Headline grabbing

Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, has been busy.  Today he is talking about extradition laws and the papers this morning are reporting his idea that the police should take mobile phones from young people as a punishment.  I support his scepticism about the effectiveness of anti-social behaviour orders but am concerned that people invent special punishments for particular groups of people.  Could we, for example, take the passports away from very rich criminals but no one else so we would stop them flinging off to the South of France or Bahamas for a couple of years?  Or should we start confiscating televisions from the poor?  There are real dangers in seeking headlines (for I fear this is what it really is about, and not a serious suggestion) by coming up with gimmicky ideas that target the young.   Justice should be blind and should be applied equally as far as possible.  Of course, we should recognise that some people are affected disproportionately by a sanction, so for example a fixed fine hits the poor far harder than the rich.   Which is why it is possible to have sliding scales, but the principle that we respond fairly across the population is an important one.

And one more thing.  Taking mobiles from children would mean their parents could not keep in touch with them.  So if your 13 year old is late home you would not be able to call him to tell him to hurry up.

A pretty silly idea really.

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July 15, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Headline grabbing

One Response

  1. Lucy H - July 22, 2009

    The young person would also be deprived of their means to contact a huge range of resources, such as emergency services, advice helplines and their family.

    Very stupid idea indeed.

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