Just young black yutes learning to be black men, nothing to see...
“Teens”
Obviously it’s not going to save the criminals, but more activities would help younger kids go down a different path.
Oh, for Pete’s sake! They live in a city. There is plenty to do. Try growing up in a small town with not even a movie theater. You find things to do. Those things don’t have to be destructive.
Someone saw Les Miserables, and thinks they are an expert on criminal justice.
I have heard it for decades “A victim of culture”.
“teenagers”
Part of the problem is govt. logistics. They have to transport Lord knows how far to a school, but they don’t use school buses for the higher grades, they give them bus passes for the transit system. They’ve arranged that everyone has to transfer buses downtown, which results in big groups of teens downtown waiting for the next bus. That’s usually when the trouble starts.
As a side note, Pittsburgh police will no longer answer most relatively minor calls if the suspect is not still on-scene. They made an official announcement to that effect.
For example, suppose your house has just been burglarized and the burglar has left (hopefully). The police will not respond. Just call it in, and receive a report number. That’s it.
Same goes with shoplifting, menacing, stalking, etc. How long will it be before Pittsburghers just stop bothering to report such crimes?
And that might be the whole idea. Fewer reports mean crime is down, right?
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (the one liked by the Beatles, Donovan, Mia Farrow and Dr. Deepak Chopra) had a detailed plan. He wanted to build good quality outdoor basketball courts in low income city neighborhoods, and have recreation centers nearby with exercise and weight rooms and places to gather and see movies and have clubs meeting and so on.
His aide said: "This is going to cost a lot of money. Where will the money come from?"
Maharishi: "From wherever it is now."
Chain gangs.
We have whole cities that need fixing.
Such people should be charge as collaborators to the crime.
How about midnight basketball?
Only a lad
You really can’t blame him
Only a lad
Society made him
Only a lad
He’s our responsibility
Oh, oh-woah-woah
Only a lad
He really couldn’t help it
Only a lad
He didn’t wanna do it
Only a lad
He’s underprivileged and abused
Perhaps a little bit confused
Oh-oh-oh, oh-woah-woah-woah
Woah-woah-woah
Ohh, woah-woah-woah
They could try reading....
Oh wait.
“The article goes on to say that these same teenage criminals have been committing crimes for months, but they’ve never had to face any consequences. By not punishing these teenage serial criminals, the government is sending the message that their criminal behavior is acceptable and that it will be tolerated. This is the exact opposite of the message that they should be sending.”
Yep, exactly. If there no consequences, why stop?
I’ll take “Things nobody ever says about teenagers from Japan or India” for $200, Alex.
The problem really is that young people have too much time on their hands. They need work, like landscaping and upkeep, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, vacuuming and dusting. They need a full time mother at home to supervise their work and studies in short. One summer when my Dad was off to the PI, Australia, Japan, Scotland or Spain on military business, he left me and my brother chores.
Weeding the front yard, by hand. Using weed forks to rid the lawn of dandelions. We had piles 2-3 feet high. Another summer, he gave us paint and paint brushes, and had us paint the house.
The most ironic part of the painting was, when he retired he started a painting business. He used airless sprayers of course, drop cloths and we could then paint a house a day with another for trimming. Yet we learned to paint by hand. We got in absolutely minimal trouble for two guys aged 14 and 16. We learned quickly it was better to find a job outside the home, and earn money, than it was to lay idle.
“Idle hands are the devils playground” was commonly used as a mantra when raising children. Hell, every Spring and Fall, my mom had us washing walls getting the nicotine off. Don’t forget the windows!!!
Midnight Basketball again? Didn’t work the first few times it was tried, won’t work this time either, but I have no doubt they’ll try it one more time...
Those silly “teenagers!”