SCUM Thursday June 20, 7pm Ray Winstone's screen debut, spotlighting the brutality of Britain's
borstal system, caused such anger that clean-up campaigner Mary Whitehouse took Channel 4 to court when it was screened in 1983.
The discredited
Borstal system, abolished by the Criminal Justice Act 1982, was much-feared, but 70% of the boys never re-offended.
However, after the Criminal Justice Act 1982, the
borstal system was abolished in the UK, to be replaced with youth custody centres.
The story itself is compelling, and it also serves as a thematic indictment of the
borstal system's flaws.
Ireland's "moral hospital"; the Irish
borstal system 1906-1956.
This happened in the old approved school system, as it did in the
borstal system, when HM Borstal He well Grange was a self-supporting community to a large degree.
It was called the
borstal system which started in the first decade of the last century and was abolished by the Criminal Justice Act of 1982, just about the time when the youth of this country went off the rails.
Bring back the
borstal system and give them a hard time.
Community leaders believe peer pressure is preventing the kids from changing their ways and a return to the old
borstal system is the only option.
In the period 1900 to 1923, there were changes to both the adult and juvenile correctional systems aimed at providing better treatment for those in the Borstal age group, sixteen to twenty-one, but these changes were modifications to the existing treatment regimes, and fell well short of adopting the
Borstal system. From the late 1930s, and particularly in the mid 1940s, serious consideration was again given to establishing some form of `intermediate institution', something between a juvenile reformatory and prison, but for different reasons.
IF the Conservative Party wants to be considered as a serious contender at the next General Election and win it, then part of any election manifesto should include a plan to immediately introduce National Service and a more effective
Borstal system for those under 16 who go before the courts.
Bold plans to revive the long-defunct
Borstal system for young offenders were outlined by a government quango yesterday.
