How we are raising our children

Minister Vic Toews has suggested tabling legislation in the Canadian House of Commons lowering the minimum age that a child can be charged criminally from 12 to 10 years of age. The current justification for the minimum of 12 years old is, in a nutshell, that children that are that young "did not know any better" and that other methods other than criminalization are a better answer to delinquent behaviour. Maybe these people are right. But I have very little hope for the children that fall into these people's hands and here's why.

I quote from the Toronto Metro, "Dr. Leena Augimeri is the director of the Centre for Children Committing Offences at Toronto's Child Development Institute, which specializes in research and early intervention for youths under 12..." Dr. Augimeri is clearly in an incredibly high position to do something about delinquent youth before they fall under the umbrella of the criminal justice system and its questionable ways of dealing with young people these days. However, this is her take on Toew's proposal. "Criminalization equals punishment, and we know that doesn't work."

*crickets*

Excuse me? Punishment doesn't work? So you're telling me that when my parents punished me for lying when I got into trouble, that didn't teach me that lying was bad and that I shouldn't do it? You're telling me that when my parents disciplined me for flipping a bird at my grandmother when I was 11 years old that I didn't realize that was a bad thing?

Martha Mackinnon (I think I washed this lady's windows) the executive director for Justice for Children and Youth, a legal-aid organization, says in the same article that "Deterrents as a principle don't work fo ryoung people. Most of their conduct, whether it's good or bad, is impulsive." She also says that "the brains of most offenders under age 12 are not developped enough for the court system to be effective."

So what she's saying is that when kids get in trouble, they're too stupid to learn from the fact that actions have consequences? When we grew up we magically gained the ability to suddenly discern that bad actions means bad results? Or did she, when at the young inquistive age of 4 years old, not realize that the element on a stove was hot when bright orange after burning her fingers and keep on touching said element?

Now don't get me wrong here, I am not at ALL arguing that we should be sending children to jail or creating more delinquent centres etc. All I'm saying is that if these are the people in charge of coming up with alternate punishments and rehabilitations, then I am very scared for today's children who are being told that their impulsiveness is only natural and should not be curbed. Heck I'm not just scared for the children, I'm scared for the world when these kids grow up having been told this, and then as adults making impulsive decisions because they were never reprimanded or forced to face the negative consequences of negative behaviour. Our world will not only just be run by blithering idiots who yell at each other all the time, they will be run by blithering immature idiots that will start bombing each other not realizing the consequences. I sincerely hope that someone intervenes in these children's lives before it escalates to such as this.