Addressing crime starts not with lectures but giving youths a proper start in life
There was an interesting story published here recently about a pair of local judges who have a reputation for trying to impart some wisdom on convicted criminals as they pass sentence upon them.
Many local citizens appreciate the admonishments that Bibb County Judges Verda Colvin and Howard Simms deliver in their courtrooms because they tend to be unflinchingly honest but also are given from a place of concern, not vindictiveness.
The judges hope that these lectures will help the convicted party (usually a young male) to become fully aware of the consequences of his actions and possibly to serve as a warning to other young people to avoid making the same mistakes and ending up in the same situation. As Judge Simms observed in the subject article, his advice generally comes too late to be of much help to the young men he is sending off to prison.
It’s not uncommon for the judges to express frustration as to why these young men choose to commit criminal acts that seem to be absurd and pointless. A good example of that occurred recently when Judge Simms delivered a guilty verdict to a 17 year-old boy who was convicted of pistol whipping an 80 year-old man in his own driveway and getting away with just a pair of scissors for his trouble.
“That doesn’t make sense to me,” Judge Simms said to the young man, “and not a single kid who has stood over there has given me any kind of answer that makes it make sense.”
The thing is, these kids can’t explain their actions. They lack a basic sense of right and wrong and I don’t believe they are able to grasp the concept of why consideration for other people’s feelings is the glue that holds a society together. There is no speech that is going to fix that problem, no matter how much wisdom and compassion it contains.
By the time these young men show up in court, the problems they bring with them are long-standing and extremely difficult to address. Most of them have grown up in conditions that the more fortunate of us can’t imagine — in poverty and surrounded by all of the worst influences.
The solution, if there is one, would call for much earlier intervention in their lives, going all the way back to conception. Studies of human brain development have shown that poor nutrition, drug use, and extreme stress experienced by a child’s mother during pregnancy leads to impaired development of the brain that directly leads to an increase in the likelihood of antisocial behavior as the child matures into adulthood.
If a child is subject to poor nutrition, abuse, and neglect after he is born, it only further impedes proper development of the brain. We should not be surprised that criminal behavior is the end result of a life that starts out with so little promise and so many disadvantages.
I’m not suggesting that people shouldn’t be held responsible for criminal behavior because of a rough start in life. Anyone who beats up an 80 year-old man over a pair of scissors has to be sent to jail. But if we really want to reduce the crime rate we need to focus our attention on the communities that breed violent crime and ask ourselves what we can do to give these children a better start.
Pregnant mothers need proper nutrition and a safe environment to live in. Children need the same things after they are born, plus safe schools and productive things to do in their free time.
We need civic groups, churches and concerned individuals to make their presence known to the poverty stricken parts of our community so that the children who live there don’t feel abandoned. And if you consider yourself to be a Christian and need some motivation to get involved in these children’s lives, remember that Jesus said that “Whatever you do for the least of these” you also do for him.
Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Contact him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.