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Originally Posted by paulyoung666
just seen this , and why not , imho there should be a lot more of this , instead of slaps on wrists and promises to be good , chain gangs might be a good idea , pity the dogooders would complain about them being inhumane  |
Not sure about the whole "chain gang" side of this - I cerainly agree with the notion of making the offenders do hard physical work that brings a benifit to the community that they have harmed...
The old/american (we don't have them, per se, in the uk) idea of chaining a load of convicts together and making them break rocks for no other reason than they are told to is, to my mind, barbaric, inhumane, demeaning and pointless...
Criminals do not learn respect for their fellow man by being treated in this way, what they learn is that they had better not get caught next time.
Taking a group of teenagers who got drunk and started their own mini-riot and forcing them to make ammends by doing unpaid work within the community is, IMO, the best way to deal with them.
Putting them in jail may make them decide never to do such a thing again, but it may just make them think - ah well, if thats all I get - then I'll carry on.. Or worse they could end up learning more about criminal life and start moving forward in the criminal scheme of things.
Forcing them to do the types of task they are likely to get as part of their community service (tend to include canal cleaning and other physically hard and messy jobs) will hopefully make them consider those around them, whilst avaiding a custodial sentance will leave them at the mercy of their parents and other family figures who are likely to be key in helping them to choose the correct path for the remainder of their lives.
Just my 2c ;-)