Everyday young boys and girls, all across America, are sent by their teachers to the principal’s office because they believe that they were “acting out,” are stopped by police (and questioned, searched, and sometimes arrested), or they are compelled to go in front of judges and sentenced to a period of time in a juvenile detention facility.
In the United States, we know that this is especially prevalent among young black and latino males, resulting in the infamous school to prison pipeline.
Invariably this often sets up a dynamic where children become drawn deeper and deeper into a criminal lifestyle which is increasingly difficult to get out of. This entire process is a waste of human potential and institutional and public resources often shouldered by taxpayers.
If you are a concerned caregiver, guardian, loved one, parent, relative, social worker, or other similar professional, then you have probably thought quite a bit about (and perhaps even struggled) with how to best guide children under your care, to minimize the possibility that they will become involved in or continue to participate in deviant and criminal activities and spend a lifetime cycling in and out of jail and prison.
There are numerous reasons why young people engage in deviance, delinquency and crime. In general, the causes for juvenile crime closely mirror those that lead to adult crime. Some of the more prominent factors include:
• Lack of proper guidance/good role models, and poor supervision
• Abusive and toxic families
• Being born into or being raised in families and situations where criminal lifestyles are normative
• A society that glamorizes crime/violence in human interactions and popular culture
• Peer pressure and wanting to fit in
• Immaturity
• Lack of or poor after school activities
We can spend considerable resources trying to determine which causes are the most prominent. But this does not necessarily lead us to appropriate solutions.
There are, however, a number of practical strategies that we can implement to minimize the possibility that our youth don’t go down that slippery slope and become involved in the criminal justice system.
So what is/are the answer/s? The good news is that there are numerous approaches and institutions that have been successfully used to minimize children from descending into a life of crime. Some of them are more prominent than others, and some are better able at minimizing the possibility that our children will visit the principal’s office, coming to the attention of the criminal justice system, and eventually going to jail or prison. None of them are easy to implement. Nevertheless, they include, but are not limited to:
• Educating our children about the role and practices of the police. (So that they understand that they are neither all good guys nor all bad guys).
• Addressing racism that is systemic in all institutions
• Using fewer offensive terms to call children who engage in deviant and criminal activities, to avoid the negative effects of stigma that this kind of labelling entails
• Removing children from criminogenic situations
• Better access to quality therapy, food and nutrition, and safe spaces to escape their challenging home lives.
• Increased funding to educational institutions that offer engaging instruction and curricula
• Encouraging more and better parental involvement.
• Providing abundant, diverse, properly supervised, managed and led meaningful after school activities (e.g., sports, boy scouts, girl scouts, boys and girls clubs of America, etc.)
• Minimizing screen time (esp., violent television programs and computer games)
Regardless of the intervention we chose to pursue, we need to examine each child and situation in a wholistic manner. We should not apply a one size fits all method. What is certain, however, is if we can address the criminogenic factors early on in a child’s life, then we might be able to prevent them from later getting involved in criminal activities.
Indeed, children need to learn from their mistakes. And there should be appropriate consequences for their actions. But by providing proper education, health resources, and supportive environments, they can actually grow from their experience and get the necessary guidance they so critically need.
Photo credit
Photographer: Stuart McAlpine
Title: Juvenile Detention Center
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/6183476085_c0ac850eef_o-scaled.jpg16202560Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2021-09-02 18:56:532021-09-29 20:07:13Preventing our children from ending up in juvie hall
Over time, we adopt numerous roles. One of the most dominant is that of consumer.
As we mature we learn both the written and unwritten rules of purchasing goods and services, including the rules of the game surrounding fairness, competition, and expectations.
Meanwhile, in this day and age most people, living in advanced industrialized democracies, who have a functioning credit card and internet connection, can purchase just about anything on-line.
That’s because many of the items that we needed or wanted to buy at retail stores are now available for sale on-line, and they can be shipped to almost anywhere Fed Ex or UPS drivers can get to, sometimes on the same day.
This situation has both advantages and disadvantages.
