Why is the Youth out of control ?

I have noticed in the last ten years in the central Florida area where I live their has been a dramatic increase in serious crime. The more I watch the news The more I see that this a big problem. Four teens close to my neighborhood killed a 53 year homeless man because they said it was fun and they didn't have anything else to do. [url=http://www.news-journalonline.com/special/homeless/] Last year 4 teens killed 7 people and a dog in their home with baseball bats and knives over a PS2 game.www.news-journalonline.com...

I have been searching for answers on what is wrong with our youth here are some ideas i've come up with . Obviously their are video games which glorify violence and movies which do the same . I know none of these things make people make these discisions but I think it makes it easier to go through with these crimes when their idol does nothing but talks about breaking the law. I think high divorce rates and no such thing as a stay home parent any more let kids have more freedom at a younger age could be a nother part. And last is something i wonder about, Now more people rely on fast food for nutrition than ever and i was wondering if growing up with a lack of everything the body needs if it will make the brain function different and possably more violent. sorry if it sounds stupid

What do you think ?

i have 2 boys and i can tell you that one of the biggest problems with teens in the last two decades is a lack of dicipline and access to information.(kids are more sophisticated now).they know there is no way to stop them from doing what they want when they want.(you dicipline a child,you are abusive:you don't dicipline a child,you are a failure as a parent.) psychologists spinning their theories about parenting have tied our hands.the tag:NO FEAR has really become a rule to live by(for kids).

In my opinion, and from what ive seen lately crime rates and the such have been going down quite steadily. Here are a few articles for your enjoyment.


msnbc.msn.com...
^^^crime rate down in schools.

www.jrsa.org...
^^^I urge you to read this department of justice report in adobe format

heres a quote from it

"JUveniles are most often involved in property crime, but account for less than 20% of arrests for murder, assault,rape,and other sex offenses"

www.jrsa.org...
^^check this out too. This doesnt necessarily deal with youth, but note the last 15 years the drastic decline in almost all forms of crime....

I have much more but i need to study for finals. Peace

[edit on 11-12-2005 by Uber Fr0g]

well, if you take discipline out of the school system, and you spend more time teaching political correctness than teaching right from wrong, this is what happens, IMHO.

furthermore, we have spent the last 30 years effectively taking god out of the school system. the ten commandments are now taught to be religious fundamentalism that has no place in the school. lets see, a document that says dont murder, respect your parents, and dont screw around with other people's wives/husbands is wrong to teach in our society. and people wonder whats wrong with our youth?

The issue is that while the parents are out, working hard to provide, the kids are left without the learning about the discipline. Look at that rave thread. Kids are used to doing whatever they want, damn the consequences- if there are any. So, when order is imposed by outside forces- the police, for example- they scream brutality. They want everything handed to them on a silver platter.

Instead of working, they deal drugs.

Instead of thinking about their futures, they pump themselves full of drugs.

Instead of doing something about the problems in their neighborhoods, they complain about the police not fixing it for them. Or better yet, become a part of the problem.

Don't let TV raise your kids.

DE

Heres the answer folks.

Kids need discipline and these days its hard to do. Heres some good tips for teaching your kids respect and discipline:

Martial Arts
There is so much a child can learn from martial arts. Any age is good but from 4 to 15 is the best. Martial arts teaches self control, respect, and determination.

Individual sports as opposed to team sports
Same idea as martial arts here. Individual sports makes kids learn self control and discipline, theres no one else they can count on if they want to win.

Military/Private School
This should be obvious. Unfortunately not everyone can afford this option.

Whassamatta with kids today? Dagnab it!

And oh yeah, stay off my lawn!

There are still good kids out there, i wouldn't say i'm a kid anymore but there's still groups of school kids who do their work, have fun and don't abuse others.

And what do they get for it? Nothing!

And the bad kids? Free dinners, money to GO to school ( yes i know ) etc etc..

And what they do now in the UK is: Get paid to stay on at school from the public purse, go to college on the public purse ( while their 35 year old parents go to college on the public purse ) then if they are female they get knocked up, and claim child benefit and a council house... THEN they pretend they are disabled ( because the UK benefits system is a joke because no one checks for about a year ) and get incapacity benefit while they stuff their faces with mcdonalds and buy crappy looking tracksuits and ned burberry baseball caps!

Sorry, rant over, the sooner Labour are out of power the better!

[edit on 13-12-2005 by Snoopdopey]

And not just the stoners, either.

At the same time that crime rates are down in every category, in practically every state, crimes by juveniles are becoming more spectacular. At the same time, the public is becoming less and less tolerant of situations that "coddle" miscreants.

Part of this is due to a lack of punishment for minors.

There's another thread on ATS about the horrors of handcuffing minors. When I asked about what an acceptable response would look like, I was accused of "baiting" the thread.

The problem is with a tiny minority of violent youth. As poor a job as we collectively do raising children, most of them turn out fine anyway. The small group of real criminals realize that they probably won't be caught. Even if they are caught, they will not be punished in any way that threatens their long-term freedom or happiness.

