WE MUST ADDRESS JUVENILE CRIME RATE

Recent in-depth articles in The Times concerning crime and boot camps for
juvenile and first-time offenders triggered a number of thoughts in my mind.

As a criminal defense attorney, I have noticed several things about
patterns of crime and the perpetrators of crime. I have noticed a direct
correlation between educational attainment and criminal activity. Put
another way, I have noticed that the more educated the individual, the less
likely they are to commit "quality of life" crimes, such as theft, burglary
and other crimes against property.

I also have noticed children are committing more serious kinds of crimes at
younger ages. In many instances, it is as if they are turning to selling
drugs and theft as alternatives to regular employment.

I am concerned we are losing an entire generation to the criminal justice
system. Consider this: prior to the recent well-thought-out revisions to
the criminal code, the Louisiana Legislature was on a crusade to "get tough
on crime." The effect of the paradigm was to enact legislation that
increased many penalties and created new mandatory sentences. This resulted
in more persons going to jail. For a multitude of reasons like the
wholesale failure of the "war" on drugs and the hopelessness that is
rampant in poorer communities, many of the persons incarcerated are
disproportionately African-African and male. With more juveniles committing
crimes, this means more young African-American males are being
incarcerated, or otherwise contaminated by the criminal system. It is as if
a modern-day Pharaoh has decreed all male children shall be sacrificed. Or
as Bob Marley said, "Kill them before they grow."

Why should this trend concern us? If you are the parents of girls, who do
you think your future son-in-laws are going to be? If you are parents of
sons, who are the mothers of your grandchildren going to be? If you own a
business, who do you think your employees are going to be? Who will be the
caretakers of our elderly?

All too often I hear adults complaining about how "bad" children are today
and how they "don't know what to do with kids today." That's not good enough.

We have failed our children. We have not instilled in them the value of
education. We have not taught them the meaning of sacrifice. We have all
too often thrown money or material possessions at our children as a
substitute for spending time with them. There is absolutely no substitute
for being present and active in the lives of one's children.

From a public policy standpoint, we must link our efforts to educate our
children with efforts to teach the value of character. I believe our
decision-makers are waking to the reality that high incarceration rates do
not equate to safer streets and neighborhoods. We must find ways to engage
the hearts and minds of our youth early enough to forestall the negative
influences that bombard them daily.

There is much too much at stake.