My opinion on the youth crime rate.
It's getting increasingly worse. But the laws won't change to protect the public, and there is literally no help for families screaming for it. Iv noticed a lot of comments on line about "where are the parents" or "it's the parents fault" but in most cases, the parents have been doing everything they can to help their children with no help what so ever.
Until a child is 14, the likelihood that any police action will be taken is almost 0. Once they are 14, in most cases the police have their hands tied. They do the grunt work, for the judges to slap the kids on the wrist and let them walk.
As a parent, they have no rights to have their child committed for Psychiatric assessment. The police won't help, the courts won't help. Parents feel broken, helpless and unsupported. Parents are up at night looking for their kids. Locking kitchen knives in lock boxes, scared for their own after, and the wold is blaming them for their kids desire to commit crimes. We put all parents into one big category of uncaring, petty criminals who take no accountability, when most, are trying. The issue here isn't the parents. It's the laws that need to evolve so kids can get the help they need while still kids, to help them become functioning adults. The system is broken.
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A large percentage of kids in juvie in Western Australia have FAS so it is a much bigger problem than where are the parents or the judicial system. Theres a cycle of parents who are having kids out of addiction and inherited trauma, the kids have no hope. Most of the kids committing serious crime all over Australia have come from horrible backgrounds and that is the truth. I think it won't get better until we are taking these kids lives more seriously and making some changes so they are removed from dangerous homes well before a removal would cause significant trauma. FAS should be an indicator for removal, parents own anti social behaviour should be enough for removal. Unfortunately children are not removed until the damage has already been done and they continue the cycle.
I think Support for mental health and behaviour management for disabilities is far more important. The big stick approach is cruel and doesn't support kids to grow social responsibility. Also, you don't need to access psychiatric assessments through the judicial system unless it is relevant to the charges brought. Everyone can get a referral either through public health or privately before a person is charged with a serious crime though, regardless of whether they're an adult or child. More practitioners would reduce wait times though.
You're focusing on the reaction rather than prevention.
Well I'm in QLD so this is not an unusual opinion. Just now, teen boys destroyed our local cemetery's historic graves. Up to 500k of damage. They got a police caution. Not even made to help clean up. Just walked away. One was 17!!!
They are making headway with some intervention & monitoring programs. But we need deterrent laws & more parenting support.
It's so bad we're paying for private high school to keep our DS safe as the high school has no power, either. Also to get him away from the friends he's made who fit into this trauma category & are starting to show these traits (violence, bullying, manipulating DS). Both come from abusive backgrounds & keep getting bounced from family who are stable, back to the abusive parents. I can tell where they've been staying by their behaviour.
Yeah, I agree that's there's some very big flaws in the system but I don't agree that parents aren't the issue or bear no responsibility.
While I acknowledge that there probably are some loving, well adjusted parents who are at their witts end and have exhausted every avenue to get their kids some help or keep their kid on the straight and narrow, but for the most part parents are a big part of the problem.
In my area at least it's hugely generational, though I'd be willing to bet that statistics support this being the case more broadly. The majority of these kids come from this cycle of disadvantage, they come out of these low employment/high crime areas, many of them come from homes where DV, substance abuse and incarceration is as normal as a Sunday dinner. Many of these kids are raised with a anti authoritarian and anti social views, I was on the bus to work the other day listening to a couple who couldn't have been older than 20 teaching their 3 year old to say 'fuck the police' like it was the funniest thing in the world.
I know all this because I've lived it, this was my childhood. My parents thankfully had the reigns on us pretty well but many of my peers weren't so lucky, so many of the people I grew up with are still stuck in the judicial system, dealing with a lot of trauma and now their kids are repeating this cycle. My partner was arrested at the age of 13 and his parents literally cheered as the cops pulled him out of the paddy wagon, like his first arrest was a milestone.
I still see this shit today - a 13 year old stabbed a store manager in my shopping complex. Naturally he was arrested and charged but his whole family kept ranting on Facebook, defending his actions and even suggesting he was the victim.
You cannot begrudge people for questioning parents because it is completely unfathomable as to why we have kids as young as 11 or 12 running around with knives and breaking into cars at midnight or terrorising shopping centres, public transport etc...
The government does need to take action though and we as a society need to fight for that change.
We do need more mental health services, we need more crisis support services, more early intervention programs, we need to create employment opportunities, we need to get funding and good role models into these communities. Amongst many other things I'm certain.
I have lived this. My youngest daughter is completely off the rails. I have been physically assaulted by her on many occasions and she has threatened to slash my throat and also that of her stepdad. She is not allowed to live with us as child safety say it's not safe for us. She won't engage with the right services for her behaviour and I'm sick to death of people saying it's the parents fault. She doesn't engage in school and this is despite her being very smart academically. She has quite the criminal record now for mostly petty crimes and thinks it's cool to be acting the way her and her 'friends' do. Parents, teachers and the police all have our hands tied and this is from personal experience.