Of course this isn’t at all limited to Wales – but IMO it is worse nowadays
I went to a fairly rough secondary school in Reading (2nd in TVP juvenile crime league tables!) but although there were fights, gang activity (mostly organised shoplifting) and some bullying, real violence where cops got involved or people needed hospital treatment was virtually unknown of.. about 5 incidents maybe from 1984 to 1990 when I was there…
Survey reveals high teen violence
Almost 2,500 children in Wales have attacked other youngsters in the past 12 months, according to police figures. Wales’ biggest survey of teenage behaviour also found one in six boys had set upon another child in the past year, aiming to cause serious harm.
Six in 10 boys and four in 10 girls said they believed they could beat up someone else if they were provoked.
Charity Communities That Care said more could be done to teach young people to resolve disputes without violence.
Some 13,000 children were questioned for BBC Wales’ Week in Week Out in a survey carried out for the programme by the charity.This wasn’t kids not getting on. This wasn’t teenagers being teenagers. This was an assault
Paul Scanlon, Amy’s father
Ann Fairnington of Communities That Care said: “Perhaps we are not giving young people the skills they need to be able to resolve disputes in other ways, apart from fighting,” she said.
“I think that perhaps there has been too much emphasis in schools on academic results and perhaps less emphasis on social skills, and learning how to resolve a dispute, how to explain to somebody that you are angry without just thumping them.”
Police forces in Wales do not usually categorise assaults by the age of the victim or the attacker.TEENAGERS AND VIOLENCE
15% of boys aged 14-16 say they attacked another child with the idea of causing serious harm in the past year
60% of boys aged 14-16 said it was alright to beat someone else up, if the other person started the fight; 44% of girls aged 14-15 said the sameBut Week In Week Out asked all four Welsh forces to break down their figures. The results revealed that there had been nearly 2,500 assaults by children on children in the past year.
One victim of violence is Amy Scanlon, 13, who was walking home with a friend in Cardiff when she was attacked by a gang of teenagers, some of whom she knew.
Kicked and punched
“They were holding my friend back, and one of the boys kicked me. Another boy was holding me so that they could kick and punch me again,” Amy told the programme.
Then the gang dragged her into woodland, near a deep ravine. “I thought they were going to push me down there. I thought they were going to kill me,” she said.Amy was kicked, punched and stamped on, and left with bruises over her entire body. She could also barely see through one eye. Her family contacted the police and one girl was eventually cautioned. But they feel the system has let their daughter down.
“To see your daughter battered, absolutely battered – and then to find out it was kids in and around the same age – it’s unbelievable,” said Amy’s father, Paul Scanlon.
“This wasn’t kids not getting on. This wasn’t teenagers being teenagers.
“This was an assault. And if I’d done that, I’d have been locked up,” he said.
Week In Week Out is broadcast on BBC 1 Wales at 2235 BST, on Tuesday.Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/wales/4372820.stmPublished: 2005/10/25 05:39:41 GMT
© BBC MMV
Mwy o ymosodiadau gan blant
Mae bron i 2,500 o blant yng Nghymru wedi ymosod ar blant eraill dros y 12 mis diwethaf yn ôl ffigyrau gan yr heddlu.
Mae’r arolwg mwyaf erioed o ymddygiad pobl ifanc yng Nghymru wedi dangos hefyd bod 15% o fechgen wedi ymosod ar rywun gyda’r bwriad o greu niwed y llynedd.
Roedd chwe bachgen a phedair merch ymhob 10 yn credu ei bod yn iawn i rywun guro rhywun arall os oedd y person hwnnw wedi cychwyn ymladd.
Dywedodd yr elusen Communities That Care bod modd gwneud mwy i addysgu plant a phobl ifanc i ddatrys dadleuon heb drais.
Cafodd 13,000 o blant eu holi ar draws Cymru gan yr elusen ar gyfer rhaglen materion cyfoes BBC Cymru, Week In Week Out.
“Efallai nad ydan ni’n rhoi’r sgiliau i bobl ifanc i ddatrys dadleuon a phroblemau mewn ffyrdd gwahanol i ymladd,” meddai Ann Fairnington o’r elusen.
“Dwi’n meddwl bod ‘na ormod o bwyslais ar ganlyniadau economaidd yn yr ysgol a dim digon ar sgiliau cymdeithasol a sut i ddatrys dadleuon, sut i egluro wrth rywun eich bod yn flin heb ymosod arnyn nhw.”
Dydi heddluoedd yng Nghymru ddim fel arfer yn categoreiddio oedran y dioddefwr na’r ymosodwr.
Ceunant
Ond mae rhaglen Week In Week Out wedi gofyn i bob un o’r pedwar llu i edrych ar eu ffigyrau ac mae’r canlyniadau yn dangos bod bron i 2,500 o ymosodiadau wedi bod gan blant ar blant y llynedd.
Un o’r dioddefwyr oedd Amy Scanlon, 13 oed, a oedd yn cerdded adref o’r ysgol gyda ffrind yng Nghaerdydd pan ymosododd criw o bobl ifanc, rhai yr oedd yn eu hadnabod, arni.
“Roedden nhw’n dal fy ffrind yn ôl ac fe giciodd un bachgen fi,” eglurodd.
“Roedd bachgen arall yn fy nal fel bod y lleill yn gallu fy nghicio a’m dyrnu eto.”
Llusgodd y criw Amy i goedwig gyfagos gyda cheunant dwfn.
“Roeddwn i’n meddwl eu bod am fy nhaflu i lawr y ceunant ac roeddwn i’n meddwl eu bod am fy lladd.”
Cafodd ei chicio sawl gwaith, fe wnaethon nhw sefyll arni a gadael cleisiau ar draws ei chorff a phrin yr oedd yn gallu gweld drwy un llygad.
Fe wnaeth ei theulu gysylltu gyda’r heddlu ac fe gafodd un ferch rybudd. Ond maen nhw’n ofni bod y system wedi eu siomi.
“I weld eich merch wedi cael ei churo, ac i wybod mai plant oedd yn gyfrifol – plant yr un oed – mae’n anghredadwy,” meddai tad Amy, Paul Scanlon.
“Nid plant yn methu tynnu ymlaen oedd hyn. Nid plant yn bod yn blant. Roedd hyn yn ymosodiad.
“Petawn i wedi gwneud hyn fe fyddwn i wedi cael fy nghloi mewn cell,” ychwanegodd.
Week In Week Out ar BBC Un Cymru am 2235 ddydd Mawrth.
