Brave new world

Rather startling news from the Sunday Times of London:

A CONFIDENTIAL Home Office report recommends that children should be targeted as potential criminals from the age of three. It says they can be singled out by their bullying behaviour in nursery school or by a history of criminality in their immediate family.

It proposes parenting classes and, in the worst cases, putting more children who are not “under control” into intensive foster care instead of care homes. Nursery staff would be trained to spot children at risk of growing up to be criminals.

The 250-page report, entitled Crime Reduction Review, was drawn up on the instructions of Tony Blair, who wanted to identify the most effective ways of cutting crime by 2008.

The Times's summary does suggest that the report contains at least some sensible advice, including taking more seriously "bullying, exclusion and truancy". And as the article notes:

In a verdict likely to anger leftwingers, the report suggests that bullies should be treated as aggressors rather than victims of their social background.

It states that bullies, who can start from a very young age, do not suffer from low self-esteem but act as gang leaders who “recruit” others to commit crime. As they graduate to being juvenile offenders, aged 8 to 15, they act as magnets by drawing in followers one or two years younger than themselves.

Unfortunately, the report then goes on to endorse "young offenders’ institutions with “boot camp” regimes" -- which, as I recall, were shown to be ineffective in the US even before they became the now-passé favored quick fix of American politicians.

Posted by David on June 13, 2005 3:46 PM