I find it very alarming on reading a newspaper to see that yet another child or young person is being presented with an anti-social behaviour order simply for hanging about on the streets. These types of stories are increasing in ferocity, but little regard is being given as to why children and young people engage in 'gang' type behaviour.
Children and young people are in a sense compelled to come together with their peers, it's a sort of internal drive which makes them seek the company of other like-minded individuals and presents itself largely when they become a teenager. The location, in many cases a street, is relatively unimportant as some young people may channel their instinctual drives to join a club or similar focal point. What is important, however, is that we recognise and respect this drive as a natural and sequential part of children and young people's development.
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