You've Been ASBO'd

I love this resource from Frontier Youth Trust - 'You've Been ASBO'd Certificate'.  It's an award, and the idea is that Youth Workers, Parents, Teachers etc. can download it for free and give it to young people who they think deserve it.  It's a superb way to acknowledge those young people who have made a positive impact or performed unconditional acts of kindness in their community, youth club, school or group etc. ASBO usually stands for ‘anti-social behaviour order’, but they’ve subverted it to mean ‘alright, sensational, beautiful, original.’  Loveitloveit!

Young people are increasingly depicted in the media as a lawless underclass responsible for creating society’s problems.  But the most worrying aspect of these recent developments is the growing intolerance, demonising and vilifying of young people.  Young people may indeed find themselves criminalised for their anti-social behaviour, which may be something as simple as the clothes they wear e.g. 'hooded sweat shirts'.

There is no doubt that problems exist, the key issue is what causes these problems, and what can be done to address them. 
To give you a bit of information regarding ASBOs -  Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) were introduced by section 1 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in England and Wales and have been available since April 1999. Though ASBOs are civil orders to breach one is to commit a criminal offence.
The Northern Ireland context is somewhat different from that of England and Wales and as a result ASBOs have only been introduced quite recently and to date have been used in a limited capacity.  The introduction of ASBOs to Northern Ireland has been shrouded in controversy.  Northern Ireland's children’s commissioner Nigel Williams took a stand and attempted to prevent the government from introducing them, believing they would interfere with young people's rights of privacy.
ASBOs may seemingly deal with the symptoms of the problem while the root cause of the cancer goes untreated.  Such an approach may in fact leave adolescents in a very precarious position. 

The statistics show that since April 1999 until September 2005, a total of 7,536 ASBOs were issued and 43% were given to kids aged 10 to 17.  47% were breached by the end of 2005.  The evidence continues to mount up, proof that children and young people are increasingly criminalised with around half of all ASBOs given to young people under the age of eighteen.
ASBOs rather than deterring young people from anti-social behaviour actually criminalise non-criminal behaviour, the definition for anti-social behaviour is so broad and vague that many are handed ASBOs for behaviour most people would consider to be acceptable. 

Kudos to FYT for subverting a term that has become synonymous with young people and for producing an award that celebrates their potential and how Alright, Sensational, Beautiful and Original many of them are!

Comments

[nealers]

Thanks Paul, nice find!