A PLAGUE of locusts, a murder of crows, a gang of youths. This last example of a collective noun is becoming common parlance for any gathering of children on any urban street corner (hood optional).
It is probably career suicide to write a column
in defence of kids at a time when the three murderous teenagers who beat to death Garry Newlove, a courageous father who dared challenge them, are fresh in the public's imagination. But it is time to confront the irrational portrayal of all youngsters as dehumanised criminals.
On what seems like every page of even "quality" newspapers, there is a story about a teenager being arrested for some form of indiscriminate killing. Digital TV channels are full of "reality" documentaries about how youngsters are snorting and stabbing their way to a life of crime.
Anyone who has been a victim of an attack or who braces themselves for becoming one as they wait at a bus stop or walk past a housing estate will believe that sense of menace is technicolour real, rather than a whipped-up frenzy generated by ministers and the media.
But politicians and the press will largely feed their audience with box-office material; whatever there is an appetite for. Perhaps there is a sadistic pleasure in alienating one group in society – it allows the rest of the "law-abiding majority" the right to feel morally superior. Or, perhaps, and more probably, the vilification of youngsters is a form of inverted self-loathing.
In Britain, it is now a crime to be a child. This may seem like an extreme statement, but that is exactly what is happening on the streets and in police stations. South of the Border, the fingerprints of innocent children are kept on DNA databases. Tony Blair even advocated putting everyone on the database from birth, giving whole new meaning to the idea of the state looking after us from the cradle to the grave.
Last week, Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, advocated the roll-out of a contraceptive that has long been denounced for its dangerous side effects.
The government wants greater use of depo pravero, the contraceptive injection, to cut down on the number of unwanted pregnancies among teenagers. However, the drug can have long-term effects on fertility and bone density, long after it becomes socially acceptable for the girl to breed. It also has hugely negative connotations in Africa, where some believed it was a way for the colonials to keep the "natives" under control.
Then there is the case of wanting to literally cleanse youths from the streets. Local authorities and police have resorted to the use of the Mosquito high-pitched alarm, which is meant to be audible only to the under-20s, regardless of whether they are in gangs behaving antisocially or just happen to be in that demographic.
The Children's Commissioner for Scotland has called for these "dispersal" alarms to be scrapped. Law-abiding children, disabled youngsters and babies are also affected by them. As Liberty, the human rights campaigners, rightly point out, imagine if they were used to target a particular ethnic group or gender?
Using a dispersal alarm is indiscriminate, and contrary to the Human Rights Act. It also simply shifts the perceived problem from a shopping centre to another street.
It is little wonder that an online survey of 13-18 year-olds by the social networking site Piczo shows that two-thirds felt victimised by the government.
Well, teenagers feel the world is against them at the best of times, but this time their views are justified. Almost half the teens said they had absolutely no respect for politicians. This should not be read as a sign of delinquency – no doubt the percentages would be higher if the same poll was taken of "outraged" adults. But many more said they would take part in a general election if the voting age was lowered.
So what can be done with wanton youths? Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, recently went to Glasgow and pointed out that the city had far more gangs, per capita, than London. "And I am not talking about mods and rockers" he informed a media briefing with a straight face.
But he does raise legitimate points about the power vacuum left in a society in which parents feel helpless to control their children and neighbours are too self-absorbed to care – until it inevitably affects them.
Inter-generational roles have been totally reversed, with parents now fearing their offspring more than the other way around.
The criminality of a small minority of kids is undoubtedly down to poor parenting. Yet it is also a manifestation of an unneighbourly society.
For many decades, the "state" was an ugly word. The Tories say today's social malaise is down to the state having taken over the role of parents.
But this is largely down to the fact that the consumer culture fostered by the various political parties has, in many cases, forced both parents out to work in order to maintain a roof over their heads.
It should not be a case of either/or when it comes to the family or the state taking responsibility – it should be both. But, more than that, it is society itself that has to change in its engagement with children.
The full article contains 917 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
