There are those we meet in court on a regular basis who seem to think that the rules just don't apply to them. Be it bail conditions, the requirement to attend court, completing community penalties or co-operation with the Probation Service in the preparation of reports, they project an 'I can do as I please' attitude.
Only when the court resorts to 'if you won't comply you'll go to prison' does reality kick in along with the inevitable whine of "you can't do this to me, I've not done anything wrong".
And truly they don't believe they have!
The offender bailed on condition they don't contact their victim, and does so; the one given an un-paid work requirement and who 'can't be bothered' to turn up and those who fail to attend for interview with Probation so that a Pre-sentence Report can be prepared for the court all face the same ultimate fate - jail! Whether as a sentence or a remand in custody they consider themselves 'hard done by' and demonstrate the consequences of lax discipline both in the home and at school, as well as within the judicial system.
By the time a court finally loses patience with them and commits them to prison it's often too late to counter the by then well-established conviction that they are a law unto themselves. Until we as a society abandon the pretext that discipline is repressive and grasps the nettle of personal responsibility these misconceptions will continue to flourish.
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