Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is considering widening police powers to help crack down on underage drinking in public places. Under her plan, police would be able to confiscate booze from teenagers even if they are not drinking it, if they suspect a crime is going to be committed.
She would also make greater use of parenting orders against the families of young people found drinking in the street, making them attend advisory sessions on how to curb their children’s behaviour.
Sozzled kids hanging around the streets can cause mayhem for local residents and sometimes the consequences are tragic, as in the case of Garry Newlove who was kicked to death outside his home in Cheshire last year by a gang of drunken yobs.
The government can point to a range of measures designed to stop young people getting hold of alcohol, from ID systems to fines for people caught buying drink for minors.
But is it enough - or is the government still being too soft on rowdy teenage drinkers? Should laws become much harsher, including perhaps a raising of the legal age for drinking or is this a problem that legislation alone is incapable of solving?
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9 comments so far
I’m sorry but people have proven again and again that they are not fit to drink. While it is probably a tiny minority of kids creating problems, I think the only safe way to reduce problem drinking in kids is to raise the age or lower it. If it was raised, it might reduce the number of kids creating problem in public - but I doubt it. It would, at least, give kids a little more time as children before they are take on all the bad habits of adults. If it was lowered then the bad behaviour would be removed from street corners and would force the ones who capitalise from it, the drink sellers, to deal with them when they are unruly. The truly sensible option - for parents to teach kids how to drink responsibly - is not going to happen because grown-up’s aren’t much better behaved. Until we eliminate the trend to drink to excess in adults, we can’t expect kids to behave any differently.
- Posted by JamesA move in the right direction, but a long way to go.
- Posted by Eric J. UsherWhy not just ban booze on the street full stop, how many times do we hear the same argument ‘I was drunk, I didnt know what I was doing’. All to quick to ban things like smoking, but when was the last time you heard ‘I done it cos I was smoking’? It seems in this country we are to slow to enforce new laws that would be beneficial to ones ‘health’. Raise the age, ban it on the street, untie the bonds that hold the police officer back. Job done!!
- Posted by A HollyI can tell you now that this isnt going to work. As a teenager myself, and know people who drink on the streets, and half of the time when they go home the parents dont know they’ve been drinking so putting pressure onto the parents isnt going to work. I think if the age was lowed and they had somewhere to go to drink like a community centre or something like that the crime would reduce anyway. But if there were strict rules in the centre tho nobody will want to go in anyway so it will defeat the purpous. But if you tell them not to do it compleatly then they will do the compleate opposite or go to a quieter area to drink instead where theres less police.
- Posted by LauraI’m really suprised why these days police is so indulgent for drinking teenagers.. It is very scarry that they openly drinks in public transport and so often nobody react. What’s going on???
- Posted by krzysztofI think James (above) is right - it must start with adults.
- Posted by tim priceWe must change the culture of alcohol. As with smoking this must involve a ban on advertising, restrictions on supply and distribution, higher taxation, effective action on abuse, and help for addicts.
tim
For pity’s sake, a man is dead and all Jacqui can say is “Let’s ban alcohol”?
I’m from Singapore, and all my life I’ve wanted to go to the UK, and I’ve been accepted into a UK University. After reading about this debacle, I’m having second thoughts of staying on afterwards.
All of those brave British men and women who died for their country in both world wars would be turning in their graves if they saw what was happening to Britain today, courtesy of the UNELECTED government of Gordon Brown and Co.
As a staunch Liberal, I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this, but please, citizens of the UK, vote for the Tories. If there’s one thing that Right-Wing politicians are known for, it’s cracking down on crime.
- Posted by JayAs Laura says kids will not be bothered with what the law says they can and cannot do. Kids growing up naturally push boundaries to see what they can get away with. They have and always will do stuff ‘for a laugh’.
What we need to get sorted is not a quick fix ‘ban it’ solution but instead one that also kills the root cause.
Why do kids drink?
Why do they do the stuff that they do for a laugh?
The answers to those are most likely down to the pressure to conform to a media stereotype of a person they are not emotionally ready to be. In other words they are forced to grow up too quickly and cannot take it.
Couple that with an increase in the lack of morals being taught and exampled by the parents and those in the media, by their peers and others they look up to and you have the situation we now have.
Teach kids to ignore the dress sexy, get it on, violent, no moral type mags, tv, music, films and video games. Give them a less pressured less stressful time at school. Teach them it is cool to be honest, respectful and trustworthy towards everyone, to stand up against the bullies, against drinking, against drugs, against knives, against guns.
Perhaps bring back stronger tv, film and video game censorship, stricter regulations for obtaining alcohol all of which have slipped recently and teach the children why it’s wrong.
Help the kids to improve themselves. Give them all a sense of value and self worth.
Once upon a time we were a Christian country with many respecting Christian values. Much has been done stealthily to undo that. Now we need to fight very, very hard to get those values back.
A quick fix that skims over the surface leaving the problems bubbling away underneath will only make things worse.
- Posted by miksetI have recently turned 18.
- Posted by J TurnerAll those ppl who say the drinking age should be higher, you don’t understand, remember when you were a child, if you were given a bag of sweets and you ate 2 how would you feel having them taken off of you? It wouldnt have been nice would it? Well think how we feel the threat of having it taken off of us!
Highering the age wont make it better, i have drunk since a young age, never heavily, as my parents have given me a good upbringing, i love goin to the pub n having a social drink! That shouldnt be banned! Yes i get drunk, n i do stuff i regret but who hasnt, how many ppl 21+ have gone out got rat arsed n regretted stuff they did?
When laura says, ‘people who drink on the streets, and half of the time when they go home the parents dont know they’ve been drinking’, that is called crap parenting, if you dnt know ur own child has been drinking, ok if they had only had one, but seriously u should know these things.
I dont know how it can be prevented, but highering the age limit will only make crime worse!!!