RESPECT the fourth R

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RESPECT the fourth R
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Exploring Risk and Resilience in children and
young people with a parent in prison
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Respect a complex commodityThe key question
how far is the current Government agenda premised
on

• a limited definition
• inadequate understanding
• confusion of respect with obedience and control
• ?

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Link between antisocial behaviour, young people
and breakdown/lack of respect not new

• The children now love luxury they have bad
  manners, contempt for authority they show
  disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
  of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the
  servants of their households. They no longer rise
  when elders enter the room. They contradict their
  parents, chatter before company, gobble up
  dainties at the table, cross their legs, and
  tyrannise their teachers.
• (Attributed to Socrates by Plato)

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House of Commons Debate 1994

• Much of the crime can be traced to the breakdown
  of respect, which I, and I am sure most Hon.
  Members present, saw happening throughout the
  1960s. I noticed a breakdown of respect between
  men and women and between parents and children, a
  breakdown of respect for religion, for the
  elderly and for all forms of authority. Sadly,
  Western society has abandoned all the traditional
  constraints upon human behaviour, and we are left
  only with the criminal law.
• (M. Stephen MP, Conservative)

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Charles Clarke, when Secretary of State for
Education in 2002

• Forty-five per cent of teachers leaving the
  profession cited behaviour as one of the main
  reasons for doing so. They are highlighting a
  lack of respect in too many of our schools. It is
  time to restore respect for authority to its
  rightful place.

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David Blunkett when Home Secretary in 2003

• At the heart of antisocial behaviour is a lack of
  respect for others the simple belief that one
  can get away with whatever one can get away with.

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RESPECT conceptualised as

• breakdown in relationships
• loss of social traditions
• challenging authority
• getting away with bad behaviour

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The Prime Minister in 2002 suggested that Respect
is a simple notion

• We know instinctively what it means. Respect for
  others their opinions, values and way of life.
  Respect for neighbours respect for the community
  that means caring about others. Respect for
  property which means not tolerating mindless
  vandalism, theft and graffiti.

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Is it so simple?

• Respect may imply
• a mode of action
• a form of treatment
• a motive
• a feeling
• a mode of valuing
• a way of attending to things

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• a moral principle
• a duty
• an entitlement
• a moral virtue
• an epistemic value
• (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2003)

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Current policy agenda suggests a one-dimensional
view of Respect as something young people ought
to show for others

• But respect implies reciprocity (another R!)

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Respect? The Demonisation of Youth?

• Three important codes of Respect
• make something of yourself
• take care of yourself
• help others
• (Sennett, 2003)
• Social inequalities and social exclusion render
  these codes problematic

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Social Exclusion affects the dynamics of respect
within and towards communities

• A risk and resilience paradigm may establish an
  adversarial relationship in youth justice
• Assessing Risk can offer an illusion of simplicity

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There is no single, simple link between parents
pathways into and out of crime and their
childrens behaviour (as prospective criminals)
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Respect has emerged as a key factor in
understanding how children cope with parental
imprisonment
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The Prime Minister, earlier this year commented
thatrowdy and disrespectful behaviour is often
caused by the way that parents regard their
responsibility to their childrenthe way that
some kids grow up generation to generation
without proper parenting, without a proper sense
of discipline within the family
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Imprisonment of a parent results in

• economic deprivation
• loss of role-modelling, parental support and
  supervision
• stigma
• shame
• labelling of children, families and communities
• loss of RESPECT

19
Simon, aged 14, son of a self-confessed
drug-addict mother serving a prison sentence
the stuff that Ive had to go through with her
mother I ran away when I was eight came and
lived up here with his grandmother because
she mother just couldnt bring me up properly.
She was doing my head in, and because of that,
she still hasnt earned my respect. So I dont
have enough love for her to be bothered with her
properly. As soon as she earns my respect back,
then it will be fine, but she doesnt look as
though shes making a very good effortI love
her, but its just the respect which I think Im
more bothered about.
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His mother, saw respect somewhat
differentlyThey just want somebody to look up
to and, I dont know, the more somebody respects
them and likes them and whatever, the more they
because the kids these days, theres no respect
for their elders with a lot of them, which really
pisses me off, it really does. I mean thats
something Ive always weve always tried to
drum into Simon, respect for his elders. Its
something that Ive always believed in and always
been brought up to. It doesnt matter whether
theyre a year older or whether theyre ninety
years older than you, at the end of the day. And
I think thats what a lot of it is with Simon, is
just wanting respect of his elders, but he
doesnt always give it. And he will do anything
that he thinks right to get that.
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Her viewSimon needs to be controlled

• Simons view
• His mother had failed to exercise self-control
  over drug addiction, so what right had she to
  control him
• But my mum taking drugs its just going to wreck
  her life, which has annoyed me so much. And she
  doesnt, like, have any willpower to stop, she
  doesnt. Well, the way things are going it looks
  like she doesnt look like she can be bothered to
  stop. I mean, I know it is the hardest thing to
  try and get off, but Ive seen people do it
  before. Ive seen her do it before. Thats when
  she really wanted to. And Ive told her that if
  she wants to earn my respect back, she will
  really have to stop taking drugs.

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Respect is a multi-dimensional, multi-layered
processRespect has to be earnedRespect has to
be felt, given and receivedAchieving respect is
central to a sense of identity
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Young people will be respectful to parents (and
others) if adults demonstrate that they deserve
it
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• Youth deserve respect. Today, young people are
  largely perceived as part of the problem. Valuing
  young people means they are part of the solution
  and are included in developing programs and
  policies that affect their well-being.
• (Advocacy for Youth 2004)

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Can a culture of respect be generated through
increasing controls?

• Is empowering vulnerable adults and children more
  important?

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The importance of empowerment was acknowledged by
David Blunkett, as Home Secretary in 2003

• We must aim to build strong, empowered and active
  communities, in which people increasingly do
  things for themselves and the state acts to
  facilitate, support and enable citizens to lead
  self-determined, fulfilled lives.

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Understanding and according Respect should be an
integral part of assessing risk and resilience
in children and young people