Little Criminals
I'll bet you didn't know that in Scotland:
"at least one-third of the adult male population and nearly one in ten of the adult female population is likely to have a criminal record."
Apparently, there was a "study". I'm not sure when the study was carried out and the way the figures were arrived at is a bit suspect - I'm not a fan of "extrapolating". However, in Scotland, "that study also found that the majority of those people would go on to have only one conviction - about half of men and three-quarters of women".
And this is where I have to reveal the shocking news that I am the offspring of a jailbird. In 1933, at the age of 12, my father was, as we say in Glasgow. "lifted" by the polis for selling chewing gum outside Ibrox stadium without a licence. He had to go to court and was fined 10 shillings. His granny (his guardian) was mortified and none too pleased at the fine because they were far from well-off. She sent him out looking for a job and for the next couple of years he delivered butcher meat after school to the well-off people of Dumbreck and Pollokshields. It was character-forming, all that cycling through the rain and being told by servants to go round to the service entrance. A decade later, he was a military policeman in Freetown in west Africa, so I'm guessing he got over his criminal past.
I've been thinking about this after reading that according to an American study 44% of the population of the USA has a criminal record. And 60% of those with a criminal record are either black or Hispanic, although these groups form only 13% (African American) and 18% (Hispanic) of the population. I draw no conclusions about how or why this happens. I don't know enough to be able to judge. But you can check these figures on Google if you don't believe me. I wonder how the life chances of the people involved are affected. Do you ever get to live down your past record in the USA? Is your racial group forever linked in people's minds with criminality?
I find this interesting because during lockdown there's been a whole lot of complaints where I live about "youth" running wild. Let me tell you I live in leafy suburbia, not some crime-ridden inner-city slum. The complaints I see daily on social media are mainly about under age drinking in the local parks and woods. Groups of young people (laughably referred to as "gangs" - only people who didn't grow up in Pollok could call them that) have been getting together to drink cider - and probably to get away from the stifling attention of parents and neighbours.
Two thoughts occur:
First, is there anywhere young people can go to be teenagers during the pandemic? Everywhere is shut. School is where younger teenagers socialise. Or there's the local burger place but that takes money. Otherwise it's the local green spaces. As they get older and have access to the parental car (I told you, this is leafy suburbia) they can usually hang about at the shops and in car parks. They're not doing much really. Just swaggering, twirling the car keys and sometimes being moved on by the polis.
I was once at our local station waiting to get the train into Glasgow. It was the end of the school day and there are 2 secondary schools nearby. Some schoolkids in uniform were horsing around on the platform. Suddenly a voice rang out over the PA system. 'This is ..... police station. We're watching you'. And I, a grown up, suddenly felt guilty.
Second thought: do adults forget the process they went through? Birth to about age 12 - loved and spoiled by doting families. Late teens onwards: left to go pubbing and clubbing - best not to ask too much. Mid-20s ready to settle into a relationship, get married, have kids and continue the cycle.
What about that awkward age between 12 and 18? If we're not going to provide any kind of outlet for this group and just either ignore them or keep narking at them, what outcome do we expect?
"at least one-third of the adult male population and nearly one in ten of the adult female population is likely to have a criminal record."
Apparently, there was a "study". I'm not sure when the study was carried out and the way the figures were arrived at is a bit suspect - I'm not a fan of "extrapolating". However, in Scotland, "that study also found that the majority of those people would go on to have only one conviction - about half of men and three-quarters of women".
And this is where I have to reveal the shocking news that I am the offspring of a jailbird. In 1933, at the age of 12, my father was, as we say in Glasgow. "lifted" by the polis for selling chewing gum outside Ibrox stadium without a licence. He had to go to court and was fined 10 shillings. His granny (his guardian) was mortified and none too pleased at the fine because they were far from well-off. She sent him out looking for a job and for the next couple of years he delivered butcher meat after school to the well-off people of Dumbreck and Pollokshields. It was character-forming, all that cycling through the rain and being told by servants to go round to the service entrance. A decade later, he was a military policeman in Freetown in west Africa, so I'm guessing he got over his criminal past.
I've been thinking about this after reading that according to an American study 44% of the population of the USA has a criminal record. And 60% of those with a criminal record are either black or Hispanic, although these groups form only 13% (African American) and 18% (Hispanic) of the population. I draw no conclusions about how or why this happens. I don't know enough to be able to judge. But you can check these figures on Google if you don't believe me. I wonder how the life chances of the people involved are affected. Do you ever get to live down your past record in the USA? Is your racial group forever linked in people's minds with criminality?
I find this interesting because during lockdown there's been a whole lot of complaints where I live about "youth" running wild. Let me tell you I live in leafy suburbia, not some crime-ridden inner-city slum. The complaints I see daily on social media are mainly about under age drinking in the local parks and woods. Groups of young people (laughably referred to as "gangs" - only people who didn't grow up in Pollok could call them that) have been getting together to drink cider - and probably to get away from the stifling attention of parents and neighbours.
Two thoughts occur:
First, is there anywhere young people can go to be teenagers during the pandemic? Everywhere is shut. School is where younger teenagers socialise. Or there's the local burger place but that takes money. Otherwise it's the local green spaces. As they get older and have access to the parental car (I told you, this is leafy suburbia) they can usually hang about at the shops and in car parks. They're not doing much really. Just swaggering, twirling the car keys and sometimes being moved on by the polis.
I was once at our local station waiting to get the train into Glasgow. It was the end of the school day and there are 2 secondary schools nearby. Some schoolkids in uniform were horsing around on the platform. Suddenly a voice rang out over the PA system. 'This is ..... police station. We're watching you'. And I, a grown up, suddenly felt guilty.
Second thought: do adults forget the process they went through? Birth to about age 12 - loved and spoiled by doting families. Late teens onwards: left to go pubbing and clubbing - best not to ask too much. Mid-20s ready to settle into a relationship, get married, have kids and continue the cycle.
What about that awkward age between 12 and 18? If we're not going to provide any kind of outlet for this group and just either ignore them or keep narking at them, what outcome do we expect?
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