KIDS 'N' CRIME REPORT TELLS HOW TO PREVENT IT

Bad Parenting, Lousy Nutrition, Drug Use Among Risk Factors

If we want to prevent kids from being devoured by the heady offerings
of a criminal life, we can learn a lot from those who spend their time
in the country's youth detention centres.

Roughly 33,800 youth aged 12 to 17 were admitted to Canada's
correctional services in 2004-05. About half were taken into secure or
open custody while the rest were placed under the watch of a probation
officer.

The majority of these teens, whether their crimes were violent or
docile, were found to have a lot in common, namely lousy nutrition,
learning disabilities, drug use, openness to peer pressure, poorly
skilled parents and poor reading skills.

Find all six risk factors in one adolescent and you have a recipe for
disaster. That, readers, is the tough-love message served up in a
report by Vancouver Board of Trade researchers entitled Kids 'n'
Crime, on the development and prevention of criminality among children
and youth.

The good news, the authors are quick to point out, is the debilitating
elements that lead to crime-hyped youth are preventable.

The bad news is prevention, although cheaper, doesn't attract the same
fanfare and public funding as intervention.

That's got to change.

Studies show that every loonie spent on early-childhood education
saves society at least $17 throughout an individual's life.

This means governments must be pressured to invest in educational
programs for youth, from prenatal through to high school.

In fact, according to corrections statistics, 60 per cent of inmates
in adult prisons last year were functioning below high school-entrance
standards and a whopping 90 per cent functioned below the level of
high school completion.

"Factors that lead youth to live on the street include poor family
cohesiveness, association with street youth, drug use and involvement
in the sex trade," the report states.

"Often the general precipitating factor is a 'lack' in the youth's
life."

This deficiency or deprivation could be rooted in poor school grades,
possible learning problems, poverty, or emotionally absent parents.

"Throughout development from birth to adulthood, the earlier the risk
factors are detected and addressed, the greater likelihood that
prevention will be successful," the report notes.

"The positive impact of risk reduction is potentially far-reaching and
should be addressed as a matter of priority."

Some have criticized the report as being simplistic, but if the fixes
are so elementary, why the heck isn't more being done to make them
accessible? It's not rocket science; it's pure common sense.

Here are some of the key recommendations:

- - Provide parenting education during pregnancy.

- - Conduct home visits to identify and remediate potential
problems.

- - Improve literacy of parents.

- - Provide access to quality child care.

- - Enhance educators' ability to detect learning disabilities.

- - Enhance parents' understanding of the dynamics of
adolescence.

- - Improve high school-graduation rates.

- - Improve access to treatment for youth involved in gambling, drug use
and the sex trade.