Strategies for Fighting Juvenile Crime
Re “Florida’s Tough Teen Crime Stance May Be Wrong Cure,” July 11: Florida’s new “tougher sentences” are a joke. To send three teens to jail for three years for attempting to murder someone is offensive and ludicrous.
I’ve been an emergency physician for 12 years, and have seen scores of such miscreants coursing through my departments. It is always an experience. Their values are truly alien to the majority of hard-working people living in this country. For most, shooting someone produces about the same emotional response as walking across the street.
The only reliable factor in predicting whether such “children” repeat their criminal activities is age at time of release from prison. After 50, they seem to burn out.
When we start to care seriously about crimes committed with guns, we’ll do the following:
1) Use of a gun in the commission of any crime produces an automatic 30 years in prison, with no chance of parole.
2) Shoot someone with a gun in the commission of a crime produces life in prison with no chance of parole.
My singular goal is protection for society. If one interprets this as giving up on the “kids,” one is correct. I’m afraid rehab in such situations is a false hope.
DANIEL LEVY MD
Santa Barbara
* Re “Colorado Tries a Kick in the Pants to Fight Teen Crime,” July 10: In your recent articles on the rise of juvenile crime, there is one crime-fighting strategy that seems to be much overlooked: prevention. The ability of families, community agencies, schools and law en- forcement agencies to work together to prevent young children from committing their first criminal offense, and entering the juvenile justice system, is a crucial strategy in dealing with the horrific rise in juvenile crime.
Perhaps it is much easier to search for solutions after a child has started down that destructive path of criminal behavior than it is to commit resources to prevent potential criminal behavior. However, the hard decision to invest in the prevention of juvenile crime must be made immediately by all concerned.
While there is much controversy on the most effective juvenile crime prevention strategies, there is no doubt that prevention is our greatest hope.
ROBERT M. SAINZ, Director
Office of Prevention Services
L.A. County Probation Department
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