Unruly teenagers need tough love, says Boris

Boris Johnson has advocated a "tough love" approach to dealing with unruly teenagers and steering them away from violent crime.

The Mayor warned that too many children were growing up in the capital without discipline and proper boundaries.

He called for parents to be held to account for their children's behaviour and punishment to be brought back into schools. However, he said it was also crucial to provide young people with support and activities.

The new regime at City Hall has promised to focus on the factors driving teenagers into violent crime, which has claimed 16 of their lives this year, as well as dealing with the immediate problem.

In his first annual State of London debate at Westminster last night, Mr Johnson said: "We must tackle the issue that so many Londoners have told me is their number one concern and we must get knives and guns off the streets.

"Never forget that these murders are not individually a series of freak events. Each is at the apex of a pyramid of other socalled minor violence and disorder. What is at the base of that pyramid?

"Too many kids in London are growing up without boundaries, without discipline and without the family structures they need but also without the sporting, educational and theatrical opportunities which could save their lives.

"That's why it is our ambition to tackle the problem at the top of the pyramid and at the bottom. That means the policing solution, but also that's why it's so important that we make progress with our activities."

He added: "I think parents should be held to account for the behaviour of their children. It's not in my powers to bring back discipline to schools but I think we should bring back the idea of punishment."

The Mayor's remarks echoed those of Tory leader David Cameron who 18 months ago suggested a "tough love" approach to youth crime.

However, Mr Johnson warned that Londoners were "in danger of panic" about the problem. He said: "Every generation has been prone to panic about the behaviour of the younger generation and we're in danger of such a panic today. The overwhelming majority of young people are good and law-abiding. It is wrong to demonise them."

The Mayor said violent crime would take a long time to solve. He said: "I'm not going to pretend we can solve these problems overnight."

WE WON'T JUST THROW CASH AT THIS

RAY LEWIS, DEPUTY MAYOR FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

We have to be careful because we can throw money at lots of things and see nothing for it. It's got to be spent in the way that achieves maximum effect and looks at the source of the leak and doesn't just mop up water.
"If we're not careful we'll end up going on a thousand visits with a chequebook in our back pockets. Although that sounds great in theory, in practice it's a disaster because we can't fund everything.
"We have to find the underlying causes as otherwise we'll be coming back here every year and there will be more people asking for more money and it will not make a difference. For years, governments have spent billions and achieved little. This mayoralty will not do that. It doesn't mean we won't spend money. We just have to spend it in the right way."

ROSS KEMP, ACTOR AND DOCUMENTARY PRESENTER

We have to look at how we find these knives. Stop and search has caused so many problems but how else do you find out who is carrying a knife? In any hunting or army store, they've got combat knives, it's not made for anything else other than killing or wounding and those things should be outlawed in Britain.
"In the US, they get young guys who are on the verge of committing serious offences to go into prisons and meet men who are doing serious time. They scare the living s**t out of them. I believe in mentoring, but it has to be someone these people listen to, who has been through these experiences.
"You don't have to be mentored by David Beckham or 50 Cent. A soldier who has been out to Afghanistan who is only 18 has probably experienced more in six months than the average celebrity will have in their life."

MUNIRA MIRZA, MAYOR'S DIRECTOR OF ARTS AND CULTURE

"The responsibility for looking after children is also a community responsibility. When I was growing up and a child was playing up in the street, an adult would come along and tell them, 'I'll tell your mum and dad'. There was a sense that everybody was looking out for everybody else's kid, there was a link between the generations. When I was young and we were exposed to something that we weren't familiar with it pushed us, it challenged us, it opened our horizons. Sometimes adults need to say to young people 'try it, stick with it'. We should be ambitious."