IN AN old storeroom on the edge of Gorton, Manchester, teenagers discuss examples of antisocial behaviour. They list swearing at residents, smashing windows, climbing on roofs, fighting in front of the elderly, running through other people’s gardens, riding a motorscooter on the pavement and singing loudly late at night.
It takes slightly longer to come up with a list of how such behaviour makes other people feel. “It makes them feel sorry for us?” suggests a boy called Lewis, doubtfully.
“It makes them feel sorry for our mums,” another boy, Matthew, says.
“It makes people hate you,” Daniel offers, provoking a momentary silence. They all agree that it makes people afraid to go out in their own neighbourhoods and that this is not right.
The group is on an antisocial behaviour training course run by Pat Stewart and Rob Burley as part of their On the Streets project. They quickly learn how nuisance blights the lives of other people, and how it could ruin their own.
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If they are made the subject of an antisocial behaviour order, they could be banned from certain streets and from meeting their friends for up to ten years. They could also be banned from wearing certain clothes. Mr Burley tells them of one boy who was banned from wearing a black glove on his left hand, because it was a gang signature.
“My Mum would kill me if I got an asbo,” Matthew says as the group breaks up.