Much of the public is scared of children, with half saying British children behave like animals and pose an increasing danger, according to a survey.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
A third of people say our streets are “infested” by young yobs and four in ten refer to children as “feral”.
The survey was conducted by children’s charity Barnardo’s, which says it was shocked by the findings.
The charity will today launch a new campaign urging the public to be more tolerant, including a hard-hitting internet advert that features three men “hunting” children with shotguns.
The YouGov poll for Barnardo’s showed some 54 per cent of adult think children are beginning to behave like animals.
Just under half (49 per cent) said children are increasingly a danger to each other and adults, and four in ten (43 per cent) said something needed to be done to protect the public from youngsters.
A third (35 per cent) of people said it now feels like the streets are infested with children and 45 per cent agree that people refer to children as feral because they behave that way.
Half (49 per cent) also dismissed suggestions children who get into trouble are often misunderstood and in need of professional help.
The new advert is based entirely on language gleaned from online comment pages and shows three men refering to some unknown pest as feral and vermin before grabbing shotguns and taking to the streets, where it becomes apparent they are referring to gangs of children.
Barnardo’s Chief Executive and former Director General of the Prison Service, Martin Narey said he was shocked by the results and had expected far lower figures.
Mr Narey said: “It is appalling that words like ‘animal’, ‘feral’ and ‘vermin’ are used daily in reference to children.
“These are not references to a small minority of children but represent the public view of all children. Despite the fact that most children are not troublesome there is still a perception that today’s young people are a more unruly, criminal lot than ever before.
“The British public overestimates, by a factor of four, the amount of crime committed by young people. The real crime is that this sort of talk and attitude does nothing to help those young people who are difficult, unruly or badly behaved to change their ways.”
The charity said there is an unjustified and disturbing intolerance of children, despite the vast majority making positive contributions to their communities, attending school, taking part in activities and a significant number volunteering.
A report, Breaking the Cycle, insists children who are troublesome and engage in antisocial and criminal behaviour are often those most in need of support.
Mr Narey added: “Barnardo’s is not naïve: we recognise that a minority of children are anti-social and some commit crimes.
“When that happens, both in the interests of the child and in the interests of the victims, firm action needs to be taken.
“But the vast majority of children are decent, enthusiastic, caring and conscientious. The minority who are not, and those who do start down the path of bad behaviour can be helped to change direction. Simply expelling them from school or locking them up frequently does nothing to help them mend their ways.”
Shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, said: “These shocking statistics should sound an alarm bell for the future. We know that under this Government increasing numbers of children are both falling into – and falling victim to – crime. The Government’s failure to address this has now led to a huge proportion of all children being written off by the public. The government’s lax approach to the problems of youth crime has undermined public trust, and is betraying a whole generation of young people.”
A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesperson said: “The majority of our young people are participating well and making a positive contribution. However, we recently announced extra funding for positive activities on Friday and Saturday nights in neighbourhoods where crime and anti social behaviour are a concern.
“Preventing young people from getting into trouble by offering them positive activities is the best way to tackle the minority of young people who cause disruption.”
4 responses so far ↓
Emma-Jane Cross, Chief Executive of Beatbullying // November 17, 2008 at 11:09 am
Whilst we welcome other charities constructively carrying out research into youth behavior, it is irresponsible of us to allow the 11 million children and young people this morning to hear that 53% of adults think they are animals – is this really a positive example to set our young people?
Reports like this are catalyst in fuelling the hysteria and stereotyping about the youth of Briton today.By associating young people to animals you are only inviting controversy and creating news that unfortunately is to the detriment of our young people and society – no good can come from this.
pjwalker911 // November 17, 2008 at 4:14 pm
But it is the truth. People, grown adults are afraid of “yobs” and gangs. They are naturally intimidated by them. That fact should be brought into the open, not suppressed as you recommend.
Of course, the solution is to abolish the socialist system which has infiltrated and broken up the family system leaving youths free to create their own system of terror.
The other thing is to remove the ban on firearms so that people can feel some sense of security in their homes and out on the open roads.
When people take back control of their own lives, take back the streets, eventually this yob/gang culture will be largely dissolved.
wil // November 18, 2008 at 6:37 am
“Primitive” tribal cultures had better system of initiating/assimilating youth into adulthood.
Now if you try to mentor (maybe that’s not the right word–be a friend?)–people mumble about one “liking babies,” and the youth sometimes try to self initiate amongst themselves based on corporate branding, reality TV, gangs or ganglike groups, and the like.
I just try to talk on the level with people and treat them as adults. And screw those who try to re-educate me into matrix worldviews about how things are. How things are doesn’t work–though it may seem to for some.
One reason I have some loyal student type friends is that I treat them as equals. Most people get lost in the maze of generational stereotypes and bs.
The way I look at it–we’re all on the same journey together–and that makes us equals.
wil // November 18, 2008 at 6:41 am
Though again–I’m probably speaking about some special people I’ve met over time, and not the mass at large.