On the plus side we have accessibility and convenience. No longer do we need to travel to a store, and possibly deal with fellow consumers, pesky sales people, and long lines at the checkout counters. Websites that amalgamate different products allow us to sort by price, etc.
The immediacy of these kinds of transactions is seductive. We have developed very high expectations from vendors and shippers and the people and organizations who provide these kinds of goods and services.
In a complimentary fashion, unless you are buying a bookcase from IKEA, no actual labor is really demanded of you, and thus most economic transactions that we participate in, we purchase the product or the service, sit back, relax, and enjoy the benefit it provides.
For example, we subscribe to Netflix. We look at its offerings and because they are abundant, scroll through the movies and series until we find one that interests us.
Alternatively if we want to buy a sofa on line, we chose the preferred manufacturer, size, the pattern, and the delivery date. And some weeks later it arrives, and we use it.
Then again there are other types of purchases where you buy it, but in order to receive the benefit it requires you to work.
There are only two kinds of commodities that I know of that fit under this category: gym memberships and higher education.
With a gym membership, regardless if it is a high end establishment like Equinox or a cheaper variety like Planet Fitness, you pay your monthly or yearly membership fees, but you need to visit the premises and do the work to receive the benefit.
With higher education, you apply, are hopefully accepted, and regardless if it’s a prestigious ivy league university, or a low ranked educational institution, if you don’t go to class, hand in your assignments, or sit for the tests, you will not pass your classes and eventually graduate.
The problem arises when we expect gyms and educational institutions to behave like other traditional economic transactions.
That’s because when you pay for a gym membership or higher education, you are paying for access to resources. However, just showing up is not sufficient. No one will do the work for you. Hoping to get fit without going to the gym or passing classes without doing the required work will not give you the benefit.
(Indeed sometimes the work you do is insufficient: you don’t push yourself enough with your exercise routine, or you fail your algebra test, but this is a different story. And this does not take into consideration unscrupulous educational institutions like diploma mills that will give you a degree without attending)
Unfortunately the truism about gyms and educational institutions is often lost on many people who treat gym memberships and higher education as a hobby or as ending simply after enrollment.
Getting fit and earning (not buying or obtaining) a diploma, or degree requires hard work and diligence. If it was simply a matter of purchasing one, then everyone with means would participate in this activity.
Photo Credit
Photographer: Nenad Stojkovic
Title of photograph: Man doing deadlift exercise in gym closeup.
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/51171739483_99dcf65e0a_o-scaled.jpg17092560Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2021-08-27 12:14:202022-10-02 12:26:03What do gym memberships and higher education have in common?
During the summer, many Americans trundle off with friends, family (and dog), or both to visit, spend time or relax at popular East Coast beach towns. If you participate in or witness this annual ritual you may eventually notice that there is a significant amount of homogeneity, predictability, redundancy and eventual monotony in the towns, restaurants, houses, and people who vacation there. In fact, from the Jersey Shore down to the Florida Keys, from Ocean City, MD, Kitty Hawk, NC or Pawleys Island, SC most beach towns look pretty much the same.
How so? The towns have small alcohol, grocery, pharmacy, and book stores and supermarkets like Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly and Publix. Other stores sell beach related items like balls, boogie boards, swim suits, sunglasses, towels, etc. They may also stock t-shirts, baseball hats, or even boxes of salt water toffee with the name of the town emblazoned on them (all manufactured somewhere else). And then there are the “cute” little gift stores that sell all sorts of chachkas.
Outside of town there may be a a trailer park or RV campsite, or a water park, golf, mini-golf or go-kart course, boat dealerships, or a big box store like Walmart or Sam’s club. Otherwise there are a smattering of establishments that rent or sell cars, bikes, jet skis, and fishing related items, and the like.
Most beach towns are also home to “local” restaurants, and drinking establishments. Don’t expect five star, nor authentic ethnic restaurants. The majority of places to eat, are your typical fast food chain establishments, that serve traditional items like hamburgers, subways, steaks, and pizza. Yes there is fish. Rarely is it fresh. It’s primarily deep fried served with a heap of fries on the side. These towns are relatively safe, with low levels of crime and nary a scintilla of graffiti or street art.
