Yes it's a grim title for a post. I have gotten side tracked yet again. Or am I? Look at the link. It makes for very disturbing reading. Somehow bureaucratic matter-of-fact reports are more sobering than sensational media stories. It is the Los Angeles County;
Department of Children and Family Services' internal log of 98 fatalities in 2009 (through early August) among children who had passed through the county child-welfare system. It was obtained by The Times and has not been altered, except for the deletion of children's names to protect families' privacy. In most cases, The Times was unable to verify the circumstances the log describes and has not corrected misspellings and typographical errors.
The shooting of teenage boys figures very prominently. But what has this got to do with New Zealand?
From late 2007;
When New Zealand's suburban teenagers first began imitating the clothes, language and antisocial posturing of America's `gangsta' culture, they were laughed off as ludicrous, if unnerving, fantasists. Perhaps they still are, but 10 murders in two years, and a spate of vicious alcohol-fuelled assaults, have forced police to acknowledge they can cause a lot of harm.
Has the situation improved? Counties Manukau police, MSD, the local council and public have put a huge amount of effort into tackling gangs. Let's hope it is paying off. For my part I am doubtful significant improvement will be achieved as long as the machinery for creating the dysfunctional families and kids remains intact.
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2 comments:
Funny, we didn't have all these problems before the introduction of huge welfare and the DPB, when children had mums and dads who worked for a living, had pride, and didn't milk the state. Things will get worse, NZ is a cesspit of crime these days. Much of it I blame on welfare.
Tammni
NZ's rate of underclass murders and especially suicides are far too low.
Large increases in these rates - which can easily be contained from productive society by suitably armed police with clear terms of engagement - must be expected as a side effect of any rebalancing of NZ's economy.
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