JAIL THREAT WON'T STOP 'BAD' KIDS

THREATENING to put a kid in jail when he's breaking the law is a
weak-sister response with no real consequences, says a Canadian expert
on teens and trouble.

"You can't take a 17-year-old with $10,000 in his pocket from dealing
drugs and tell him to shape up or he'll risk his future as a good
employee living someplace with a white picket fence," says Dr. Michael
Ungar. "He's going to laugh at you. He doesn't expect to get those
things anyway. He has an identity. He's already feeling pretty good
about himself."

Ungar, a social worker and therapist from Halifax, was in town to
train staff at McDonald Youth Services, a safe house for needy teens,
about how to help troubled kids move from what most of us would call
deviant behaviour into more productive choices. This is going to irk
those of you who favour locking up the little creeps who steal cars
and pull off home invasions, but he says the remand centre is not the
answer.

"Many kids want to go to jail," he says. "It gives them a sense of
belonging. They're getting three meals a day, they've got somewhere to
sleep, someone who cares enough about them to explain the rules. They
have an identity and that's very important to a teenager."

Besides, says Ungar, you've got about three weeks before a kid who is
tossed in the clink starts learning how to be a better criminal
instead of learning that he shouldn't mug old ladies.

"If the kids could find everything they have in jail but on the
outside we'd be getting somewhere. Kids want teachers who tell them
what to do, parents who set limits. It's a box of sorts and they want
to be free within the box." Ungar says kids will come around if we
don't label them as trouble-makers, thieves or lacking impulse
control. Talk to a kid about her behaviour and how she can make it
more positive, he says, and you'll get further than you will by
smacking her upside the head.

Ungar's theories are echoed by MYS executive director Erma
Chapman.

"The children who are stealing cars don't have a self-esteem problem.
They know how they are and what they're good at. How do you survive in
society using the skills you do have? Help that child cope with that
day-to-day reality." Tough love, she says, just doesn't work.

If this just sounds like molly-coddling -- and it likely will if
you've been a victim of crime -- take a look at what we've got now. We
can't process kids through the system fast enough. We have few places
to put these kids where they'll learn anything more than how to hone
their criminal skills. McDonald Youth Services sees thousands of kids
each year and has the job of finding programs and placements to keep
these kids and the rest of us safe.

I might feel differently if my car is stolen or a member of my family
victimized but right now I think Ungar's solutions make as much sense
as anything else on the table.