Internet has part to play in child crime
Boredom and the internet are being blamed for children as young as ten getting involved in serious violent and sexual crimes.
Figures for the year to April show that in Lincolnshire six ten-year-olds were arrested for crimes including sex offences, criminal damage, breach of the peace and possessing an offensive weapon, with 40 youngsters aged under 16 receiving warnings for other serious crimes including burglary, rape, robbery and ABH.
Chris Brewis, a former teacher and now a county councillor and Sutton Bridge parish councillor, believes the internet is partly responsible for why a small minority of youngsters commit crime.
He said: “We do have this problem where children enjoy almost unlimited access to the internet and parents are not always tech-savvy enough to be sure what they are looking at and feel inadequate to police it.
“At schools and youth clubs safeguards are in place to make sure they do not get access to unsuitable material, but that is not always the case at home and they can get access to age inappropriate material which can skew their views of the real world.
“But I think boredom is also an issue. They have nothing else to do.”
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Monday 20 May 2013
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