Play brings law home to pupils (From Barry And District News)

Play brings law home to pupils

BARRY teenagers have been shown the penalties they face if they give in to peer pressure and break the law.

A hard-hitting play called Off The Streets, explaining the new legal process of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), has been touring Welsh schools.

The drama arrived in Barry Comprehensive and was watched by pupils in year 9.

Written by Derek Martin, it stars five young actors, including Gareth King from Barry.

Rather than telling young people how to behave, the play's artistic director, Lawrence Wood, insists: "What (the play) attempts to show is that we understand the frustrations of young people today, but their actions do have implications for others. It also demonstrates what could happen to young people who might be led astray by their friends, now the new anti-social behaviour laws are in place."

Starting humorously, the play shows how situations can change quickly from having a laugh to being destructive, and the consequences for the person responsible.

This is the second year of the play, which will be viewed by 20,000 students.

The Home Office Community Safety Unit's Ryland Smith said: "This year's product has a harder edge and demonstrates what can happen to a young person if they continue to break the anti-social behaviour orders."

Anti-social behaviour has a wide legal definition, according to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

It is behaviour which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more people not in the same household as the perpetrator.

Among the forms it can take are graffiti, which make urban spaces look squalid; abusive and intimidating language; excessive noise, particularly late at night; drunken behaviour in the streets; and dealing drugs.

For more information on anti-social behaviour and the new orders, visit: www.crimereduction.gov.uk/asbo9.htm