At the start of January 2006 the government launched “Respect”, a campaign to encourage all of us to work to create a society in which we respect one another and live in peace together.
At the launch, the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, said: ‘The Respect agenda is about nurturing and where needed, enforcing a modern culture of respect, which the majority of people want’
The Respect Action plan is part of the government’s current drive to clamp-down on anti-social behaviour. It also addresses a wider culture of public disrespect.
The Plan sets out how all of us can help play a part in putting a stop to anti-social behaviour and in building a modern culture of respect.
The Respect Action Plan explains how the government aims to:
- support families
- bring a new approach to dealing with the most challenging families
- improve behaviour and attendance in schools
- increase activities for children and young people
- strengthen communities
- ensure effective enforcement and community justice
( see http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/respect-action-plan )
There have been several responses from youth organisations to the Respect Action Plan.
Anne Longfield, Chief Executive of 4Children, the national charity dedicated to creating opportunities and building futures for children said: “Everyone wants to live in a society based on respect – including young people. 4Children hopes the government will take this opportunity to focus on helping young people to fulfil their potential by focusing on prevention rather than punitive, short term measures. Young people need to have access to safe and interesting places to go. When they do, it has been proven that crime levels are lowered.
“A recent interim report from the national evaluation of the Positive Activities for Young People programme shows that providing young people with places to go and things to do really does have a positive effect. 71 percent of young people say they had learnt new things and 70 percent say they got on better with adults, since being part of the programme. The report also highlights that many local authorities and others have said that creating things for young people to do has significantly helped to reduce crime and create community cohesion.
“Supporting parents through intervention, not punishment has also proven to be highly effective in reducing crime. In the
(see http://www.4children.org.uk/information/show/ref/511 )
The British Youth Council (BYC) welcomes the Government’s view in the Respect Action plan that young people can work together within their communities to take responsibility for behaviour and help tackle serious anti-social behaviour. BYC strongly believes that the Government needs to share responsibility for making decisions with young people and share responsibility with young people on developing, implementing and monitoring plans.
The organisation states, through their response on their Website, that all too often young people are tarred with the same brush and seen as the perpetrators of all anti-social behaviour. It is good to see that the Government have recognised in the Respect Action Plan that not all young people are anti-social and that many ‘young people should be proud of themselves, particularly since 45% of 16-24 year olds participate at least once a month in informal volunteering – the highest level for any age group’.
It is also good to see the Government have acknowledged that many young people feel that there is nothing for them to do locally, or nothing they want to do, and that addressing this can help to divert young people away from anti-social behaviour.
BYC recognises the importance of good discipline in schools, but would argue that
any new measures put forward in the Education Bill to tackle poor behaviour and
attendance should also include young people in the solutions, something that
the Government seems to have currently over looked.
( see http://www.byc.org.uk/images/BYC%20response%20to%20the%20respect%20action%20plan.pdf )
Chair of the Youth Justice Board, Rod Morgan, said:
“Only a minority of young people create a nuisance to others. Tackling their behaviour effectively should allow for the vast majority of law-abiding and responsible young people to go about the business of being young without being feared or restricted.”
For more detail and to find out more on the background to the Respect Action Plan, visit the Respect Website at http://www.respect.gov.uk/
