If we are to take any heed of the daily reporting of criminal activities, especially youth crime, as reported via the media, we should becoming very concerned.

The rapidly increasing criminal activities are becoming more violent as each day passes and all we seem to hear is : "the matter is being investigated" or "a school bullying policy is in place" or such similar drivel!

Society needs to have a good look at itself and change it`s introverted attitude toward the subject of crime and punishment, by discarding this bombastic and short-sighted attitude by the "do-gooders" and "societal snivellers" who are indirectly responsible for the current laws prohibiting the smacking of children and the use of corporal punishment as a penalty to bring wayward "children" back into line!

With the implementation of these stupid laws we have allowed and provided some of the lazy parents an excuse to avoid responsibility for the conduct and behaviour of these wayward children, who seem intent in kicking each other to death over trivialities.

It is time we reverted to sensible laws of parenting and made these apathetic parents accept the responsibility for the activities and behaviour of these out of control children, by way of implementing penalties against them for allowing their offspring to roam the streets and commit acts of vandalism and violence against other members of society.

If we don`t act NOW it is going to be too late to prevent a total breakdown in this aspect of our society and consequently young hoodlums will rule the streets!

"the current laws prohibiting the smacking of children and the use of corporal punishment as a penalty to bring wayward "children" back into line!"

- Which current laws prohibit smacking?
- Do you have evidence that it's children who are not smacked who are doing the violence?
- Have you looked at the research which indicates an association between smacking and later violence (and in some circumstances riskier sexual behaviour and or sexual violence)?
- How do you seperate the impacts of a reduction in smacking from a trend by some parents not to discipline at all?

Smacking is just one tool which is or has been used by parents. Sometimes useful to stop a dangerous situation but just one tool. Quite some time back I started a thread regarding the tools available to parents to discipline children and it got very few responses. It's interesting how often people want to talk about smacking as though it was the only or best tool available to them.

It's one tool which seems to be overreacted to on both sides, it can be abused but so to can other tools which attract less opposition (verbal assaults on kids can be very harmful).

R0bert

Oh dear. I have raised children for a short time, teenage children through Youth Justice. Some were a complete menace to society and I can promise their parents were anything but apathetic. Surely if smacking can keep them in line these beaten children should have been beautifully behaved.

And my own teens, well they’ve done everything bad but are generally lovely kids who spend most of their time being kind to smaller children in my household.

They know right from wrong and on occasion have chosen wrong. I think it’s called growing up.

But to place the blame at the feet of the parents – yeah maybe home schooled kids who have no form of media entering their homes and no contact with other humans.

Humans could be better off inside The Matrix?

Act now Crackup… no private schools, even the playing field and give the children some hope that usually only the wealthier kids have.

Those hoodlums are the children everyone ignored until they did become street kids and then they complained about them.

Okay!....I get the message! I have heard this all before from a myriad bleeding hearts, but what do you suggest, because we have to do something, and do it quickly unless we are going to descend into the dark ages again!

I am disgusted and sickened by the increasing attitude of violence we are seeing and hearing every day of the week by younger and younger children, who I am sure have a very warped sense of humanity toward there fellow beings, and I cannot condone this continual duck-shoving of responsibility when it comes to the subject of doing something constructive about the situation....I know the difference between right and wrong, because I was brought up that way, and yes I got the odd walloping or two when I breached the boundaries, well deserved and mentally acceptable as a punishment for wrong-doing! Never did I hear anybody babbling about "infringing the rights of the child" but strangely enough I managed to survive it all and loved my parents, my teachers and all of the "social educators" of the time!...( and I might emphasize the fact that we had a much more positive attitude and acceptance of our own personal responsibilities!)

This society is becoming a warped and twisted "politically correct" version of George Orwell`s 1984 system of administration, and if we continue in this direction we will all ultimately end up in a prison planet......and all because we were too stupid to see what was happening to us all!

'If we are to take any heed of the daily reporting of criminal activities, especially youth crime, as reported via the media, we should becoming very concerned'

I suggest the first sentence is the source of your problem.
My prescription, don't watch A Current Affair, or listen to Shock Jocks.

I suggest you look at the prevalence of video camera phones and a media who advertise for 'reader tips and videos', and CCTV to explain this increase in the violence we SEE.

When I was young... .:-) hohoho

Well, we didn't video our many many school fights and upload them to You-tube, and the media had journalists, rather than an entertainment ethos reliant on their employees surfing for stories on you tube.

Some headlines that didn't make it on to the news from my school days....

The day the class had the teacher pinned between the classroom wall and the open door for about an hour.

The day one of the students decided to cop a feel under the teachers skirt from behind.

The day when walking home I narrowly escaped a flick-knife blade swung at my face.

The day the bus driver had copped so much abuse he refused to make any more stops.

The many basket balls that were booted onto the main road from a great height.

The day the class spent the whole lesson taunting the teacher with cries of 'two buck gutter f&ck' after they had learned she was sleeping with a classmate.

The days spent ducking Chinese stars made in metal work before they wedged into the cupboards and walls.

Ah, the good old days, when children did what they were told
and if they didn't they copped a beating.
Pity that didn't actually work.

People forget.
There's always violent, troubled, antisocial kids.
There's always violent, troubled, antisocial adults.

Or maybe others went to private schools
where they didn't see this sort of thing,
and their biggest fear was avoiding a
special sermon with brother Mervyn.

C’mon baby deep breath. Yes society is all bad, it’s like watching Oliver Twist or something.

I don’t think making the parents accountable is that cut and dry.

I do think equalizing our children is cut and dry. Get rid of private schools and make them all public, or all private – whichever way you prefer to think of them. Stop waiting until they are on the streets yadda yadda yadda.

We can see it, everyone can see it.

Now who is the parent of foster children? The State Government.

The most “off the rails” kids we have are controlled and administered under the guardianship of the government. So start there… because if they can’t effectively raise decent humans then they have a damn cheek asking anyone else to.

Parents are too scared to ring DoCS for help in most instances; an out of control teenager can lead to all the younger children being taken as well.

Now when the foster kids turn 18 – you know, really dangerous, not governments fault anymore.

Other than my usual rant about DoCS… sports costs money and teens are bored. Where I live there is not a single decent park or basketball court a kid off the street can access. Gated schools? Kids used go to their local school to play in the weekends.

And get rid of the unsupported child allowance. What a load of crap, just means they can buy better drugs. I know of two local kids that have been “stuck in a trip” for days now. No, no one cares.

Before you wrote your first post, what did you think would work? What did you see that made you so cross?