JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If they were 12-16 we're talking child abuse (It's > like a scene from Oliver as described above - > Fagin style - I notice they are putting themselves > and others at risk) > > How should we deal with children like this now ? Exactly my impression John - it wasn't really that the poor kids seemed so dull. In fact when they were tearing up the street they looked as though they were having the time of their lives (probably quite short ones if something doesn't change) but it was the end of the episode that said it all - a happy receiver of stolen goods is just how it appeared to me, and just as Dickens portrayed it. Anyway if the police can help then I am glad. As a kid I was no angel and when it came to the crunch some proper authority worked for me - sometimes it hurt but in all I came to understand the effects of my crimes on others. And whilst I am not sure "how should we deal with children like this now" as you have asked, it does seem to me that an awful lot of kids just do not have anyone there in their lives to tell them what to do. And I really mean just simply that: they need people to tell them what to do. Please, ye folks of the EDF, try not to see this remark as a left/right issue since that's not what I want to mean - they really just need some basic instructions.