Youth want Action not Asbos!

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Wednesday June 22, 2005 23:02

by Ruairi - SpunOut.ie

info at spunout dot ie

Donegal teen slams anti-social behaviour plans

Below is an article written by 17 year old Tracey McGroary who is a youth writer for the SpunOut.ie National Youth Website.

Tracey is also a volunteer youth worker at the Ballintra-Laghey Cross Community Youth Project in South Donegal.

Solutions not ASBOS

As far as I can tell (from the limited information we’ve been given) these new anti-social behaviour laws will be a disaster if they are introduced to Ireland.

They have already caused havoc in the UK. Being a teenager I’m worried that these laws are going to have serious consequences for my friends and myself. Will I be banned from meeting all my friends at once like another teenager in the UK has been? Will I be banned from being sarcastic like an elderly man in the UK has been? I for one am not going to put up with the government trying to control us more than they already do.

The government believe that these laws will help stop anti-social behaviour in teenagers but I think it will just make it worse. Take one look at teenagers today: it is more fun to drink and smoke because they are underage and it is illegal. Drugs are becoming a big trend not because of the effects but because they are illegal. Teenagers like to push boundaries. What will happen when these new laws come in? Teenagers will have new boundaries to push and things will just get out of control.

I don’t believe that all teens are the same, yes I do admit there are the rebels but there are also the good kids, kids who aren’t out to cause trouble or do damage, these are the ones who are going to suffer.

For a start the government are looking through the wrong windows with these anti-social behaviour laws. They should be enforcing current laws a bit better. Anti-social behaviour only exists because of underlying problems such as drink, drugs or family related issues. Why is no one interested in what’s causing the behaviour, why are they only interested in what they can see?

Someone once said to me that they would rather be blind than deaf because what you see can be worse than what you hear but I believe it’s the other way around. If we actually took the time to stop and listen to these kids and find out what is going on in their lives I think it would make a far greater difference.

What these rebel teens really need aren’t new laws that restrict them even further. They need something to do, somewhere to go and someone to listen. That’s why we need more community based youth projects that can be there on a ground level helping these kids. The government should be delivering the money they promised to these projects instead of wasting it on stupid ideas like the anti-social behaviour laws.

We need to work from the ground up so we can tell the government what our teenagers want, not the government telling us what our teenagers need.

Do we not have the better knowledge?

By: Tracey McGrory (17)

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Comments (5 of 5)

Please observe

by David Grealy

Sat Nov 12, 2005 01:31

it's = it is
its = belonging to it

Ruairi

by good stuff

Thu Jun 23, 2005 15:00

Ruairi

good to see this kind of thing on indymedia.

If you publish it here first, then wait a few minutes and then publish on your own website - all should be fine. SIlly procedure and technicality, but useful.

not bad

by Al

Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:31

Its not a bad piece but in my opinion lacking the overall view and factors. I agree that some of the uses in the UK have been downright stupid but my question is what to do with those that centers and activities dont help?

No matter what you do or say there will always be those that resort to crime. It may be for money, drug addiction or simple because they enjoy it. Do we just keep throwing money into projects to help or do we try another area and punish?

Also, I have to wonder why there has been over 6 threads about ASBO's in the past 2 weeks, shouldnt the comments be put into the same thread? therefore limiting how many times a person has to repeat themselves.

IN my day, god I sound so old, there was sports to entertain. I played football for the local team and was part of the boxing club for a few years. Apart from that there was 'the Grove', anyone remember that? In St Pauls?

There comes a time when you have to stop complaining and do something pro-active to help yourself. Name an area and I bet I can come up with a couple of community schemes or clubs there.

And besides, who hasnt sat on a wall smoking with their mates at that age? Or in a field with some cans of the cheapest cider going?

My feelings are known on ASBO's, not to victimise which seems to be the only part being looked at but also to help with genuine anti-social behaviour that does have a negative effect on areas.

Apologies...

by Ruairi

Thu Jun 23, 2005 11:29

Regarding editorial policy: yes indeed this article is available on SpunOut.ie at http://www.spunout.ie/other_content.php?id=1457.

However, SpunOut.ie has a very limited readership and it is mostly used by teenagers and people in their early 20s.

Therefore, we are publishing it on indymedia.ie under indymedia.ie editorial guideline 14 'cut and paste http://www.indymedia.ie/editorial.php which allows certain expceptions to cut and paste.

In this instance we felt that Indy users might benefit from hearing the independent youth view on ASBOs which are most definitely bypassed by the mainstream media.

We do accept that an original introduction is needed to the article and apologise for it's omission.

Should the editors propose a deletion then that's cool with us.

D minus

by English Teacher

Thu Jun 23, 2005 06:56

a) this is a copy and paste from another website.
b) "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde

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Comments (5 of 5)