Conservative: Critical Missing-Dad Theory

“America’s crime problem is a father problem,” declares Mary Eberstadt at Spectator World. “This is one of our country’s deepest and most denied family secrets.” The social-science data prove it. As the Minnesota Psychological Association summarized recently, “Family structure and the lack of paternal involvement are predictive of juvenile delinquency. The more opportunities a child has to interact with his or her biological father, the less likely he or she is to commit a crime or have contact with the juvenile justice system.” And no, it isn’t just black kids suffering absentee fathers. Observes Eberstadt: “Today, the percentage of white children who are also being raised without two married parents is higher than the one that the Moynihan Report worried over for blacks” in 1965. Yet liberal media continue their attempt to delink the fatherhood crisis from the criminality crisis. We can’t “bear the truth.”