents are bad, but virtually all the awful kids round here riding motor bikes with hoods, abusing people are from the council estates near by

Im absolutely sick of it, and sick of decent people being targeted by them

What rules /sanctions would wise mumsnetters suggest ?

The worst behaved children in my village come from very wealthy families, surely you don't really think the government or LAs can just claim a property worth millions? WRT children in poverty, we know that poverty leads to worse outcomes. Taking away a parents ability to feed or home a child isn't going to improve behaviour. We need investment into schools, policing, youth projects, mental health support, the NHS and parenting support that doesn't ignore middle class neglect.

This 100pc
Prejudice of the extreme!
Can I ask OP where she proposes where the said parents would live and support their children.????
Naive and judgemental in the extreme

Yes, it is.

Furthermore, punishment isn't all about rehabilitation you know, some of it-and it should be larger than it is-is simply about being punished.

If the punishment is tough enough, you will find a miraculous rise in rehabilitation rates.

Will it? How? And what if the punishment punishes everyone? Is it still worth it then? What if society suffers from more crime and anti-social behaviour?

There is a strong link between poverty and antisocial behaviour and crime in general. Poverty is not the cause of crime but instead it is strongly mediated by inequality in society. There is evidence to show that taking money or benefits away from people who engage in antisocial behaviour does nothing to affect rates of antisocial behaviour. So what is it that you really care about here? Just punishing people?

Yes historically, eugenics has been a brilliant idea hasn’t it…

It will solve nothing. These kids either have parents who have lost control of them. Or the parents have their own issues such as drug and alcohol or serious mental health problems.
We know we can prevent some of these kids ending up like this through early intervention and good youth services

It is a mix of teens where i live, some from council houses and benefits others from nice private estates they all hang around together on bikes with hoods up, what do you suggest happens there ? I don't disagree that parents need to be held responsible for their teenagers but making them homeless?

I'm sorry to say @ISpyNoPlumPie that is all bollocks.

What do you propose?

I'm off now but look forward to reading your suggestions later

Many years ago I worked in a housing office.

We had one spectacularly 'anti social' family but despite them being evicted several times and the kids never having been to school Social Services would not get involved.

Also they would never get involved with families threatened with eviction, they were notified and all we got was a standard letter saying 'please dont'

Are you sure about that? Which countries are we comparing? You think there is less abuse is SA for example than there is here? Or is it recorded differently?

Do we really think that punishing the parents by removing income will solve the issue? Has any effort gone into understanding why the kids are behaving this way, and what support parents need to be able to get their kids to become upstanding members of society? Do we really think all these parents are just lazing around at home on the dole smoking fags not caring where their kids are, and by docking their benefits we will shock them into suddenly becoming excellent caregivers?

Is it? Do you have a reference for that? People still murder each other in America where they could face the death penalty.

I lived in a high rise for many years, it was decided it's easier to group the problem families together.

It was absolute hell, at times terrifying. My car was vandalised, I witnessed stabbings, they set fire to their own home etc.

I honestly don't give a shit about the whole demographic any more and I grew up there with a teenage mother.

Set them adrift for all I care as ong as they are away from me and mine.

They will steal.

Not even remotely true that those who hunt are upper class but don't let facts get in the way!

Irrespective of the demographic if hunts and their supporters were vile that would be a major improvement.

🤣

Cos you said it!!! Ok! You say eugenics is a brilliant idea. That’s an opinion, and one with a disgusting history so I’m not engaging with your opinions. You say countries with the death penalty have lower rates of criminal activity. That’s evidentially incorrect so no need to engage with your “facts” either.

I enjoy a debate. I enjoy a discussion of evidence. I like to keep an open mind. I see this is not what you are here for! Enjoy your rage ❤️

They already steal.

This is awful, I'm really sorry. I'm not sure about the benefits measure though. This needs to be stopped somehow but it seems somewhat of a blunt instrument to punish parents who may not be responsible. Single women in particular may find it very hard to physically control aggressive teen boys no matter how much they might want to.

But clearly a lot of parents do NOT care, and they should be made to take the penalty.

Its a stupid idea. So, they already have chaotic lives snd you make them homeless with no money? How does that improve things?

I don't suppose I'm the first to point this out as I haven't RTFT.

'We place fair too many rights on the criminal / antisocial people to properly be able to enforce good behaviour.'

Can you expand on what you mean by this?

I don't think we have gone too far to restore. Imo the main issue is that we need to build more prisons. At the moment they are at breaking point so there is little room left. The one near me is housing hundreds more than it was built for.

How have we come to this ?

We got rid of local bobbies patrolling the streets. The current standard of policing in the UK leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm really sorry. 💐

This is key problem: grouping aggressive families together makes them worse, but non aggressive ones understandably don't want and shouldn't have to live near them.

This is true but as some criminals lawyers point out, we also need more efficient police paperwork management. At the moment many cases fall through due to badly collated evidence. While it may be foolhardy, I do hope that maybe AI could help with the paperwork issue so the police can focus on physical policing.

Yeah it's definitely going to make out of control kids behave better if their parents live on the streets. Probably thieving and begging to get food or money. Sure, that will help. #AnyMoreGeniusIdeas?

Strict public boarding schools for the miscreant kids and foster care for the innocent kids? Since foster care places are so bountiful... and yeah residential care for kids without stable homes has a great track record (Barnardo's homes). And of course we know how much the public loves to plough taxpayer funding into public services, especially when the service might benefit miscreants. This is why our prisons are so well funded and have a great record for stopping re-offending. #Sarcasm

I wonder if social workers aren't respected because the public is told heavily how incompetent they are when they "should" be able to stop bad things happening, they let Baby P happen, etc. Why would you fund and promote the status of people vilified for not fixing enormous social problems?

Pffffffttt.