#VIOLENT KIDS


Many feel violent offenders should be put away regardless of their age. Michigan enacted some of the toughest laws to deal with kids who commit violent crimes. Those laws allowed kids to be charged as adults at any age. Despite tougher laws, the number of violent crimes committed by kids continued to grow, Why? A lot of kids who commit violent crimes have no sense of direction and in many cases are cries for help. The zero tolerance policies on kids, should have been on their behavior, instead of interventions, kids were thrown into adult prisons that only confine and punish. A system that has declared war against its children, didn't stop to ask why were these children behaving violently, but pumped more money into prisons than into schools and prevention programs. Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center of Media and Children Health at Harvard University's Medical School said, "Violent cartoons can increase children's anxiety, desensitize them or lead them to believe that violence is more prevalent - and acceptable in real life than it really is." he also said, "Children younger than 8 are cognitively unable to distinguish between real and fantasy violence." The price of not addressing why kids commit violent crimes is paid by victims, tax-payers and children who may never correct this behavior. When children attend schools that place a greater value on discipline and security than on knowledge and intellectual development, they are attending prep schools for prison (school to prison pipe-line). According to the National School Safety Center breakdown school deaths nationwide excluding suicides from 1992 to 1999, children from the age of 4 to 19 were responsible for 178 deaths by guns or knives at school. In 1998, according to annual FBI statistics, seven children under age 10 were arrested and charged with homicide. Laws preventing school violence, including the mandatory expulsion of students who bring weapons to schools. By the time a child has brought a weapon to school its too late, then its just a reactionary measure to a problem that is out of hand. James Garbarino, professor of Human Development at Cornell University, he is also the author of "Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them" said, "First, they must believe that guns make them stronger, safer and more powerful. Second, they have to be comfortable being around other people with guns. Third, they have to find guns exciting. And last, they must feel that if someone disrespects them, they have to address that insult with aggression. (a study done in Cleveland that identified four common traits among boys who as teens acted on their compulsions to carry guns). At a certain point personal responsibility for ones actions has to take place, and solutions of 'Conflict Resolution' before violence happen, that doesn't involve adult prison sentences for kids.

Now available @ amazon.com "The Quarterback Handbook" by Raymond L. Carr Jr. This book is about 'Male Responsibility'

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