Real zero tolerance

Real zero tolerance means fixing the smashed windows before the cars are set alight
.
Picking up sweet and other paper litter before it becomes a general dumping of rubbish
.
Dealing with a child's minor offences before they become major ones
.
Cleaning graffiti and not allowing it to become endemic  
.
And that has always seemed to be a sensible approach
.
It needs political will though
.
It needs a police and other forces to be on top of their local areas of responsibility
.
And once this standard is established you need to go another step
.
To introduce better training of children at school about social responsibilities
.
Meaning zero tolerance in the school for liter or bullying or violence
.
A society that understands that anti social behaviour starts at home
.
Having parents made responsible for their children's behaviour
.
Parents even being fined or punished for their children's behaviour
.
And after all this a thorough review of the local drug policy and an ability to be honest that prohibition does not work
.
That having no jobs or training for the young leaving school with minimal qualifications leads to problems
.
That teenagers will always experiment
.
Bored or otherwise
.
The negativity of making young people criminals for life for experimenting is not very intelligent
.
And how many countries have gone down this road?
.
Several are happy with zero tolerance approaches
.
Happy apparently to lock up large numbers of young people
.
Few have any ideas about preventing these criminalized minors from becoming repeat offenders
.
Not so many are honest enough to recognise that their society has failed the young
.
Nor are they willing to admit that they have few or no ideas
.
That continual repression is not a solution
.
Politicians have impaled themselves on the rhetoric of being tough on all crime
.
Can it be that it is convenient to have an anti social class to distract from other more serious political failings?
.
That for budget and other reasons having teenagers to scream at makes very good sense as a diversion from other failings
.
Surely they are not that cynical?

Then why else would one keep pursuing  failed youth and drug policies?

Policies which criminalise your youth

Zero tolerance sounds good but without policies to address the underlying causes it is stupidity writ large

Societies that criminalise their youth

That have no plans to improve the lives of those who cannot move out of their ghettos

These societies are the ones for whom there should really be zero tolerance