CYP Now - NCB Now: Comment - What are the true costs of the Respect agenda?

Since its inception, the Respect agenda has caused controversy. While it rightly recognises the need to improve social cohesion, all too often the debate has focused disproportionately on the behaviour of young people, and there were fears that the long-anticipated Respect Action Plan would prompt yet another bout of youth-bashing.

In the event, the plan, launched on 10 January, proved unexpectedlypositive, taking some of its tone as well as a great deal of its contentfrom the Youth Matters green paper. It includes the explicitacknowledgement that "tackling disrespect is not a 'youth issue' anymore than anti-social behaviour is", as well as a welcome emphasis onsupporting vulnerable families. On some specifics, too, the plan isencouraging. For example, proposals for anti-social behaviour ordersgiven to young people to be reviewed after one year instead of two is animprovement.

Nevertheless, some of the proposals sound warning bells, especially inareas where breaching civil orders can swiftly lead to criminalisation.Will extending parenting orders help support families or will italienate them? The government is currently piloting penalty notices fordisorder for under-16s. Will this pilot be rigorously evaluated beforeany national rollout? And what effect will the increase of existingpenalty fines for over-16s to 100 have on families where this maybe a high percentage of their weekly income?

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