Criminals?

I quote from The Independent newspaper:

"It's nearing the end of a science lesson at Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham when the assistant headmaster enters, marches to the front of the classroom and raises her hands to speak. "We have made it clear to you that we do not want drugs in this school. And that from time to time we may bring in some dogs. Well," Mrs Horrocks tells the class of boys aged 13 and 14, "they are here. If anyone is frightened of dogs put up your hand." One boy's arm hovers upwards but quickly comes down again as excitement reaches a crescendo among his classmates.
The children are told to leave their bags and queue up outside while the dogs, trained to sniff out illegal drugs - from cannabis to crack cocaine - get down to business. A spaniel leashed to its handler darts around the empty classroom, sniffing the children's pencil cases, blazers and bags. As the boys file back in grinning, some of them a little nervously, each is smelled by the second dog, a black labrador. None of the bags or pupils has been "indicated" by the dogs, whose powerful sense of smell can detect traces of cannabis or cannabis smoke up to a month old."

I have a serious problem with this. Now, many of you might think randomly testing children for drugs is a good thing, but I don't think it is. You see, it is a symptom of a wider disease.

The criminalising and demonising of children.

Indeed, children are no longer the cute, cuddly, innocent people you once knew. No, they are violent, rebellious, illiterate, drug taking, criminal, sex-mad, binge-drinking swine. They must be feared and dealt with.

You see, the current assumption about children would seem to be that they are all guilty, until someone proves otherwise. The above example shows this. Is there any evidence to suggest that one of these children might be taking drugs? No, the fact that they are children is enough to have them lined up, have their bags and persons searched and force them to prove that they are innocent.

This, quite clearly, is wrong. Why should children be treated any differently from adults in this respect? I quote the words of a teenager known only as "W":

"They shouldn't be allowed to treat me like a criminal just because I'm under 16"

"W" was involved in a very interesting case quite recently. The Government created these things called "Curfew zones", anyone under 16, if unaccompanied by an adult after 9pm, could be held and escorted home. "W" was a model student, however, this was not enough when he was caught unaccompanied in a curfew zone. All these facts coudl not outweigh the seemingly damning one: the fact that he was a child and therefore, in the eyes of the Government (and the police officers who apprehended him), he had to be a criminal.

Fortunately, as a result of an appeal by "W", the curfew zones no longer exist. However, the problem remains. Are children to be continuously demonised by the Establishment? I woudl hope not, because if you demonise an entire generation on the basis of the behaviour of a small group of them, you are bound to breed resentment. We need to make peopel feel included, but the criminalisation of children doesn't do this. If you treat people like scum, they will feel like scum.

It is time to end this injustice, this denial of human rights. Children are citizens of this country as well, and as such deserve equal treatment under the law. Otherwise, we may reap the consequences in the years to come.