I'm not sure if I can add anything that hasn't already been said. Nevertheless, reading through the posts I'm reminded that parents like Margaret P are sadly a dying breed. PC has gone so overboard nowadays parents are afraid to discipline their children. Likewise with School teachers who are hard pressed to control the behaviour in the classroom because the children know how easy it is to get a teacher suspended for exercising the mearest hint of authority.
Those who suggested the fault lays with the parents are absolutely correct. I have advocated for some time, when children are prosecuted for criminal damage or the like, their parents or guardians should be in the dock with them, receiving their share of the punishment. But the law is an absolute ASS. Why is it illegal to leave children under the age of 12 or 14 alone in the relative safety of their own home, but it is perfectly legal for children of this age and younger to roam the streets in pursuit of whatever excitement they can find, and at all hours of the night, at the expense of Joe Public?
By the time my children reached school age I only had to look at them in a certain way whilst calling their name and they immediately knew they were doing something they shouldn't be and stopped. And that attitude wasn't achieved through violence but through persistent and patient explanation. Something that is sadly lacking with many parents.
I'm sure we shouldn't overlook the mass hype that was generated on location. I'm sure there were those normally law abiding youths that simply got caught up in the frenzy of it all. Youngsters with promising careers in football and modelling as examples. And our children need to be forewarned about hanging around when such hysterical chaos breaks out. Like an avalanche it can bury our innocent youths so quickly in its wake. Take a look at the hooligan behaviour at football matches.
But there is something inherantly evil when a big youth approaches a poor individual who has already been assaulted, bleeding from the mouth, in the pretense they were concerned for him, when all the time they were pilfering from the victim's backpack. Where does such evil come from?
Would I shop my children? There's really no question about it, I absolutely would because like it or not, if you fail to report anyone, family or friend, who you know has broken the law, you become an accessary after the fact and are liable to prosecution.
The biggest frustration is the courts have absolutely no idea on making the punishment fit the crime. As the sister of the gentleman who died from his injuries after trying to protect his property said, it is so sad that these youths have no other interest in life to occupy them. Sadly, I suspect quite strongly that this is only a glimpse into what we can expect more of on our streets in the future
It leaves me very sad.