Antisocial Behaviour Essay

In Britain antisocial behaviour between young people is a widely argued subject in the British media. More and more Brits at the age 13-18 are dropping out of school or work-based training and refuse to return. These young people are more than likely to face criminal action possibly leading to a fine or community sentence. But when we are talking about the term â€Å"Anti-social Behaviour†, then we need to know what it exactly means. The British â€Å"crime disorder act† of 1998 describes the term â€Å"†¦ n anti-social manner, that is to say, in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons †¦ † So to simplify, Antisocial behaviour is when a person is forced by his or hers environment to cause harassment to one-self or the persons surroundings, and as far as I understand the subject antisocial behaviour does not have to be of criminal nature, but it is more than likely to be so. In 2007 the percentage of 16 to 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training was 9 percent. It is exactly these young people who are the targets for becoming antisocial. So how do you make sure that these unfortunate teenagers don’t end in this so unfortunate situation and is it possible to force the teenagers to behave in a more civilised way? There are actually many suggestions for a solution to this nationwide problem. Some of them are quit controversial and are more likely to stop antisocial teenagers doing crime, than to prevent teenagers to not at all become antisocial. One of these alternative solutions is the â€Å"Mosquito† which is a sonic device that gives out a piercing noise audible only to teenagers and people in there early twenties. This device has been installed as a â€Å"yob† (slang for an antisocial person) deterrent at nearly 3,000 locations such as grocers and shopping malls across Great Britain. This Mosquito is a camouflaged speaker box not larger than shoebox and it sends out a pulse at 18 kilohertz which in the last end will give the young people acting antisocial in front of the store a terrible headache so they quickly leave the store. This method of fighting antisocial behaviour among teens has been shown very effective. In some stores in the UK crime outside the stores had dropped by 83 % since the device was installed. The device has actually earned so much respect among shopkeepers and government officials that some are considering that the Mosquito should be obligatory by law in most public places by night. So it is quite obvious to see all the positive aspects but not all are so enthusiastic. Chief constables in Britain say they are scared the Mosquito is going to infringe human rights. Authorities say that the device is indiscriminating and that people should consider the effects on the young people, because not all young people are antisocial yobs. So you can see that the meanings about the Mosquito vary quite a lot. The device is very effective against the teens that already are in the antisocial environment but the device is not at all preventive. So what could be done if you the British teenagers to not even think about becoming antisocial. The British former PM Tony Blair wants to force errant schoolchildren back to school by using dedicated truancy officers which will be deployed in the 200 schools with biggest yob and truancy problems. This plan spans over using more than ? 70m to stamp out antisocial behaviour, as well as 24,000 community support officers will also be conducting these truancy sweeps so they can force the teens back to school. The plan does also include tougher punishments to the yobs when they get caught. This is of course a very controversial method to tackle antisocial behaviour but it could be showing really effective because it is preventive and helps the teenagers in trouble before they become antisocial yobs. But of course as mentioned by opponents of the plan, the plan is so ambitious and expensive that it more looks like â€Å"a mish-mash of gimmick and spin† than an actual plan, which within realistic measures would be preventive without costing the country enormous amounts of money and labour. So here we have two very different plans which in two very different ways will deal with two very important parts of the subject antisocial behaviour among British teens. I do not think that there is any exactly solution to this very important problem in British cities, small towns and schools but of course the Mosquito has already proven its worth in more than 3,000 locations with success and has made it safer for those people being harassed by the yobs in the public. But unfortunately the Mosquito does not help educating the teens; it just makes the yobs find an other place for them to be at. The most important factor in this case is that you need to stop the antisocial behaviour in its process and not when it already has affected the young teenagers. So perhaps Tony Blair’s plan is the right way to do it, though I personally believe that the plan is way too focussed on hard punishment than in are pedagogical way. I don’t believe that tough punishment is the way of teaching youngsters today.