Knife asbos won’t cut crime – but they will harm vulnerable young people | Dean Ryan

Sajid Javid’s punitive measures criminalise children while ignoring the social deprivation that is creating a lost generationThe new knife crime prevention orders introduced by the home secretary, Sajid Javid, will only serve to stigmatise and criminalise young people. The KCPOs, which will target children as young as 12 who are suspected of involvement in knife crime, even if they are not caught with a blade, include measures that already exist and don’t work.Punitive measures proposed in the orders include street curfews, barring young people from meeting up with “other gang members” for two years and mandatory attendance of courses about the effects of knife crime. Yet the police have the powers to do this using the existing criminal behaviour and dispersal orders; they are already needlessly trapping young people in the youth justice system through repeated arrests for breaching orders. Continue reading…
Via: Knife asbos won’t cut crime – but they will harm vulnerable young people | Dean Ryan