[Osem]

The tragic increase in serious youth crime (often gang related) which has been evident in the last few years seems to have revealed a new underclass of young people who feel isolated and alienated from society? In London recently there have been a number of deaths due to gang activity but also through accidents usually connected with vehicle crime. Take a look at the message boards on the relevant local newspaper web sites and you see part of the problem - teenagers who have clearly escaped the attention of the educators not to mention their parents (if indeed they have any). The talk (for those who can translate the text speak language) is of fallen warriors, brothers who've died for the cause, angelic loving kids who'll be sadly missed on the one hand but have all too often been regularly involved in serious trouble on the other. From what I've seen there is a serious problem, gangs of almost feral children whose parents clearly exercise little or no control, who can barely read/write, who speak their own 'language' and whose sad lives are destined to amount to very little. Most worrying is their propensity to resort to the most extreme violence with little or no provocation, a punch is no longer sufficient apparently, the blade and the bullet rule.

Clrearly the various social and educational systems are failing these people so what if anything can be done to reverse this trend?