At Spring Conference we will finally get the opportunity to debate our Youth Justice policy – we have taken a “muscular liberal” approach – recognising that the present system fails not only some of our most vulnerable young people – but more importantly, society itself.
Other countries, even the most unexpected, have a far more enlightened approach to youth justice, recognising that punishment and rehabilitation have to be combined with meeting welfare needs of children and young people who have often been badly neglected.
Today a number of fellow Lib Dems express their professional and personal views of what our response should be to tackling youth offending. I am also delighted to include an independent view from academic Tim Bateman on the contentious issue of raising the age of criminal responsibility.
On Saturday I trust you will support the motion and help reinforce our distinctiveness as a truly liberal party.
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5 Comments
Hi Linda
Great to see you as a Guest Editor!
Thanks…..but now I will be dead nervous ’bout me grammar!
There is lots of good stuff in the motion but what a pity that it will be overshadowed by the proposal to raise the age of criminal reponsibilitry to 14. The motion says :”We need to protect our children from making mistakes and should not expect vulnerable children to make judgments and decisions that many adults struggle with.’
But extreme violence or even murder is not ‘making a mistake’ and most 12 and 13 year olds are capable of making moral choices.
I hope there will be seperate vote on this at Sheffield so that we can have a policy which addresses the real issues in a Liberal way but which does not give us a policy which will be impossible to defend.
I wonder whether the guest editor thinks teenagers should be described as ‘yobs’ and ‘louts’? Does she agree that the authorities should take action against them before they’ve committed any crime?
Because that’s exactly what Liam Byrne argues – a man whose bed she want to sit on – along with Richard Grayson and several other misguided Lib Dems.
I’m afraid I can’t take her commitment to youth justice seriously when she is happy to work with authoritarian reactionaries like Liam Byrne.
http://livingonwords.blogspot.com/2011/02/some-questions-for-linda-jack-and.html
If you don’t agree with part of the motion, but agree with the rest, call for a seperate vote on the lines you don’t agree with.