Corston is MP for Bristol East, where "constituents have come to my surgery crying because young people have assaulted them". She says: "I make no apologies for trying to have laws to address this. Some people are terrified to go out because of young people. It's a minority - but they're very disruptive."
She wants time to consider the rights and wrongs of posters and leaflets to warn the public about young people with antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs), as local authorities have done in Manchester and Salford (YPN, 2-8 July, p2). But Corston appreciates the value of saying: "We know who you are, and we've had enough of your behaviour."
This is tempered by an acute awareness of human rights issues and of the social danger of stigmatising young people. "Numerically, antisocial behaviour is a small problem but socially it's a huge problem," she says.
"However, it's important we don't equate the word 'youth' with the word 'trouble'."
Her background in law, a career she took up in her 40s, stands her in good stead to appreciate children's and young people's rights. She spent time practising family law and she speaks with pride about making known the views of young people. "This lies at the heart of children's rights - they have a right to be heard," says Corston. "As a parent, I know that children have great insight into their own situations and can discuss it in quite sophisticated ways. And to its credit, the Government has started to give children the right to be heard, such as with the recent 14-19 white paper."
This right to be heard is echoed in the recent publications by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which Corston chairs. Since the turn of the year, the committee has published on the need for a children's commissioner for England, on smacking, on antisocial behaviour and on the sexual offences bill. "The basic entitlements are respect and dignity, in any vulnerable group."
Introducing a children's commissioner for England's 11 million under-18s would be "entirely positive", says Corston. Her committee's report, The Case for a Children's Commissioner for England, sets out a compelling argument for introducing such an independent role to champion children's rights, taking on advice from young people's organisations such as ChildLine and the NSPCC.
Though Corston hopes the green paper on children expected in the autumn will endorse the idea of a commissioner, she believes there is still work to be done in making sure that the Government introduces such a role.
A children's commissioner for England, along with a generally increased sensitivity to the needs of children, might have prevented the death of Victoria Climbie, she says.
And with talk of child abuse, the subject of Margaret Hodge, the under-fire minister for children and young people, inevitably crops up. Corston gives Hodge her full backing and decries the "vendetta" that is being pursued through the media. "She has done tremendous work for children, which is why I support her," she says. "If she was such a disaster, why wasn't anything said when she was early years minister?"
The work of the Joint Committee on Human Rights will continue, and meanwhile Corston reckons there is a decent number of MPs who are now "very interested" in children's rights.
"Young people have been neglected in legislation - it's almost been a blind eye," she adds. "We have to look at ways of developing young people's future."
FYI
- Elected chairman of Parliamentary Labour Party in 2001
- Chairman of Joint Committee on Human Rights since 2001
- Member of David Blunkett's team that launched Connexions in 2001
- Labour MP for Bristol East, where she holds a 13,392 majority.
