Innovative thinking to halt youth crime
THE escalating problem of youth or “kiddie crime”, to which it is now charitably referred, is now public enemy No.1 Australia-wide.
Not a day passes that the media is not saturated with complaints concerning the problem, and opinions on how we should be dealing with this ogre that has become a way of life.
Lawlessness is the fastest growing and most challenging dilemma facing the world, and building bigger jails is definitely not the answer.
If ever the hypothetical stage was reached where our police force increased tenfold, the problem would still exist.
Unfortunately, the problem is in the hands of government, and while that adverse situation persists, I assure readers there will be no proverbial quick fix, full stop!
All governments do is throw money at a problem and create jobs for public servants who then gobble up 90¢ out of every dollar allocated to “fix” the problem, while the government triumphantly spruiks to the media how they have allocated X amount of dollars to eliminate that particular problem.
Then the rule of thumb generally follows the motion of wiping the hands and politely asking “Any more questions?” with much head nodding in the background. Governments are a last resort if anything needs fixing.
They are the most inefficient economic managers one could possibly imagine!
If government was competing with the private sector, there would be a predominance of ex-politicians and government workers in every dole queue. Amen!
No one has a panacea for this affliction. Many pie-inthe-sky opinions, (and mine might be classified as another), and a lot of knee-jerk reactions.
Juvenile rehabilitation is absolutely paramount but it must be entrusted to private enterprise or to some philanthropist with the necessary pedigree (not university degree!) to tackle the problem, and I know such people exist.
It should be someone “hands-on”, commanding respect from all parties, who is not emasculated by red tape and political interference and the bleating of do-gooders, with zero government involvement at the pointy end.
One local who comes to mind is Geoff Toomby, who has the runs on the board in a similar situation, and some of our philanthropic ex-sportsmen and servicemen could play a significant and vastly rewarding support role in this endeavour. But, I repeat, government must be passive observers apart from providing the wherewithal to get it off the ground.
Music (real music!), holds the key to unlocking the juvenile brain processes, and no amount of counter-argument will convince me otherwise.
Music is the common denominator that speaks all languages and cuts across all of life’s facets, and while maybe not a panacea, it would be way ahead of whatever is in second place. DON MORRIS Cranbrook