An aquaintance of mine told his high-school-age son that he needed to get good grades.

"What for?" was the teeanager's response.

"So you can get a good job" was the father's reply.

"I don't want a job. I don't want to work for a living" was the teen's rebuff.

At that point, I figure the battle is already lost. If the father was capable of summoning the courage needed to teach his son about consequence, he would have done so a long time before this conversation took place.

My older kids already know what's coming. If I suspect them of having drugs in their rooms, I won't search the room. I'll call the cops and ask them to bring their drug dogs over. I have lots of cop friends, and I'll be inviting them over for dinner when they are going on shift. And inviting them over for a cup of coffee when they get a break.

Nothing unnerves your kids' hoodie friends like seeing squadcars in front of your house, or coming over for dinner and seeing a uniformed cop at the table.

You might think I'm exaggerating. But my kids know that I'm not bluffing; and they are the audience that matters.

That's right. I'm the national president of "Fathers against Fun."

and i say you seem to be doing an excellent job strange. youre not supposed to be their best friend, your supposed to raise them to be responsible members of society.

good on ya!

I am not very old, but old enough to know that discipline is needed a lot more than used to be. I know kids who yell at thier parents and send them to the hospitol wondering what they did wrong. I was raised with soap in mouth and spankings and more kids need to be. My mom smacked my hand in the store one time because I was putting things into the cart and some lady saw her and told my mom that she was gonna report us to child services... my mom told her that she could do what she wanted but she wasn't going to have a child that did not listen. My parents took me to the police station when I was 9 over a pack of jolly ranchers.. 68 cents. I hated them for it then, but I thank them now. I remember every compliment my parents have had because they have such well-behaved children, and it is because they spanked us when we did wrong. Todays youth just needs to be smacked in the mouth a little more, or maybe just more intimidating influences in thier lives. Let them know who is really the boss. I am a success story of right punishment. I have never done any kind of drug, nor have I been drunk. I did not grow up in small towns, my parents just did it right.

A few thoughts. These all might not directly apply, but it does show the crazy thinking patterns.

-People are being tought things like "It's not your fault that you went crazy and killed 100 people, it was a chemical inbalance in that piece of meat between his ears (your brain)" You can get yourself a psychiatrist, claim insanity and you don't have to be responsible for your action.

-You are taught about sex in school and how to use condoms, but no mention of responsible and lasting relationships.

-Adding to the problems are chemical drugs given to you by the wonderfull folks at "Drugs R Us," that only mask the problem, and can make the problem worse. The festering sore continues to fester unless you actually handle the sore. I wonder why Billy suddenly blew up one day and shot the kids at school?

-Having a Christmas tree is a scandal, but it's just fine for TV shows to become more and more vulgar. Do you see that craziness?

-Saving money is more important to some companies, than keeping enough people working to actually make the company more money with increased production. Instead of making more money by making a bigger and more productive organization, the organization shrinks out of existence. In other words, you are moving toward a work force that will take you off the pay roll if it will save the company a buck or two. To some companies, you are nothing more than a number, and expendable.


Troy

My opinion on this is that, by comparison, things havent changed a bit. There is always something the youth are into that is going to urk the older generation and be labled as taboo. The new style of dancing that came along with Elvis in the 50's, is a good example of this. So called "Negro Music" during the 50's as well. During the 60's rock music(Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yardbirds ect), guys wearing the hair long in the 70's. The list goes on. I just think this is a trend from generation to generation that has never stopped. Remember as times change so does societies ideas of what is deviance. And you cant define what is deviant by looking at deviant behavior, but only by looking at what society labels as deviance. Haha, I'm finally putting some of this education I'm getting to use. Anyones thoughts?

I seriously think the morals and ethics are degrading in our society. I don't blame videogames or movies for this, because in Japan they have just as much exposure to this if not more. What I do believe is a problem is our society's fascination with the badguy. Rap music recently (well more like the past 9 years) has been TOTALLY about being the biggest/flashiest/temporarily successful bad guy and this seems to be rubbing off on today's youth as well as people in my age group (im 19).

The hard part is it is so ingrained in our culture now that it is hard to get away from it. I myself listen to rap a lot here and there and when I go to clubs, parties, or even the radio rap music is THE music that is played, and many people (not all) love it.


Other possible reasons for this increase in crime is that we have life extremely easy in America than in other parts of the world. I believe that crime flurishes under two main conditions: either in extreme poverty/oppression, when in order to survive crime must be commited or is easier to do to survive (temporary as it may be). Or when the status quo is boring and extremely high. example: picture the "thug" white boy who lives in potomac or any other extremely wealthy area in the United States. They emulate gangsters and want to be "hard" when all they really want is.... well I don't know what they really want.


I want to move to Canada.