The houses, most of them sporting beach sounding names (incorporating types of birds, fish, planets, etc.), are usually designed and built for accommodating more than one family or a large swath of friends, with some erected on stilts, and with large decks that are great for entertaining, and with view of the beach or a dock that extends out to a sound or a bay. Others come with pools and palm trees, and large kitchens for group cooking activities. The furniture inside these abodes consists of large sofas, big beds, with pink and pastel color patterns. Otherwise there’s lots of wicker furniture.
What’s most noticeable, is that the majority of people who visit these towns are white, and most likely middle class and from the suburbs. Yes, occasionally African-American, Hispanic and Asian families will visit, but it is odd to see someone of these backgrounds outside of the service personnel. In short, there is little diversity.
So what? None of what I have described should sound surprising. After all the amenities that East Coast beach towns provide pump money into the local economy. For people looking for a relatively low stress vacation, beach towns may be perfect as they do a relatively good job catering to visitors’ culture and their consumption patterns. Thus the amenities that are available, the types of products that are sold, and the kinds of things that people do for fun in these locations are pretty much what tourists who visit these towns want and expect.
In many respects, however, the towns reproduce the suburbs but with sand, sun and ocean scenery. Most people who enjoy the beach vacations probably also like all-inclusive resort vacations, and cruises for the same reasons they like beach towns. Again, each of these vacation options fulfill a role in our capitalist society.
On the other hand, Why might the beach town vacation be problematic? If you go on vacation, shouldn’t you want a little adventure, to step outside your comfort zone? What about surprises, and taking risks? And I don’t mean the airlines losing your bags. If the beach vacation is your only time to take an extended break, then it might be appropriate to consider why it makes sense for you and other options at your disposal.
Photo title: East Coast Beach Town
Photo credit: Jeffrey Ian Ross
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/IMG_6812.jpg378640Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2021-08-19 16:26:322022-11-13 19:18:58Why do most East Coast beach towns in the United States seem the same?
Preventing our children from ending up in juvie hall
/by Jeffrey Ian RossEveryday young boys and girls, all across America, are sent by their teachers to the principal’s office because they believe that they were “acting out,” are stopped by police (and questioned, searched, and sometimes arrested), or they are compelled to go in front of judges and sentenced to a period of time in a juvenile detention facility.
In the United States, we know that this is especially prevalent among young black and latino males, resulting in the infamous school to prison pipeline.
Invariably this often sets up a dynamic where children become drawn deeper and deeper into a criminal lifestyle which is increasingly difficult to get out of. This entire process is a waste of human potential and institutional and public resources often shouldered by taxpayers.
If you are a concerned caregiver, guardian, loved one, parent, relative, social worker, or other similar professional, then you have probably thought quite a bit about (and perhaps even struggled) with how to best guide children under your care, to minimize the possibility that they will become involved in or continue to participate in deviant and criminal activities and spend a lifetime cycling in and out of jail and prison.
There are numerous reasons why young people engage in deviance, delinquency and crime. In general, the causes for juvenile crime closely mirror those that lead to adult crime. Some of the more prominent factors include:
• Lack of proper guidance/good role models, and poor supervision
• Abusive and toxic families
• Being born into or being raised in families and situations where criminal lifestyles are normative
• A society that glamorizes crime/violence in human interactions and popular culture
• Peer pressure and wanting to fit in
• Immaturity
• Lack of or poor after school activities
We can spend considerable resources trying to determine which causes are the most prominent. But this does not necessarily lead us to appropriate solutions.
There are, however, a number of practical strategies that we can implement to minimize the possibility that our youth don’t go down that slippery slope and become involved in the criminal justice system.
