ASBOs Welcome!

So Ireland has introduced Anti Social Behaviour Orders for children. The orders were brought into effect on the first of this month and are in operation for children of 12 years to 18. I think it's high time we had something like this in our fair country. A common misconception is that crime is something only adults are capable of. That is just not true. With the rate that children these days are growing up it's hardly surprising that it was necessary to bring some form of discipline into action.
I go to college in DCU which, as most are aware, is just a hop, skip and a jump from Ballymun, a known trouble area. There have been times when I've gone for walks and had to deal with heckles and general verbal abuse from, for want of a better word, kids. It's just not on and it's not something that anyone should have to deal with.
Maybe a slap on the wrist and a behavior order is exactly what these youths deserve. Even better yet is that if a child fails to comply with the conditions of an ASBO there is a delilghtful fine of up to E800 OR 3 months in a detention centre. Good enough for them in my opinion.
Apparently the decision to introduce the ASBOs hasn't gone down to well with children's rights and civil liberties groups. The reasoning behind their opposition is just beyond me. My view is that without this new move youth crime would just get out of hand. Anti Social Behaviour Orders are way overdue. They have, after all, been in effect in England since 1998. It seems to me that Ireland will generally play simon says with the UK and follow suit so why has this taken so long to be introduced? Does our government have better things to deal with than tackling crime? Or is it simply because it is the youths that are the centre? The big wigs generally ignore what's happening with the kids in favour of less important issues. As a result innocent people have had to deal with abuse, theft, underage drinking and the like from youths.
Enter punishment! I envisage a drop in the amount of crime we see in Ireland and citizens finally able to walk the streets safely and without fear. High time.

www.rte.ie/news/2007/0301/asbo.html - 19k

www.iprt.ie/iprt/1230 - 21k