10 March 2007
12 year old awarded ASBO in Manchester
The 12 year old's ASBO imposes a nightly curfeew until he is 18 plus other conditions including he cannot ride a bike in a shopping centre.
I don't know the details of this case but it would seem that one of this child's crimes was to ride his bike in a shopping centre. omg. How terrible. I often see supervised children with their middle-class parents using roller-blades in shops. Are they getting ASBOs? I think not. Which leads one to suspect that the real problem isn't what K. was doing but who he is.
The link below is the usual trumpeting statement from the local Council involved; in this case Trafford Council. We are told we can phone up and get a photo. That is I can phone up and get a photo of this 12 year old boy.
ASBO's awarded under civil law in a magistrates court are not subject to laws protecting minors from being named. It is possible for the defence to try to get an order preventing naming under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 but the government has made it clear it sees publicity as integral to ASBOs so - I don't know if defense is even trying this in these cases.
So - we have the irony that alongside draconian 'child protection' leglislation we still see fit to distribute photos of naughty 12 year olds - for any vigilante to have a go.
Another aspect of this which is quite wrong is that at 12 he has been curfewed (house arrest) every night until he is nearly 18. This makes no allowance for the fact that he is a 12 year old who is capable of growing up and changing. In fact this gives him the clear message that he is expected to misbehave until he is 18. No one cares about the possibility of him changing. So - guess what will happen? This is almost certainly in violation of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:
1. In violates the development of the child by assuming that he will continue to misbehave
2. I would say that imposing night-time house arrest for 5 years was cruel inhuman and degrading.
And very specifically it appears to contradict Article 40 (unless the cop-out is that this was not a penal case):
States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child's respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others and which takes into account the child's age and the desirability of promoting the child's reintegration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society.
Links
BBC News Online
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Trafford Council