So what is/are the answer/s? The good news is that there are numerous approaches and institutions that have been successfully used to minimize children from descending into a life of crime. Some of them are more prominent than others, and some are better able at minimizing the possibility that our children will visit the principal’s office, coming to the attention of the criminal justice system, and eventually going to jail or prison. None of them are easy to implement. Nevertheless, they include, but are not limited to:
• Educating our children about the role and practices of the police. (So that they understand that they are neither all good guys nor all bad guys).
• Addressing racism that is systemic in all institutions
• Using fewer offensive terms to call children who engage in deviant and criminal activities, to avoid the negative effects of stigma that this kind of labelling entails
• Removing children from criminogenic situations
• Better access to quality therapy, food and nutrition, and safe spaces to escape their challenging home lives.
• Increased funding to educational institutions that offer engaging instruction and curricula
• Encouraging more and better parental involvement.
• Providing abundant, diverse, properly supervised, managed and led meaningful after school activities (e.g., sports, boy scouts, girl scouts, boys and girls clubs of America, etc.)
• Minimizing screen time (esp., violent television programs and computer games)
Regardless of the intervention we chose to pursue, we need to examine each child and situation in a wholistic manner. We should not apply a one size fits all method. What is certain, however, is if we can address the criminogenic factors early on in a child’s life, then we might be able to prevent them from later getting involved in criminal activities.
Indeed, children need to learn from their mistakes. And there should be appropriate consequences for their actions. But by providing proper education, health resources, and supportive environments, they can actually grow from their experience and get the necessary guidance they so critically need.
Photo credit
Photographer: Stuart McAlpine
Title: Juvenile Detention Center
What do gym memberships and higher education have in common?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossOver time, we adopt numerous roles. One of the most dominant is that of consumer.
As we mature we learn both the written and unwritten rules of purchasing goods and services, including the rules of the game surrounding fairness, competition, and expectations.
Meanwhile, in this day and age most people, living in advanced industrialized democracies, who have a functioning credit card and internet connection, can purchase just about anything on-line.
That’s because many of the items that we needed or wanted to buy at retail stores are now available for sale on-line, and they can be shipped to almost anywhere Fed Ex or UPS drivers can get to, sometimes on the same day.
This situation has both advantages and disadvantages.
On the plus side we have accessibility and convenience. No longer do we need to travel to a store, and possibly deal with fellow consumers, pesky sales people, and long lines at the checkout counters. Websites that amalgamate different products allow us to sort by price, etc.
The immediacy of these kinds of transactions is seductive. We have developed very high expectations from vendors and shippers and the people and organizations who provide these kinds of goods and services.
In a complimentary fashion, unless you are buying a bookcase from IKEA, no actual labor is really demanded of you, and thus most economic transactions that we participate in, we purchase the product or the service, sit back, relax, and enjoy the benefit it provides.
For example, we subscribe to Netflix. We look at its offerings and because they are abundant, scroll through the movies and series until we find one that interests us.
Alternatively if we want to buy a sofa on line, we chose the preferred manufacturer, size, the pattern, and the delivery date. And some weeks later it arrives, and we use it.
Then again there are other types of purchases where you buy it, but in order to receive the benefit it requires you to work.
There are only two kinds of commodities that I know of that fit under this category: gym memberships and higher education.
With a gym membership, regardless if it is a high end establishment like Equinox or a cheaper variety like Planet Fitness, you pay your monthly or yearly membership fees, but you need to visit the premises and do the work to receive the benefit.
With higher education, you apply, are hopefully accepted, and regardless if it’s a prestigious ivy league university, or a low ranked educational institution, if you don’t go to class, hand in your assignments, or sit for the tests, you will not pass your classes and eventually graduate.
The problem arises when we expect gyms and educational institutions to behave like other traditional economic transactions.
That’s because when you pay for a gym membership or higher education, you are paying for access to resources. However, just showing up is not sufficient. No one will do the work for you. Hoping to get fit without going to the gym or passing classes without doing the required work will not give you the benefit.
