137 offences

and still out wandering the streets?

In the last couple of days there has been some discussion in the local media about youth crime rates. Apparently there really is an offender out on bail who has appeared in court for one hundred and thirty seven offences. No doubt they will be back in court shortly. They will be given another slap on the wrist. They will be given another "chance".

I have been inside a Youth Court. I went in with a young boy who was a victim of a particularly vicious act. He was injured badly enough that he ended up in hospital. His "crime" in the eyes of the perpetrator was that the boy did not hand over his new-to-him bike. It had been a birthday present from his single mother, a widow who was trying to keep her family together. The young boy, just nine at the time, had been immensely proud of that bike.

"My mum worked really hard to get me that and he just took it away!" I can hear him saying that now. He sat between me and his mother in tears. The bike had been damaged beyond repair for the sheer "fun" of it.

The perpetrator just went on smiling and jigging around. He did not look in the least bit concerned. He knew that the court could do nothing to him. At ten years of age he already had a record. 

The victim did get another bike eventually. A local shopkeeper wanted to give it to him outright but, after negotiations with the boy's mother gave him a simple after school "job" in order to "earn" it. His mother did not want the boy to believe he could simply get given something for nothing. The last I heard of that boy he was entering university to train as a doctor. 

I doubt the perpetrator of the crime is. He may be in prison. I hope not but it would not surprise me.  All the court could do was try and get him to say "sorry" and "I won't do it again"...but of course he did do wrong again. The next time he was in court was for trying to set alight to a new kitchen in a neighbour's house. I heard about it from the mother of the victim. The perpetrator lived not far from them and the news of his new offence had spread rapidly.

People wanted that boy punished. The court was powerless to do anything except reprimand him. 

I wonder if there would really have been anything very unreasonable about making a ten year old work to pay for a bicycle he had stolen and damaged beyond repair? It was the victim who worked for it. 

The idea that children under the age of twelve are too young to be seen as offenders offends me. There is still a push to raise that age to fourteen or even fifteen. That is offensive too. I am not suggesting they should have their criminal records follow them into adult life because some of them do grow up. They go on to be good citizens.  It is just that there really is a need for them to face the consequences of their actions in a more realistic way.

There are too many repeat offenders like the perpetrator of the bike crime. They need to be punished not encouraged. They need to be punished before they can commit something like those one hundred and thirty seven crimes.