Just when I think I've seen it all, I manage to catch this little gem from the Ottawa Sun.
I am at a loss for words at the sheer stupidity of Vic Toews, this man now wants to put twelve year old children in the prison system. Unbelievable, I cannot honestly believe somebody is so coldhearted to somebody who is still growing up. Imagine if your twelve, how scared would you be if you were put in prison, with men at least much older then you.
Some kids at a very young age are introduced to crime. Punishment is not answer to crime. What the Conservative Party clearly doesn't understand is Urban Areas. It should be no surprise they've been shut out of every major populated urban area except one seat in Winnipeg and a few in Regina, Saskatchewan as well as Edmonton and Calgary. But the fact is that the only way you can kill off crime is by cutting it off at its source. You can't kill a tree of slowly by poisoning it but if you cut it at the bottom it will die. The same analogy can be used for Crime.
Mr. Toews has clearly lost his mind in this case and I am just shocked he even thought about this.
4 comments:
What a great idea ,only the little bastards parents should have to serve the sentence with him.
"I'm not suggesting that we put them in prison"
-Vic Toews (in the article that you linked to)
I think you may be over-reacting a tad bit. A child that is 12 years old is perfectly capable of understanding consequences for actions. So why isn't a harsher punishment used as a deterrent and part of a greater plan to curb the ever increasing amount of youth crime in Canadian cities a good idea?
Adam,
A 12 year old is most cetainly not capable of understanding consequences that involve the criminal justice system.
The frontal lobes of their brains are not fully developed. This part of the brain is not fully developed until at least 18 probably older.
12 year olds who committ crime are most certainly not in loving supportive, capable and appropriate homes. That's why child welfare gets involved. Anger management, anti-violence and addiction counciling, crisis intervention, camps and various other supports for children and parents in these situations often helps to keep these children out of the criminal justice system in the future.
Jack,
Thanks for this insight. As a young person perhaps you have some other ideas about how to deal with youth crime, perhaps bettter ones than Mr. Towes. I hop people listen to you.
So, while children are developing their frontal lobes they are completely free of consequences, while the rest of the world simply hopes that their frontal lobes still develop properly? I am pretty sure that I knew that breaking the law was wrong when I was 12 years old, maybe my frontal lobe developed that much faster? I guess in that case, thank you for suggesting that I have superior intelligence... how kind of you!
I understand that putting a child in jail is a bad thing and certainly that is not what I or Toews was suggesting. But I am concerned that by shielding an adolescent from the consequences of their actions while their frontal lobes are developing then the correct synapses between a wrong action and the consequences of that action will not form. I don't think that the logic between "if I beat up this person and steal their wallet that is wrong. I am breaking the law and there are consequences for my actions" is out of reach for a twelve year old. It isn't exactly rocket science.
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