I absolutely agree that the foundations of crime prevention strategies have been considerably lax, particularly when it pertains to younger criminals, and continues to be largely the case.
I have recently been the victim of vehicular theft, and the culprits in this case were repeat offenders, one of whom had only been charged for a previous offence the very morning my vehicle was stolen.
As these offenders were children, they were not incarcerated, but released into the care of their parents or guardians; to what end? That they were free to steal again!
Child criminals need to be heavily targeted for rehabilitation so that they are not left to become repeat offenders and ultimately adult offenders.
And please, PLEASE, let’s stop placing the blame on the age of the mother when she gave birth.
I was 20 years old when I had my son, I am a single parent and earned very little money when my son was young, and yes, we had a very rough life for the first five years of his life, but I had the common sense to pull my socks up and do the best I could for him!
My son is now a hard working individual (both at school and in his after-school job), is a peer counsellor, a Y2Y member, and is currently in the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme.
Caroline Neale
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