Isn't it amazing the stupidity a liberal society engenders? It's the only mindset I know of that, when something successful happens, we try to undo what created the success.
From the Aberdeen News, now that crime is down and there's a little more sanity in our communities, some people want to undo what had a hand in reducing crime in the first place: seriously locking up juvenile offenders.
Crime down: Juvenile crime is down, in contrast to the turbulent 1990s when politicians vied to pass laws to get violent kids off the streets. Now, in calmer times, some champion community programs for young offenders to replace punitive measures they say went too far.
The juvenile justice system was created to keep some of the salvageable kids from getting into serious crime. The thing is, because parental responsibility has gone out the door, some juveniles have already turned into an unsalvageable menace to society by the time they hit their teens (if not before):
He was frustrated when he couldn't try as an adult a 16-year-old who killed an acquaintance in a drug dispute and served less than 1 years in juvenile detention.
Teaching kids that murder "ain't no thang" won't do them or society any good. And backing off from the tough policies that have made our communities safer isn't going to do ANYONE any good.
The only thing that will help is parents becoming parents again. And if they'd still rather see their kids end up in jail, then we need to remember the #1 priority of the criminal justice system.
“The laws that were changed were appropriate and necessary,” says Minnesota prosecutor James Backstrom. “We need to focus on protecting the public - that's No. 1. Then we can address the needs of the juvenile offenders.”
2 comments:
However... I must point out that the system needs to allow parents to be parents again, rather than to steal their rights away to raise their own kids, while then holding them accountable for the results that resulted from taking those rights away in the first place!
That's entirely true, Carrie. Parents have to be continually fighting to maintain their rights, these days. Unfortunately, too many parents have simply abdicated their responsibility...and unfortunately get to watch their offspring spend their lives in and out of the criminal justice system.
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