Puff the Magic Dragon
The time has come to rethink our nation's policies on narcotics and juvenile crime. We have kids in the fourth and fifth grades getting arrested for possesion of marijuana and other substances. We have youth just learning how to convert ounces to grams and realizing that their dealer has been cheating them for some time now. And that that dealer must be killed in order to achieve retribution. These grade school kids will already have a lengthy criminal record before they get their first zit! What kind of a lasting effect can such trauma be having on the lives of these troubled young people?
Recently I was afforded the opportunity to meet one such individual. The psychologically devastating effects of his experience were easilly apparent to all. In just a few short years since his arrest, this young man has completely turned his back on society. He purposely ignores the conventions and niceties of politeness and manners. He has turned to self mutilation (piercing, tattoos) in extreme measures. He is an extremely agitated young man, as witnessed by his inability to sit still, haunted by the demons of his past, covering his fears with a blanket of laughter. God only knows how different he might have turned out if not for his early run in with the law.
Perhaps, if he had never been arrested, never been exposed to the harsh reality of criminal life, had not had his senses brutalized by the dark despair of contemplating a life contrary to law and order, perhaps he could have grown up more towards the normal end of the scale.
Unfortunately, for that individual and millions more just like him, it may be too late. It seems that once exposed to the severe consequences for their actions, the majority of them simply give up and resign themselves to living out the rest of their days in misery; a drastic case of catatonia sets in and imposes itself upon all that they do. Whether despair, or a reaction of shock against the raw world of criminal justice, the result is the same: kids in trouble.
What kind of future can we hope for for our kids when we force them to be exposed to the strictures of our criminal justice system at such an early age? Is it any wonder that our youth appear to be dragging us straight into the gaping mouth of hell in their desperation to escape the fate that our courts have predestined them for? Do we have a nation of Bart Simpsons destined to grow up to be Beavis and Buttheads? Should we, in order to protect our kids, arrest the parents for the crimes of thier children?