Tuesday, August 09, 2011

On the Rioters

Noted British historian Max Hastings on the raising of hoodlums. An excerpt:

A key factor in delinquency is lack of effective sanctions to deter it. From an early stage, feral children discover that they can bully fellow pupils at school, shout abuse at people in the streets, urinate outside pubs, hurl litter from car windows, play car radios at deafening volumes, and, indeed, commit casual assaults with only a negligible prospect of facing rebuke, far less retribution.

2 comments:

twistedByKnaves said...

I heard St Boris (Johnson, deceptively bumbling Mayor of London) make an interesting point last night: if you don't give kids clear boundaries, they'll find someone who will.

He thinks street gangs are a large part of the problem.

Michael Wade said...

Street gangs can be an odd substitute for a family with some people.

Michael