Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people aged 10 to 18 from across the country.

This week Kate addresses the recent controversy around heckling.

The current political controversy surrounding heckling and name calling, begs the question of whether or not the act should be considered a criminal offence, or whether we should just dismiss it.

We have all heard of the saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me", but when should the law intervene and measures taken to cease verbal abuse?

Anna Soubry has been targeted by abusive protesters outside Parliament recently, and has even been accused of being a "nazi".

Columnist Owen Jones has also been among those who have been a target for heckling, predominately linking back to Brexit.

However, Mr Jones responded by saying: "Both me and Anna Soubry are white middle-class people in positions of privilege. We need to start talking about the abuse whipped up by the media against benefit claimants, migrants, refugees, and Muslims which doesn't end up becoming headline news."

In my personal opinion, words this rude and harmful should be viewed as a criminal offence.

People can be taken to court for slander, but maybe there should be a less formal form of this law in the cases of heckling in a public situation.

Whilst prison would not be the answer, community service would be a valuable lesson and therefore prevent problems that could arise in the future.

There have been words in the past which have come out of our usage due to their offensive nature, and maybe others such as "nazi" should be added to this list.

On the other hand, I can understand protesters urge to communicate their political views, however as the past has proven, peaceful protests and mass demonstrations have the ability to be just as effective, without the need for heckling, verbal assault and in some cases violence.

By Kate Rainford