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Children’s Secretary Ed Balls has said he wants to end the era of anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) saying every one that is issued is a “failure”. Mr Balls believes that the Asbo title given to young offenders offers no incentive for improving their behaviour. In an interview with a national Newspaper, Mr Balls said Asbos were “necessary” but they were “not right”. Mr Ball’s concerns for Asbos seem to be very strong; he and his colleagues within Central Government have taken it upon themselves to introduce a 10 year strategy working on rebuilding trust between adults and children.
Within this strategy lie two rather strong plans including a national “Youth Week” and “coming of age” ceremonies to mark the transition into adulthood. Is a national youth week the solution? It seems to me that this would only give more free reign for youths from broken families to wreak havoc on society. Asbos were initially handed out to try and shame offenders into changing their ways and breaking their habits, a quick fix to the cracked society we are currently living in, but instead they have become like a medallion to be worn around the neck of the criminal, only adding to their street credibility and not preventing further disturbance.
Asbos are not a solution to stopping our decaying society, neither are “Youth weeks” or “coming of age ceromonies”, these are all merely time wasting devices to cover the cracks created by a soft approach to crime from the Government. If we are to combat crime and rehabilitate young offenders we need to look at the bigger picture, this involves identifying the core problem and creating a solution which will give guidance to youths and will help create a safer, more friendlier society, a society which we once lived in before Government lost its grip.
What do you think?

Scott Buckler, editor Public Service Review: Central Government