Oh, boy, are you in big trouble

taken from thesundaytimes oct 8,

some exerpts from the article

"the boys swagger nonchantly into the court building(juvenile), cracking jokes and chattering their friends.....

but once they enter the Juvenile COurt room and stand before the judge, their bravado tends to dissolve. They stare meekly at the floor...., end up breaking down in tears.

As soon as they are back outside... the swagger returns."

some statistics:

last year, about 4,600 youths were arrested by the police
each juvenile charged in court has committed an average of two offences

and an example of how the juvenile behave in court

"why are you cryin like a baby? Look Up!Stop starin the floor. Am i seated there?"
-Magistrate Wong Li Tein, to a 16-yr-old boy who had committed a string of offences includin causing hurt during a robbery, theft and glur sniffing.

*********************

in my opinion

these juveniles are just putting a FALSE FRONT TO LOOK ALL SO BRAVE AND COURAGEOUS.. IN THE WRONG SENSE.
ATTENTION SEEKERS
that is what i feel they are.

They are treading precautiously on the other side of law.
its like the more the illicit activity is deemed as a taboo or carries a heavier penalty the more they will wan to try it .. to experience the thrill of
"playin with fire"
they will just keep "playin with fire" until they are burnt
after they are burnt
they will just show their "scars" to their peers, be proud of what they had done, thought of the "scars" as "some Battle wounds to bare evidence for their acts of bravery"

two words
FOOLISH
CHILDISH

what are the various cause one might think.

TO ME:

-Parents
-Peers
-Media

Parents
- lack of attention
the youngsters wanted to make an impact or due to lack of parental guidance and control, they fell into the wrong company of friends, being "latch-key" kids
no one to tell them how to distinguish right from wrong

-TOO MUCH attention in the sense kept fawnin over them
the parents treat them like "little emperors or empresses"
they will forgive whatever they do and just tell them off saying "cannot do it again next time" to their kids..
the kids will have the mentality that no matter how grave the consequences their acts will bring, the parents will forgive them

Peers
-they mixed with the wrong company
think that its "all so cool" to do those acts .. think its an act of bravery
-to show off to their peers
-to gather attention (getting notorious)

Media-bad guys are often protrayed as being very cool in alot of shows we see nowadays.
The bad guys get the cash and the babes and all the luxuries in life

But there's hope yet.
THE JUVENILE COURT is focusin on "restorative justive"-where the aim is not to punish the offender, but to rehabilitate them

i believe in this CONFUCIAN SAYING
"man is good by nature"
its the external factors that made him stray

these are YOUNGSTERS
aged between 7 and 16.

THEY JUST NEED TO BE GUIDED AND EDUCATED
ESP THE PARENTS