Fear Of Teenagers Is Growing

Hooded silhouettes lingering in shop doorways and beneath bus shelters carry a potent message of menace for most adults. For Britain has become a place increasingly fearful of its teenage population, a forthcoming report will warn.

Britons are more likely than other Europeans to blame young people for antisocial behaviour, according to extracts from a study by the Institute for Public Policy Research released yesterday, and they are also less inclined to intervene if they find teenagers causing trouble.

The study finds that 65% of Germans, 52% of Spanish and 50% of Italians would be willing to intervene if they saw a group of 14-year-old boys vandalising a bus shelter – but just 34% of Britons would be willing to do the same. Thirty-nine per cent of Britons would avoid a confrontation for fear of physical attack.

In a deprived part of east London yesterday, residents of Canning Town’s run-down estates may have special reason to be scared – two months ago a man was murdered on a local street, allegedly after a series of altercations with teenagers.

But it appears that an aversion to young people, or “paedophobia”, is becoming a national phenomenon.

It is a view 71-year-old Canning Town resident Dennis Morse empathises with. “I never speak to them, it’s too dangerous,” he said. “I’d be mad to take the chance. They used to carry knives – now it’s guns.”

Mr Morse said he “treads carefully”, avoiding the bus where possible, and crossing the road if he sees a gang of young boys with hoods over their heads.

Last year, more than 1.5 million Britons thought about moving house to escape young people hanging around, and 1.7 million avoided going out after dark for the same reason, the report finds. Next month, when the IPPR publishes its study, Freedom’s Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World, the thinktank will express concern that the growth in paedophobia could be alienating young people.

“A rise in social paedophobia will simply make matters worse,” said Nick Pearce, the IPPR’s director.

“These days, adults tend to turn a blind eye or cross over on the other side of the road rather than intervene in the discipline of another person’s child. In the past, local parents tended to look out for children in a community, deciding what behaviour was appropriate, how it should be dealt with and supporting each other in doing so.”

Many of the pale faces that poked from underneath hoods in Canning Town yesterday expressed frustration at being labelled antisocial. “Look, it’s raining, it’s cold, what are we supposed to do?” said Billy Harman, 18, as he munched on a bacon sandwich – hood up. “They [adults] look at you, and think, ‘oh, here comes trouble’, just because of your dress.

“You try to help an old lady across the road around here and she’ll think you’re trying to snatch her bag.”

But not everyone shudders at the sight of loitering teenagers. “It comes down to how you treat them,” said a Greek woman who owns a launderette. “You give them respect, you get respect.

“If I want them to move away from the shopfront, I just apologise for interrupting their conversation, and ask them if they can chat elsewhere.”

Next door, Pete, a greengrocer, agreed. “If you know how to talk to them, they’re as good as gold,” he said. “Kids in the East End have always been brought up to treat their elders with respect.”

Citing research that indicates that youth clubs can prevent teenagers from turning to disorder, the IPPR will recommend that secondary schools stay open later to ensure every pupil is given two hours of extracurricular activities a week, with fines for parents who fail to ensure their children attend.

None of the largest gang on display in Canning Town yesterday had much to say about the idea of extended school hours. One member, however, did break with the wall of silence. “Boo,” he said. “Did that scare yah?”