SENSE OF SELF-WORTH TO SLOW CRIME RATE

HOW do we tackle the increasing youth crime in our city? Is it with hard yakka farms and stricter controls on monitoring them after the offence is committed, or do we need to ask the question as to why they are getting involved in criminal activity in the first place?

As the world sees greater disintegration at the grassroots, we will see more crime and violence, more gangs emerge and more youth disgruntled with “their lot in life”. Parents will feel out of control, if they haven’t already reached this point of despair.

We are seeing suburbs take prevention into their own hands – fed up with break-ins, car theft, and vandalism with households resorting to increased security measures through a neighbourhood watch collaboration.

This bandaid approach to prevent further crime is not the solution. A far broader approach to education at home and in the schoolyard is where we need to begin to fix this escalating concern in our suburbs.

Most of us have a high degree of awareness about the crimes that go on in our community, our nation, and the world. Modern media has learned that crime pays – or at least that covering crimes maximizes ratings.

This maximal coverage of crime has over-sensitized us. Polls show that the fear of crime has grown much faster than crime itself. In the United States, we’ve seen the response to those fears by building millions of jail cells and prisons to keep the incarcerated isolated, to teach them that “crime doesn’t pay,” that their freedom is forfeited if caught. But does the threat of imprisonment actually deter crime? Because we haven’t really addressed this question, it has prevented society from coming up with anything better.

Justice stands on two equally important foundational principles: reward and punishment. As young children, we usually learn these two pillars firsthand from our parents.

“Don’t touch the hot stove, or you’ll burn your hand.” With an exceptional report card from school, we may receive a special treat, and so on. So how do we instill “fear of burning our hand” and the promise of a special reward, especially in young adults who may not have learned the value of either as a child? We’ve tried punishment, but what about reward?

So which positive incentives would motivate a grown person to turn away from an act of crime?

That fear, or respect, resembles the respect held between parent and child in the family, the building block of every society. In a healthy family, we act out of love, and we act out of fear of losing that love. Our parents’ purpose in creating fear is meant to protect us and help us grow. At the same time to teach forgiveness and compassion.

This idea is not esoteric philosophy, nor is it rocket science. Civilization has only been built, on pleasing and serving ourselves and others in a cause greater than our individual effort alone. The Golden Rule rules. Our school systems teaches us about competition and not compassion, about winning and not accompanying others to serve humanity. We act well because it is in our own best interest to do so. In that sense, a universal moral order – “I don’t steal from you; you don’t steal from me” – can become the foundation of society.

Our sense of purpose therefore, is that goodness for its own sake is the best reward, has to be encouraged from an early age. Childhood ducation and training in polishing our character attributes prepares each person for living a life of integration with our fellow human beings, at whatever age. That needs to continue into all phases of life, all professions, and all endeavours.

Beyond this essential early education, we can all play a role in preventing crime by voicing our objections to unfair and unjust practices, whether local, national or global, offering positive alternatives to a punitive philosophy.

More importantly, instilling a sense of self-worth and selfesteem in every human being, a sense that they have or will find a contribution to make to the overall welfare of society.

Many more solutions exist, and they will necessitate changes in current thinking on the part of local and state government legislators, law enforcement, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, prison wardens, and general public attitudes as well.

But if we set our goals, and join like-minded people aligned with an uplifted view of the human spirit, change will inevitably come.