There is currently a fierce political competition to show dynamism. It is about children and young people who increasingly engage in violence and threats, robbery and theft. Crime. Now they must be taken – is the mantra across the usual political divides. The latest example is the chronicle from the Finance Council in Akershus, Tom Staahle (Frp). There he advocates also punishing parents of juvenile criminals with fines and depriving them of municipal housing. The fact that central FRP politicians have endless faith in the harshest possible punishment – now also from parents – is unfortunately no surprise. What is surprising is that a queue of very central politicians from different parties are almost equally quick to act. Cage them in, says Young Conservative leader Ola Svenneby. Other active politicians say that we must get more police. We need to get more young people in prison. We must get stricter prison sentences. We must get new and more child welfare institutions. Ankle chains must be used on 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds. It is a frightening development. Trygve Slagsvold Vedum will give the police more powers. We must use force! The state must be able to lock up children, says the finance minister. Now we have to deal with juvenile delinquency. The Prime Minister agrees. The criminal minimum age must be lowered. Drastic measures must be put in place, it is shouted. Now it’s time to act! It will sting, says leader of the Frp youth. Stop immigration! The Young Conservative leader will consider taking child benefit from families who have not managed to be good enough educators. Families who have financial and social problems. Take the money from them. Action power! Suddenly, everything is about showing action. What is being discussed are measures against children and young people who from early childhood have had a harmful social development, who have been absent from school and education, who have never entered normal working life. Instead, they have found meaning and belonging in harmful groups, gangs. There they have found what they felt they needed – because they needed something important that they couldn’t get at home, at school, in the local environment. Now the solutions of the powerful are to remove them, clean them away, lock them up. Take them hard. The discussion surrounding the ever-increasing serious youth crime is a frightening example of a need to show adult action – totally freed from any knowledge of what can actually work. Many people around probably agree with the proposals about various forms of use of force, coercion, prison, punishment – and a blind belief that just that stings enough – yes, then they will probably stop with “witchcraft”. Honestly – it’s too stupid. What is thrown out by proposals from a number of active politicians are measures that have minimal potential to reduce crime. It is ignorant. Those who are put in prison – they get out of prison. Time after time. They have spent their time in prison in isolation or together with criminals who have an even longer and worse record than the young people. The connection to criminal circles is strengthened. The experiences with closed child welfare institutions show how harmful such measures have been. Social belonging is crucially important for all of us. The “actionable” measures all lead to socially damaged, already criminal young people being pushed even further away from a normal upbringing – and further into the circles of those who commit even more serious crime. There they find belonging, there they get praise and a pat on the back every time they do what the politicians want them to stop doing. And they don’t stop there. All the proposed measures ensure that young people who have had a harmful development from early childhood find more and more support and belonging in groups of criminals. Preferably older criminals who lure and threaten them with increasingly worse robberies, threats, violence. The gang provides belonging where the rest of us want to shut out, shut in, cage in – so that it stings. Eventually it will sting for all of us. Published 19.08.2024, at 15.19
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NM in action – Speech
