Реферат: Super Predators Essay Research Paper What is

poverty, and almost ten times more likely to commit violent crime and ending up

in prison. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, reported that the

rise in violent crime over the past 30 years runs directly parallel to the rise

in fatherless families. In the United States, according to the Heritage

Foundation, the rate for juvenile crime is closely linked to the percentage of

children raised in single-parent families. While it has long been thought that

poverty is the primary cause of crime, the facts simply do not support this

view. Juvenile criminal behaviour has its roots in habitual deprivation of

parental love and affection going back to early infancy. A father’s attention to

his son has enormous positive effects on the child’s emotional and social

development. A young boy abandoned by his father is deprived of a deep sense of

personal security. In a well-functioning family the presence of the father

embodies authority and paternal authority is critical to the prevention of

psychopathology and delinquency. In addition to the problem of single parent

homes, is the problem of the children whose behavioural problems are linked to

their mothers’ drug use during pregnancy. Children reaching their teenage years

could result in a potentially aggressive population. Drug use has more than

doubled among 12 to 17year olds since 1991. "The overwhelming common factor

that can be isolated in determining whether young people will be criminal in

their behaviour is moral poverty". (Worsham, James-Blakely, and Stephen,

1997, p 24) According to the recently published "Body Count: Moral Poverty

. . . and How to Win America’ s War Against Crime and Drugs," a new

generation of "super-predators, " untouched by any moral inclinations,

will hit America’s streets in the next decade. John DiIulio, the Brookings

Institute fellow who co-wrote the book with William Bennett and John Walters,

calls it a "multivariate phenomenon, " meaning that child abuse, the

high number of available high-tech guns, alcoholism and many other factors feed

the problem. University of Pennsylvania professor Mavin Wolfgang says, "6

percent to 7 percent of the boys in an age group will be chronic offenders,