BORN TO BE BAD
WE read the ages of these knifebrandishing children, many in their pre-teens, who are stealing cars and breaking into houses and then we wonder about their parents. The only conclusion we can draw is that the parents are too drunk, too hungover or too stoned to care. There is every likelihood some of these parents suffered drug and alcohol-induced brain damage themselves when in utero. Now, as parents, they might not even be cognisant enough to appreciate what “care” is in the conventional sense. Their chance of a meaningful life was snuffed out even before they were born. Researchers into this subject would say these people are incapable of making coherent, life-enhancing decisions, not only for themselves but for the children they conceive. And before anyone jumps to any conclusions, let me stress that research shows foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is prevalent in all levels of society, white and black.
Downwards spiral
ONE senior police officer I spoke to last week said the situation now in Townsville is the result of a downwards, generational spiral. It has come to this. We are headed towards ground zero at flat-out speed. I asked the police officer about the incidence of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder among these offenders. The police officer indicated that as well as FASD, there are other mental conditions affecting this cohort of thieves. Is this what we have now? What will they be like when they are running loose in society in their late teens or early 20s, that is, if they are not in jail. The propensity for extreme violence is just around the next bend. And doubling down on this, it would be reasonable to assume that many of these juvenile criminals will be having their own children as soon as, or soon after they reach puberty. Who will look after this next generation of children born to mothers who drank heavily and took drugs while the baby was in the womb? Who will be looking out for these children? Going on the present situation, the answer is, no one. And so, it goes on and on. The downwards spiral. Something will go badly wrong and when it does all hell will break loose.
Disorder key factor
I SPOKE to an amazing woman this week about all of this. Louise Gray is the CEO of the parent-carer helpline for FASD called
NOFASD. Have you heard of her or her organisation, which is partly funded by the Federal Department of Health? No? Well, neither had I until I found her on the internet and gave her a call. Ms Gray says Western Australia shows that at least 36 per cent of young offenders have FASD.
“The rate of FASD in youth offenders is extraordinarily high,” she said. This is a conservative figure and it is likely, according to some researchers, that the FASD rate could be as high as 50 per cent. Ms Gray said that most children suffering permanent and irreparable brain damage due to alcohol or drug poisoning while in utero have immature social development, disorders with sensory processing, a lack of impulse control and an inability to predict consequence. They cannot link cause and effect and they do not learn from their mistakes. One manifestation of this is repeatedly breaking bail conditions. They can be prone to aggressive behaviour and as they get older this can lead to violent outcomes for teens and adults. Ms Gray said the most effective strategy is to try to prevent the behaviour from escalating, but adds this is easier said than done. You would have to think in Townsville’s case, unless there is radical and an unprecedented scale of intervention, further down the track there is going to be a violent awakening.
The implications if there is no intervention are horrendous. Ms Gray said government agencies were not screening early school age children exhibiting behavioural problems for FASD. And young people going into the juvenile detention system are not being screened for FASD. Too many of them are being summarily diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder, autism or oppositional defiant disorder. She says there is a whole alphabet soup of misdiagnosis for FASD and that in many cases the wrong disability is being treated. Ms Gray confirmed that the risk of early parenting and of drug and alcohol abuse among people suffering from FASD was “greatly elevated”. Her message was that the State Government should start mounting a program for the early detection of FASD now.
Catch and release
TOWNSVILLE’S young criminals now take it as their God-given right to enter premises and take what they please. And there is evidence companies are supporting this by accepting the losses and not even bothering to call police. They are not calling the police because (a) they know the police have bigger fish to fry such as stolen cars and home break-ins, and (b) they have no confidence in a justice system that lacks the necessary legislative teeth to show young offenders that if they break the law they must face the consequences. The court system now, for all intents and purposes, appears to be skewed in favour of perpetrators. As I said last week, even the police themselves liken it to the closed barra season: catch and release.
Brazen thieves
LAST Saturday night Townsvillebased Senator Susan Mcdonald was on her way to a meeting at an aged care residence, about, you guessed it, crime. On the way she stopped at a service station. As she pulled in, she noticed three youths walking towards the door. They weren’t wearing hoodies. She distinctly remembers their heads and faces were visible. She didn’t think much of it and as she walked in the trio walked out, pockets and shirts bulging. Senator Mcdonald walked in and saw a woman behind the counter looking flummoxed. As it turned out the three had walked in, swept whatever they could from the counter into their clothing, raided the drink machines and walked out. How brazen is that? The woman behind the counter was angry and confused. Company rules prohibit her from confronting or chasing the thieves. This is understandable, given the physical dangers inherent with either situation. And the woman did not see much point in calling the police, because as I just mentioned, they have bigger fish to fry. I’ve been told since then similar things happen at other stores and that it occurs on a regular basis at one of the large liquor outlets. The young crims walk in, brazenly snatch whatever grog they want, and then walk over to nearby bushland and drink their way through the stolen goods. Senator Mcdonald says crime is out of control in regional Queensland and particularly in Townsville. She shafts the blame home to a listless State Labor Government.
We read comments from the public in this newspaper almost on a daily basis about a government that is caught like a deer in the spotlight, unable to move on youth crime and unable to do anything about it except issue statements and write letters to editors about grand schemes, proposals and plans. Meanwhile, the city burns while politicians and their senior bureaucrats ignore what could be the root cause, FASD.