Crime Prevention With Kids
After going through some various strange sickness symptoms that I won’t get into I’m feeling better now. I escaped and went out with a friend to the 30th Annual Justice Dinner where Bob Rae spoke on how to be tough on crime and love the charter.
His take on being tough on crime is to work harder on prevention and doing that by starting with kids so that they’ll have a chance. If more teens were treated for mental health issues or addictions earlier, they would have a better chance. Instead, many get lost in the cracks, end up on the streets, put on waiting lists and then land in jail.
Nobody is really surprised but not enough is done to prevent it. Prevention makes much more sense than simply building more jails and waiting for more kids to mess up.
Just building more jails instead of offering help early not only sends the message to children that they’re not worth it but also puts them and the rest of society in danger. These kids need help before it’s too late. A large percentage of children who are abused also end up being abusers but you don’t hear about it until they hurt themselves or someone else.
Prevention with our own kids includes talking to them about drugs, teaching them how to manage conflicts, bullying and how to handle peer pressure. If they can’t talk to us that is when they are vulnerable to turning to someone else who might not have their best interests at heart like gangs.
Helping other children by volunteering and supporting free leisure activities, breakfast programs and community centers in our communities are other ways we can all help make a difference.
I did take some pictures but not too many of them turned out well. I blame the lighting but admit I need practice.
There’s a picture of him and I floating around somewhere but the one taken with my camera didn’t turn out. At the end of his talk, Bob sang us a tune and I left feeling hopeful for all of our children’s futures.
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