Utter tripe. Parents don't encourage kids to go out and kill. If a kid is going to kill then he is going to kill. Bad parenting is such a minimal factor in situations like this... as far as I'm concerned, some kids are just born innately vicious. It's a sad fact of life but the government should be doing more about it, as should the Law Courts- when kids see people simply getting a slap on the wrist for murder then they are clearly going to get away with anything.

It's a major failing in the Labour party... education helps to solve the problem somewhat and that is something they have handled relatively well (though not brilliantly...) but Law enforcement needs a serious reshuffle.

No, I'm saying that they should have control over their children not to let them out on the street engaging in knife and gun gangs.

Easier said than done. A parent can't keep 24 hour watch on a teenager. In my dad's area of town, a kid nearly stabbed his mum for not eating a KitKat bar he gave her, if she hadn't have escaped. It's often the estates people live in that cause the problems I think, not just all the parent's fault.

Thats what I mean. Make their minds simpler.

Children these days are exposed to that much violence on the news, on TV and out in the streets that they aren't going to be stopped by their parents telling them they can't do something. It is an innate characteristic of a teenager to go against what their parent says... most grow out of it pretty quickly, others clearly don't.

The only solution is tougher sentences- I'm not suggesting for one second that the death penalty be brought back because I am wholeheartedly against that... it takes the concept of morality and shi*s all over it quite simply which is just abhorrent. However, we need to start getting properly tough on crime- our prisons are overcrowded so offenders should be forced to work in Labour camps, doing a proper service- the worst offenders should then be locked up to rot... and life should mean life.

People these days know that 6 months will mean 2 months maximum (just look at Joey Barton being released from prison after 6 weeks- though that is down to the fact he is a footballer, regardless of how much the courts may protest it isn't) and that prison is a joke. The only problem is that the prison service is in such a state at the moment, it almost seems beyond repair.

Another thing that really needs addressing is the self-defense system... if an adult beats up a teenager who is threatening him with a knife or breaking into his home then, under the current system, it's a high chance that the adult goes to jail for assault and has to pay compensation to the poor teenager who tried to stab him. It's society gone mad, it really is.

Can I ask, just seeing as you were just on a very similar subject, you come from a rather rough area don't you Red? How bad does it ever get up where you are?

In Nottingham, we had things happen at the worst, things like asian families moving into an estate then forced out because TWELVE YEAR OLDS chucked lit fireworks through their letterbox!

In a sense although I'm not adapting well to life in Sheffield just yet, I'm actually quite glad I don't live in "Shottingham", as david3383 prefers to call it!

Well if it's self-defence trying to fight for their life, let the man beat the teenager up. You can only do it if it's the right thing to do when in a life-tightrope situation but when you abuse the teen for no innappropiate reason, thats when they should throw the adult up.

Most teens don't do what their parents say. That is why parents should have a more stricter punishment to teach them crime dosen't pay.

Where I come from, there were many kids abusing other races. A Bangladeshi boy in my school was called names like p**i, curry-breath all sorts of horrible things and the Bangladeshi boy spat in the bullies face and got expelled for aggression! He had no right to do it, neither did the bullies for calling him dire racist names.

Also Belfast was a craphole when I was born. There were many unemployed and many alcoholics. It was a war-torn area.

But now thanks to the Good Friday agreement, it's now a better place.

Well that's another problem. You say parents need to do more about it but, to be honest, parents CAN'T do anything about it because of the mollycoddling society we live in these days- a parent can't smack their child or anything now without being branded a child abuser, it's absolutely pathetic.

And there have been many cases were people- kids and adults- have broken into houses, been hurt and consequently sued the owner and won or had the owner charged which is despicable...



It is a pretty rough area yes, though it's gotten a lot better around here. And to be fair to the parents in this area, they know exactly how to handle children who are out of control... we haven't had any serious crimes in a long time, though there is definitely a major problem with drug dealers etc. which will, in time, lead to other crimes such as muggings and even murder simply to fund the drug addictions of some people around here.

The police around here are surprisingly good though I must admit- and they too agree that they need more powers but, until the government grants them these powers, they can only work with what they're given.

I think they shouldn't manipulated by the face of a kid. It's the personality they have to think about.

I completely disagree, he had every bloody right to do it. It was self-defense and as much as I am a strong believer in the concept of morals coming before anything else, there are some times when people have to react and I completely defend that boy's actions. Narrow-minded idiots like those bullies deserve nothing better... and I hope to God that they were expelled too, I really do but, somehow, I doubt that...

Well it must be bad being in his footsteps because having your race discriminated against must be the god-awful thing in the world. So I may agree with you there.

I think being discriminated against for anything- race, sexuality, class, wealth, job- is absolutely horrific and it is possibly the greatest scourge of today's society. In my view, this is brought on mainly by religion and its grasp on the World we live in today but that is something open to debate really...

However, whatever it's based on it is inherently wrong and is the single greatest cause of all the murders and crimes we see today.

And at the end of the day, whether you're any different color black, half-cast, you're no different from everybody else. They're still human beings.

How long do people get for using knifes that don't kill? Only a few months isn't it? What is our society coming to?

Well it was attempted murder so they were going to do it. Our society needs to give them a longer sentence because if they don't kill the first time, they'll kill the second time. Thats what they need to understand.

Wasn't there someone who stabbed their victim and had to do 10 years in prison, but they only had to do 5. A killer and a danger to public is only taken off the streets for 5 years, when most killers should get 25 years. It's pathetic, it makes me so mad. All these stabbings, they aren't really news anymore because they're so common.

The criminal justice system has gone to pot and needs a total reshuffle. However, Labour aren't the ones capable of doing it, though the day a Conservative government gets back into power (which seems likely...) is the day everyone realises just how much of a state this country is in- and with David Cameron as PM it will only get worse- it's a catch 22 situation with so few solutions and that's what makes it all the more terrible.

And a man who got stabbed for telling some kids to stop ruining his wives car. How disgusting is that? And they were sniggering in court that is anti-social behaviour. Thats means 'I don't regret it, I'm happy I stabbed a innocent man, I don't care about the consequences'. I think people like that shouldn't get 25 years or 50 years, they should rot. Be seperated from the outside world and rot.

Although seeing how there are many like that today, there aren't going to be enough prisons for them all.

A 60 year old man who asked some kids to stop swearing in front of his girlfriend was pushed off a bus by them and has suffered critical head injuries. There is no need. I'd personally like to meet these people and give them a beating. History is repeating it's self. Last time the locals got so annoyed with it they actually beat up and dumped the kids themselves because the police wouldn't do anything. Many were done for kidnap. That's what I have been informed.