I just took my finals and this exact thing is what were on them. These are a few theories that we covered(including one about the thug whited kid on country club drive). I will cover one of the major theories that full under the series of Social Process Theory. It is called Social Disorganization Theory:
"Crime is both normal, and functional"-Emile Durkheim
Social disorganization relates to the social environment of a neigborhood.
1. High Transient Rate-people constantly moving in and out
2. Because of this, close relationships and a sense of community are not developed.
3. This leads to community deterioration( a whole different animal to tackle, if anyone is interested U2U me)

Crime as it relates to poverty in that in poverty, there are broken homes. Now broken homes do not create crime, its the:
1. Fighting, shouting, conflict inside the home
2. Not enough supervision for the Children (parent(s) working 2 jobs)
3. Or the presence of druges/alcohol in the home

You can also look at how kids in the broken home get directly involved in crime. These kids can fall into 3 groups(mind you this is just one of the many theories that exist about how this comes about)
1. Corner Boy- Commits minor crimes like shoplifting, truancy, vandalism ect.
2. College Boy- Actively striving to reach the middle class. There is a barrier that most from this environment will run in to, its called Cohen's Middle Class Measuring Rod.(once again if interested U2U me)
3. Delinquent Boy- Gets involved with gangs and commits more serious offenses, adopts values directly opposite of the mainstream, looking for independence.

"If you look at social structure, someone who has access to criminal elements and values, is more likely to commit crime than someone who does not."- Cloward & Owen

Now to address the thug white kid on country club drive: There are 2 ways to explain this, one is the Gabriel Tarde's Theory of Immitation and the other is the Merton's Mode of Adaption(I feel Mertons theory is the correct one as it applies best to your upper class youth deviant anyhow)
Modes of Adaption:
First off, you have to have the principle behind it. All societies have one thing in common; goals, and the means to achieve them. And here are the ways people tend to adapt to those:
1. Conformity: acceptance of goals, and means to achieve them.
2. Innovation: acceptance of goals, and rejectoin of means
3. Ritualism: Rejection of goals, acceptance of the means
4. Retreatism: drop out from society completely
5. Rebellion: Rejection of goals and means, want to overthrow current order and establish a new one.

If anyone has any interest, which I doubt, I love this stuff but I'm sure it has bored you, U2U me. But I hope it helps answer some questions about youth deviance and how it applies to both upper and lower class society. I will close with a quote that is very relevant to how societies perceptions of what is deviance.

"If you want to study deviance, dont look at the person being labeled deviant, look at the social crowd who label him/her deviant."- Kai Erickson

[edit on 12/15/2005 by ludaChris]

I think don't agree with the moving around aspect being a factor in good child beahavior. I have never lived in the same state for more than three years at a time. Nor have I had any home for more than 2 years of my life.

I think that moving around, and not creating the close bonds made it easier for me to stay drug and alcohol free. Being around the same people all the time, and having really close friends, I think makes someone younger a lot more vulnerable to trying new things.

If your best friend comes up to you one day with something illegal what are you going to do? This is your best friend. Will you risk losing this person over a good decision?

In this culture a lot of people depend on friends for life. If you have no friends or anyone to talk to, what is the point of living? I know everone is not dependent on other people to be happy, but moving around so much has sure made me not so dependant on ther people. Maybe that would solve a lot of todays problems.

I feel that the westernized, post-industialized, spoiled culture has a lot to do with the way children behave. I know that people (no offense) with behavior problem children put the blame on television programs, video games, songs (rap, heavy metal) and the influence of friends as reasons behind the behavior problems, but, in reality it is your child knowing what he/she can get away with. They test you! They are dying for attention because, unlike the way life was like in the 50's and 60's, both parents have to work in order to maintain the "American Dream." Since parents are not always around, parents do not know what there children are doing. Then when they get in trouble, any type of repremanding that is used can be thrown into the parents face as a type of abuse.

I know when I did something wrong, I got smacked, yelled at, punished, and whatever else my parents thought of.

I notice a trend that is becoming more and more frequent: kids screaming and crying in department stores, restaurants, etc., and the parent does nothing at all.

How to control your kids:
1) Reprimand your child
2) Teach them right from wrong
3) Talk to your child
4) Look at the video games/websites they play or go to
5) Put the child in an after school program if both parents/single parents work
6) Put a time limit on playing video games
7) Put them in a sport program
8) Bring them to museums on your time off, keep them busy
9) Stick to your guns, don't give in
10) Let your child know that they are not like other kids, they are themselves
11) Know who your kids are hanging out with, if you don't approve of some, don't let them hang out with each other

Originally posted by snafu7700
well, if you take discipline out of the school system, and you spend more time teaching political correctness than teaching right from wrong, this is what happens, IMHO.

furthermore, we have spent the last 30 years effectively taking god out of the school system. the ten commandments are now taught to be religious fundamentalism that has no place in the school. lets see, a document that says dont murder, respect your parents, and dont screw around with other people's wives/husbands is wrong to teach in our society. and people wonder whats wrong with our youth?

You have voted snafu7700 for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have one more vote left for this month.

Nice Cheese reference. You goin' to new years?

Originally posted by phlantz
Nice Cheese reference. You goin' to new years?

Hehe... We are going to confuse some people here if we talk about this. Can't make it to new years this year... Getting to old and responsible... It sucks.

www.seaofdreamsnye.com...

Looks like a good time though.

[edit on 19-12-2005 by LostSailor]