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ers of those that are good ... "
(11 T imothy 3:2-4).
And the prophet lsaiah eloquent–
ly prophesied the present youth
crime plague: " ... The child shall
behave himself proudly against the
ancient. ... c hildren are their op-
pressors ..." (I saiah 3:5, 12).
"Train up a child in the way he
should go: and when he is old, he
will not depart from it," commands
scripture (Proverbs 22:6).
The Prlmary Cause
The chief cause of criminal behav–
ior is not poverty. Criminal prob–
lems now plague rural and well–
to-do suburban áreas as well as
inner-city ghettos. Ghettos merely
concen trate and aggravate the
social conditions that encourage
criminal behavior.
T he vas t majority of individuals
in poverty areas are not criminals
or violent. Only a minority are–
though their numbers are growing
for discernible reasons. We must
answer why senseless crime, theft,
dishonesty and violence are grow–
ing in middle- and upper-class
families, businesses and schools.
What is wrong is clear. Most
criminologists, sociologists and
other officials are figh ting crime at
the wrong end of the problem.
Many blame lack of police, the easy
avai labil ity of guns, the overbur–
dened and crippled criminal justice
system, or drug abuse, underem–
ployment, violent entertainment or
poverty. These situations cont rib–
ute to the crime problem, but they
are not the fundamental cause.
The cause of crime is the lack of
right character!
lt
is the failure of
individuals to grasp right values
and recognize and resist evi l, what–
ever its source. The roots of juve–
nile crime develop when chi ldren–
rich, poor or middle class-are
allowed to think criminal thoughts
or develop unsocial or criminal atti–
tudes in their character.
The Bible reveals a primary
spiri–
tua/
source of this criminal attitude
and violence. That source is a great
archangel that rebelled against God
and His ways and is now known as
Satan. Yet how many sociologists
know of the existence of Satan?
They reject the idea and , of course,
cut themselves off from a solution to
their problems.
16
Satan's attitude is one of selfish–
ness, lust and greed. He pumps that
attitude into unwary human minds
(Ephesians 2:2-3). He works on
humans at early agesoflife. lndividu–
als pick up and develop Satan's alti–
tudes in varying degree. How much
they develop such altitudes depends
on cultural values, on family life and
personal character. Children who
lack self-discipline miss out on right
values. The result is obvious.
The Flrst Falllng
T he foundation ofhuman character is
first formed in the family unit. Char–
acter development starts at an early
age. Chi ld ren must overcome
ingrained emotional instabil ity, de–
struct iveness, defiance of authority or
lying, in their character.
Parents, how many of you train
your children in right character? The
personalities of sorne children, maybe
yours, demand more attention, guid–
ance and discipline than others.
Pa rents fail their God-given
responsibility if they don ' t set a
r ight example in living and self–
discipline. They are failing if they
don't teach right and positive val–
ues, if they fail to discipline their
chi ldren for indecent and inhumane
attitudes. Why are so many parents
distracted from this most important
of human functions?
lncreasingly it is because parents
are not there! Divorce, desertion or
separation have intervened. More
frequentl y parents are too busy
with other interests, activities or
pleasures. Sorne parents, misled by
false child psychology, excuse their
chi ldren's misbehavior lest disci–
pline damage their c hild's "cre–
ative" abilities. What they often
create is an obnoxious, indisci–
plined brat!
Sorne parents don't care what
their chi ldren do as long as they
stay out of their hair. Others don't
conceive it's their job to train their
children; it's their mate's job to
carry the responsibility!
Often it's not that parents don't
care about their children. Many
parents don't know how to care, to
train , teach and discipline their
children in !ove. T hey feel embar–
rassed to show !ove or affection .
They were not raised that way.
Dr. David Abrahamsen, writer of
volumes on the psychology of crim-
inals
(Psychology of Crime.
1960;
and
Our Violent Society,
1970)
concludes: "A real answer to the
problem of violence we have today
must come from within the family
and the way we raise our children.
There is no mass solution- not in
our schools, [or in] our jails.... "
Absolutely true!
Two decades ago, Judge Rodney
S . Eielson of Darien, Connecticut,
also pinpointed the reason for crim–
inal behavior:
"1 am sick and tired of spanking
someone else's children in court.
This has to be done at home. It's at
home where t he moral fiber of a
young person is woven, and the
process starts with the earliest ages.
By the t ime a teenager gets to my
court, he is often beyond help. His
character has been formed ....
" Until we place the responsibili–
ty where it lies, with the parents,
our country will continue to see a
rising incidence among teenagers of
larceny and theft, reckless driving
and intoxication, pregnancy among
unwed high school girls, and other
legal and moral crimes, including
homosexual experimentation and
the use of narcotics. .. . Inability to
administer discipline with love is
equa lly harmful. ... [Without
that] you won't convince a young–
ster that you really lave him or are
interes ted in h is welfare"
(McCall's,
J anuary, 1965) .
Judge Eielson's "prophecy" of a
worsening epidemic of youthful
immorality, crime and drug abuse
is more than fulfilled .
It
is now an
international tragedy that touches
all of our lives!
Slns of the Fathers
Vicious criminal behavior is mostly
concentrated in inner-city ghettos of
the United States and other nations
where the family structure is most
greatly fragmented. Many inner-city
families are headed only by a mother.
Divorce, desertion and illegitimacy
are rife. Often there is no father
whom young men and women can
look up to and emulate. Street toughs
are the only models of"success."
The sins of the fathers do pass on
to the next generation. Hordes of
men have dropped their God-given
responsibility of leadership in the
borne. Many mothers have ne-
(Continued on page 42)
The
PLAIN TRUTH