Comments on: Teenage suicides, stabbings and babies: fashion? https://richarddnorth.com/archived-sites/livingissues/2008/07/17/teenage-suicides-stabbings-and-babies-fashion/ We help you unpick media stories about the big issues of our time. We help you judge the quality of the arguments put by campaigners, politicians, commentators. We operate as a "reality check". We are a check on spin – wherever it comes from. Sat, 09 May 2009 18:56:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Paul Seaman https://richarddnorth.com/archived-sites/livingissues/2008/07/17/teenage-suicides-stabbings-and-babies-fashion/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Paul Seaman Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:37:37 +0000 http://richarddnorth.com/archived-sites/livingissues/?p=104#comment-14 Kids carried weapons, including knives, in the 1970s, but it was mostly show. Once I was confronted by a guy with a weapon wrapped in his fist. He agreed to drop it before we fought because I was not armed (but I bet he would have agreed to "I'll drop mine if you drop yours"). I still lost. His weapon was for show, not use. Once I was kicked to the ground by a bunch of Chelsea fans at an underground station. However after I was defeated, helpless, and bruised, they lost interest. Fighting at my secondary modern school was a daily event. But rarely did anybody get much more than black eyes and bruised ribs as a consequence. The things that changed constantly was skinheads, suedheads, greasers, punks and other street fashions. Where and what they fought over changed all the time. Each had their own interests, music, clothes and codes. Have things changed greatly? My take is that "gang showmanship" has got somewhat out of control. But it is rough on British streets. It was always so (but actual violence was and remains a minority sport). Hence, criminalising all young people is dumb. The Brixton riots should have taught us that that approach backed by a clampdown can backfire. But soft policing is not the answer either. Let's hope, as you say, the recent fashion moves on and we get back to brutality as normal soon. The best cure for most teenage violence is growing up. For the few that don't learn for themselves we have prisons to do it for them. Kids carried weapons, including knives, in the 1970s, but it was mostly show. Once I was confronted by a guy with a weapon wrapped in his fist. He agreed to drop it before we fought because I was not armed (but I bet he would have agreed to “I’ll drop mine if you drop yours”). I still lost. His weapon was for show, not use.

Once I was kicked to the ground by a bunch of Chelsea fans at an underground station. However after I was defeated, helpless, and bruised, they lost interest. Fighting at my secondary modern school was a daily event. But rarely did anybody get much more than black eyes and bruised ribs as a consequence.

The things that changed constantly was skinheads, suedheads, greasers, punks and other street fashions. Where and what they fought over changed all the time. Each had their own interests, music, clothes and codes. Have things changed greatly? My take is that “gang showmanship” has got somewhat out of control. But it is rough on British streets. It was always so (but actual violence was and remains a minority sport).

Hence, criminalising all young people is dumb. The Brixton riots should have taught us that that approach backed by a clampdown can backfire. But soft policing is not the answer either. Let’s hope, as you say, the recent fashion moves on and we get back to brutality as normal soon.

The best cure for most teenage violence is growing up. For the few that don’t learn for themselves we have prisons to do it for them.

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