(Indeed sometimes the work you do is insufficient: you don’t push yourself enough with your exercise routine, or you fail your algebra test, but this is a different story. And this does not take into consideration unscrupulous educational institutions like diploma mills that will give you a degree without attending)
Unfortunately the truism about gyms and educational institutions is often lost on many people who treat gym memberships and higher education as a hobby or as ending simply after enrollment.
Getting fit and earning (not buying or obtaining) a diploma, or degree requires hard work and diligence. If it was simply a matter of purchasing one, then everyone with means would participate in this activity.
Photo Credit
Photographer: Nenad Stojkovic
Title of photograph: Man doing deadlift exercise in gym closeup.
Why do most East Coast beach towns in the United States seem the same?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossDuring the summer, many Americans trundle off with friends, family (and dog), or both to visit, spend time or relax at popular East Coast beach towns. If you participate in or witness this annual ritual you may eventually notice that there is a significant amount of homogeneity, predictability, redundancy and eventual monotony in the towns, restaurants, houses, and people who vacation there. In fact, from the Jersey Shore down to the Florida Keys, from Ocean City, MD, Kitty Hawk, NC or Pawleys Island, SC most beach towns look pretty much the same.
How so? The towns have small alcohol, grocery, pharmacy, and book stores and supermarkets like Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly and Publix. Other stores sell beach related items like balls, boogie boards, swim suits, sunglasses, towels, etc. They may also stock t-shirts, baseball hats, or even boxes of salt water toffee with the name of the town emblazoned on them (all manufactured somewhere else). And then there are the “cute” little gift stores that sell all sorts of chachkas.
Outside of town there may be a a trailer park or RV campsite, or a water park, golf, mini-golf or go-kart course, boat dealerships, or a big box store like Walmart or Sam’s club. Otherwise there are a smattering of establishments that rent or sell cars, bikes, jet skis, and fishing related items, and the like.
Most beach towns are also home to “local” restaurants, and drinking establishments. Don’t expect five star, nor authentic ethnic restaurants. The majority of places to eat, are your typical fast food chain establishments, that serve traditional items like hamburgers, subways, steaks, and pizza. Yes there is fish. Rarely is it fresh. It’s primarily deep fried served with a heap of fries on the side. These towns are relatively safe, with low levels of crime and nary a scintilla of graffiti or street art.
The houses, most of them sporting beach sounding names (incorporating types of birds, fish, planets, etc.), are usually designed and built for accommodating more than one family or a large swath of friends, with some erected on stilts, and with large decks that are great for entertaining, and with view of the beach or a dock that extends out to a sound or a bay. Others come with pools and palm trees, and large kitchens for group cooking activities. The furniture inside these abodes consists of large sofas, big beds, with pink and pastel color patterns. Otherwise there’s lots of wicker furniture.
What’s most noticeable, is that the majority of people who visit these towns are white, and most likely middle class and from the suburbs. Yes, occasionally African-American, Hispanic and Asian families will visit, but it is odd to see someone of these backgrounds outside of the service personnel. In short, there is little diversity.
So what? None of what I have described should sound surprising. After all the amenities that East Coast beach towns provide pump money into the local economy. For people looking for a relatively low stress vacation, beach towns may be perfect as they do a relatively good job catering to visitors’ culture and their consumption patterns. Thus the amenities that are available, the types of products that are sold, and the kinds of things that people do for fun in these locations are pretty much what tourists who visit these towns want and expect.
In many respects, however, the towns reproduce the suburbs but with sand, sun and ocean scenery. Most people who enjoy the beach vacations probably also like all-inclusive resort vacations, and cruises for the same reasons they like beach towns. Again, each of these vacation options fulfill a role in our capitalist society.
On the other hand, Why might the beach town vacation be problematic? If you go on vacation, shouldn’t you want a little adventure, to step outside your comfort zone? What about surprises, and taking risks? And I don’t mean the airlines losing your bags. If the beach vacation is your only time to take an extended break, then it might be appropriate to consider why it makes sense for you and other options at your disposal.
Photo title: East Coast Beach Town
Photo credit: Jeffrey Ian Ross