Barry Ward
speaker
554 appearances
6 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 7 Sep
Barry Ward’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 6 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 2.
Appearances
There is.
In two thousand one we passed the Children Act, which is was actually a very progressive piece of legislation primarily aimed at protecting children and keeping children out of trouble.
But it does, as you say, contain a provision that allows the court after a a young person has been found to be guilty of an offence to impose a sanction on the parent.
I don't think that includes going to prison.
I'm certainly not aware of any instance where that has happened, but it's a very little used provision and I would certainly welcome
A discussion on this issue, I think it would be a very helpful thing.
But listening to your Voxpot there, I do agree with some people saying that there's no point in criminalizing parents if it isn't going to lead to a change in behaviour.
And I think it's important to make your differentiation between a parent is doing his or her level best and simply cannot control the child, and the other side of the coin being parents who simply do not care what their child is up to and is abdicating responsibility.
And in that
second instance, I do think there's a role for the state to step in and impose a sanction that maybe will bring that parent into line in terms of taking responsibility for what their child is doing.
Uh I think where you have responsibility to that person, yes it is.
Uh however, the extent to which you might be imprisoning a parent, for example, for the accidents of their child, particularly where maybe they uh had no knowledge of it or had no capacity to control it, I think would be difficult.
But we're not even close to that stage now.
Uh as I mentioned, there is a commission there that allows parents to bear some responsibilities, usually in the context of a fine or some other sanction.
And it's almost I I'm in fact I cannot think of any
Instance I've seen where it has been used.
And one of the difficulties I hear from Guardian anecdotally is they arrest a young person for even antisocial behavior, never mind, serious criminality.
And the parents are brought down to the guard station to collect that child, and they will have more of an issue with the Guardi than they will with the child's behavior.
That's something that is intolerable for the guards, for communities, for lawfulness on the streets.
And it's something where you where you have a parent who is, as I say, abdo.
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