Depends in what connotation.

I have to disagree with this. I'm probably part of that generation, I grew up listening to bands like Marilyn Manson, I watched violent movies etc, and had friends who grew up in single parent families, and neither myself or any of the people I know would condone what these girls did. Throughout history there will always have been cases of violence so I don't understand how what happened here can be equated to a generational issue, or a whole generation of people (that fall under the categories you've suggested) can be labelled as nasty?

OK

Depends. If you are assuming someone is part of a single parent family on the sole basis that they committed a crime, or that they committed a crime because they are part of a single parent family, then yes.

f you are an African-Caribbean child you are twice as likely as your white British counterpart to grow up in a single-parent household. In fact, the figure is probably higher. An Equality and Human Rights Commission report in 2011 found that as many as 65% of African-Caribbean children are raised by one parent – nearly always the mother.

These children are more likely to leave education early, more likely to end up in prison, more likely to become teenage parents. The list goes on.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...-black-fathers


if that little punk has a father at home I will eat my hat

I wonder if there are any other contributory factors that lead to these statistics? Rather than it simply being a case of black + single parent family = criminal.

isnt it to do with the Caribbean family aspect playing out?


It is even worse in America

So do you have any insights as to what is happening to our youth today, as they seem to think violence is acceptable and can be dispensed to anybody in equal measure.

Knife crime,gun crime, muggings violent robberies all on the increase..

Any thoughts ??

Why are you demonising the yoof of today? It was one 14yr old.

But the question itself is flawed because not all youths do think violence is acceptable. I don't know why it's on the increase, there are probably countless reasons why someone might commit a crime and I certainly don't have all the answers, but I don't think it can be for the factors you gave earlier because of the reasons I mentioned.
I do however think the culture of what it is to be a child has changed since I was at school, with the rise of social media playing a big part, because kids nowadays are more aware of the power of being noticed and I think a lot of anti social behaviour can be atttibuted to this. But that's just one example. I'm not sure if it fits with this specific case.

Thank you Kizzy.

I'm 15 and I don't know anyone my age who carries knives, guns or anything like that. You can't look at a situation like this and marginalise the whole of the younger generation.

Also let's not demonise single-parent families please. It's hard enough for them to get by as it is without them also having society against them.

i'm not sure that violent crime is on the increase from those in their teens, are there figures to back that assertion up?

Plenty of adults commit violent crimes too, it's not exclusively a problem with "the youth of today".

firstly the scumbags should be imprisoned.....secondly how is the old lady now? after such a violent attack, clearly she will have psychological problems and fears about going out in future.

the problem is when they get away with it....how do 2 young people grow into such evil scumbags that think its ok to punch 87 year olds