The young man (Evren Anil, 23) in the picture above was killed, by youths, for having the guts to stand up to their anti-social behaviour. The youths threw a half-eaten chocolate bar through his car window as he sat at traffic lights. When Evren confronted the youths a knife was held to his throat before he was punched to the ground, fatally banging his head on the concrete. Evren was an example to today's young men, he worked hard at his education and gained a first class honours degree in computer sciences, he was a keen sportsman and tutored children at weekends. This fine young man's promising life was cut short not by war or by terrorism, but by youths.
Death on our streets at the hands of gun and knife carrying youths is becoming a far too common occurrence. There have been calls to give the police greater stop and search powers to combat terrorism. I think it is quite obvious that people are more worried about what our youths a capable of than any terrorist threat. It is also quite clear that you stand a greater chance of being harmed or killed by a teenager than you do by a terrorist. The police need to be given powers to combat the growing trend in our youths anti-social behaviour. In fact, it has gone beyond anti-social behaviour and has become a outright violent disregard for a peaceful and moral society.
Of the 3,500 Asbos (Antisocial behaviour orders) handed out in England and Wales in 2004-05 (a 60 per cent rise on the figures for 2003-2004) 55% are broken. Each Asbo issued costs the tax payer £3100, which means, of the £10,850,000 spent on Asbo administration £5,967,500 is being wasted.The NAO (National Audit Office) questions the effectiveness of the policy, saying that more than half of all antisocial behaviour is carried out by: "a hard core of perpetrators for whom interventions had limited impact". The NAO figures show that the average offender breaks the conditions of their Asbo four times, with one offender breaking the conditions of his order 25 times.
We now have a generation of kids who have no respect for the law, their parents or their school teachers. Unfortunately some of the young parents of these children are no better and it's only going to get worse unless something is done about it. For a start we could give the Police the powers to deal with groups of yobs. Curfews and dispersal orders in New York reduced crime by a staggering 55%, surely this would be a great initiative that could be easily implemented in our country. We need to stop pussy-footing about and give the police the powers they require to regain control of our streets. We need to make sure that youths are 100% clear that if they carry weapons they will be severely punished.
We need to tackle the real terror on our streets - lawless youth.
UPDATE Another similar story in the Daily Mail today:
A gang of youths viciously attacked a young father and left him for dead after refusing to buy them alcohol, a court has heard. Lee Harris, 29, was found to have blood inside his skill on the surface of his brain and was kept in a drug induced coma for a month following the savage attack.
Jamie Taylor, 18, Inskip Terrace, Gateshead, and Shaun Armstrong, 17, of Edgeware Road, Deckham, Gateshead, admitted causing grievous bodily harm. Taylor was sentenced to 12 months in a young offenders institute and Armstrong was sentenced to 12 months detention and training.
12 Months! Is that what a so called 'Judge' thinks is a fitting punishment for trying to kick a man to death? If this man had attacked one of those youths, kicking and jumping on their head, what sentence would he have received?
6 comments:
Parents, school teachers, police are all impotent in the face of the law which protects each of these juveniles. The goals are so full that violent criminals are having to be released before their sentences have run their course. So whats to do?
If no one will countenance physical punishment, and no one in the West will, then publication of their misdemeanours with addresses and photographs with their parents and previous records ought to help. The publication in local papers could be cheap and effective. Our cowardly politicians will not allow citizens to defend themselves and the police clearly have no stomache for the fight, so why not strike back on some other personal basis.
Naming and shaming could work. But I don't know for how long - shame seems to be dieing in this country.
The powers are there. The problem is having the people on the streets to begin to address the problems. This needs to be hand in hand with behaviour education in schools and some of the supervision and responsibility regained by parents. It will not change because too many people wash their hands of any action or responsibility and tragic, avoidable incidents like what has happenned to Evren Anil will continue.
I saw, somewhere on the web, a video of a fellow in the Far East (presumably Singapore, to judge from the immaculately dressed policeman in a crisp and unmistakably 1950s Br*tish uniform) being flogged. My wife, who is not given to hysteria, was very disturbed by the thought of it, and had quite a severe reaction. She could not bear the sound and certainly could not watch. Unfortunately I have no reference for it, so cannot provide a link.
For various reasons I had never been a proponent of corporal punishment as the remedy for low-grade criminal activity but the site of that man's buttocks being flayed and very rapidly reduced to a bloody mess left me in absolutely no doubt that he is unlikely to want another beating. He was obviously shown some compassion but he was dealt with firmly.
I must be getting old but I now think that a good thrashing would be an effective, and cost effective, deterrent. All other 'solutions' have failed and law and order has collapsed. We must regain control and hand wringing is an indulgence we can no longer afford.
Mr Gruff,
I saw the same video but I also can't remember where. As for flogging I agree, you would not want to go through that twice. It may be even worse for anyone stupid enough to re-offend. A bit of public humiliation could be just what the doctor ordered.
Ma cuzzen Evren abi... what a shame someone to true and bright had to leave us all. He was a person an idol to alot of people and was killed by two fools who had nothing to do in there lives but destroy and devistate alot of people.
I would just like to say that by a big chance these two young youths were most probably a part of a gang and had a big ego and courage to start an arguement and end it in this way - like they had accomplished something good... It shows that when youths say that gangs are made from groups of friends backing each other, Evren's situation shows that they start their own troubles and do kill alot of young innocent people in the street for no reason. SO HOW LOW CAN THEY REALLY GO? Life is a gift and not a game. Its not 'the more you kill the more points you gain'.People need to wake up and stop this or else your own blood can be on the streets one day and nothing would be done.
I LOVE YOU ALOT EVREN ABI AND YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE IN MY HEART ALONG WITH HAKAN ABI ........
R.I.P ****
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