Youth crime is the symptom of a wider disease / Guardian, 3 July 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/02/knifecrime.youthjustice?gusrc=rss&feed=society
Jonathan Rutherford
"Gun culture thrives where social life is dying. The working-class estates devastated by de-industrialisation are where a defeated, unwanted people have been herded away to suffer a self-inflicted fate of drugs and violence. Decades of unemployment have destroyed the old patriarchal order of male breadwinner and head of household. Not only has it meant poverty, it has lost many men their dignity and self- worth. In communities deprived of the markers of status that bring respect, violence takes the place of authority. Sons inherit the legacy of their fathers' humiliation. Without work and affordable housing, it is impossible for many to create an independent life of their own. The traditional rites of passage into adulthood – leaving home, getting a job, establishing a family, and taking on legal obligations and rights – disappear."