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£60m after-school patrols to tackle youth crime
Rob Singh, Evening Standard16.09.08
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith today announced funding for more after-school patrols to crack down on youth crime.
About £60 million will be given to councils in England to pay for police, youth workers and ex-gang members to tackle troublesome young people.
The money is part of the Home Office's Youth Crime Action plan, aimed at reducing the number involved in crime and the prevalence of knife crime. The money will also be used for activities for young people. Ms Smith said: "I know the vast majority of young people are on the right track but there is a minority whose behaviour causes disruption to their communities.
"I want young people to be able to fulfil their potential but that means intervening as soon as possible to prevent offending."
Reader views (4)
I'm sorry Lindsay, but Kitty is absolutely right.
Far too many people out there view a life on benefits as a perfectly acceptable career/life choice. It's high time child benefit was only paid for the first two children, and mothers who fail to name the father of a child get nothing from the state.
Believe you me the 'money-pot' isn't never-ending, and it's high time some morality and reponsibility was brought back into certain sections of society.
- Scott, London
I thought they already had after school patrols - the police. Oh, I forgot. That's from the old days. When everyone, we're told, was apparently not as well off as they are today.
- Rogan, DFW TX
What do you suggest, Kitty? Enforced sterilisation or the idea that only the intellectually and/or genetically superior should be able to reproduce? I think you'll find that's called eugenics, and it hasn't tended to go down very well when it's been tried in the past. Is this a cut and paste response you insert into every news item that involves youth/children and/or welfare or benefits? There will always be criminal elements in society - and guess what? They don't always come from poor homes where there parents have strugged to afford the essentials. As a Londoner with young children whose safety I prize more than anything, I think this is a great idea.
- Lindsay, london
NNever mind all this, stop enabling people to have kids they can't afford - neigh rewarding people to have kids they can't afford. Stop the riff-raff breeding and using children as access to a better flat, house etc and leave child rearing to those who are able to do it properly.
- Kitty, London
