The amoral panic surrounding juvenile crime

Almost inevitably she called for tough action against the yobs. Although it is quite understandable why this retributive instinct was expressed, we know there is not a shred of evidence that it is likely to work.

Childhood expert Tim Gill has argued that play policy cannot be constructed on the basis of extreme cases of predatory paedophiles and rare cases of child abduction, so significant elements of youth policy cannot be built on the flimsy foundations of the wild behaviour of a handful of young people off their heads on drink and drugs. Not that this can be overlooked, especially when murder is perpetrated by someone on bail who has just been released from custody - though, for me, this raises the question of why no-one was monitoring that situation. Perhaps it was because Adam Swellings ("Swellhead") was not a juvenile, unlike the two other young people convicted alongside him.

Helen Newlove's media statement was very powerful indeed. The BBC was certain it would renew the debate about yobs and antisocial behaviour. It certainly has. The boot camp and national service lobby has been quick to respond. Yet, before we venture too far down these unproven tracks just because it may make some of us feel better, it might also be instructive to read Stuart Waiton's forthcoming book The Politics of Anti-Social Behaviour (Ashgate 2008).

Cleverly, the book is subtitled "amoral panics", a play on the idea of "moral panics" developed by Stan Cohen following the seaside riots of the Mods and Rockers in the 1960s. Cohen talked about the moral outrage of mainstream society at such behaviour and one could perhaps think the same regarding hooded yobs today. But Waiton has a different take: he suggests there is no moral stand any more, just a bland political opportunism focused around the lowest common denominator.

Whatever the rhetoric, far more is now said about preventing and stopping the bad rather than promoting and starting the good. After all, "Swellhead" did not appear from another planet. I would guess with reasonable confidence that he is a product of all those pathologies to which politicians make constant reference yet about which so little is done, just in case self-righteous taxpayers and the populist media launch attacks about too many "treats for the bad kids".

- Howard Williamson is professor of European youth policy at the University of Glamorgan, and a member of the Youth Justice Board. Email howard.williamson@haymarket.com.