Could a bill to prosecute 18, 19, 20-year-olds as juveniles reduce crime in Massachusetts?

[MKTwet]

There's some truth to the scientific data about this, however this isn't the cause of crime. It is the deterioration of families that causes so many young people to become criminals. When you have a smartphone that allows you to see what adults 10-50 yrs older than you can do and possess. How can someone 15-18 yr old who want to have the lifestyle of adults be able to afford it without committing some kind of crime. And the system doesn't teach young people right or wrong just hand out punishment. There needs to be some type of rehab system to help young people who lacked the family and support system to show them why there are consequences in life and how to succeed the right way vs finding things out the wrong way.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by MKTwet

There's some truth to the scientific data about this, however this isn't the cause of crime. It is the deterioration of families that causes so many young people to become criminals. When you have a smartphone that allows you to see what adults 10-50 yrs older than you can do and possess. How can someone 15-18 yr old who want to have the lifestyle of adults be able to afford it without committing some kind of crime. And the system doesn't teach young people right or wrong just hand out punishment. There needs to be some type of rehab system to help young people who lacked the family and support system to show them why there are consequences in life and how to succeed the right way vs finding things out the wrong way.

All goes back to the notion that some folks just shouldn't have kids!

[massnative71]

If somebody is not taught by the time they are 18, it's kind of hard to undo the damage at that point. Some do learn the hard way of course or through divine intervention, but that doesn't require prosecuting them as a "juvenile".

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

All goes back to the notion that some folks just shouldn't have kids!

I was literally just about to type something similar. It's sad but true. People from all different social classes divorce....but too many people in bad financial situations feel the need to have kids and it can get quite ugly for all involved. People make the argument of, oh and only rich people should have kids? Not necessarily, but if you're poor, not working, in and out of jail, on drugs - it's in your best interest to NOT have kids. It's hard to understand how in such an educated state like MA we have people here who still dont ge't that...AND people who support them in their choices...but here we are. It seems to be a cycle that repeats itself. Why oh why would you want to bring a child into a life like that.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I was literally just about to type something similar. It's sad but true. People from all different social classes divorce....but too many people in bad financial situations feel the need to have kids and it can get quite ugly for all involved. People make the argument of, oh and only rich people should have kids? Not necessarily, but if you're poor, not working, in and out of jail, on drugs - it's in your best interest to NOT have kids. It's hard to understand how in such an educated state like MA we have people here who still dont ge't that...AND people who support them in their choices...but here we are. It seems to be a cycle that repeats itself. Why oh why would you want to bring a child into a life like that.

One reason I can immediately think of is folks who come here trying to secure their citizenship pump out a kid or two as soon as they land on US soil it seems!

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

One reason I can immediately think of is folks who come here trying to secure their citizenship pump out a kid or two as soon as they land on US soil it seems!

but people who are already here do it too.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I was literally just about to type something similar. It's sad but true. People from all different social classes divorce....but too many people in bad financial situations feel the need to have kids and it can get quite ugly for all involved. People make the argument of, oh and only rich people should have kids? Not necessarily, but if you're poor, not working, in and out of jail, on drugs - it's in your best interest to NOT have kids. It's hard to understand how in such an educated state like MA we have people here who still dont ge't that...AND people who support them in their choices...but here we are. It seems to be a cycle that repeats itself. Why oh why would you want to bring a child into a life like that.

There might be things we can do long term like stop incentivizing irresponsible life choices, unfortunately that's going to take at least a generation before we start seeing results. It will do nothing to address the current results of these bad choices people make.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by massnative71

There might be things we can do long term like stop incentivizing irresponsible life choices, unfortunately that's going to take at least a generation before we start seeing results. It will do nothing to address the current results of these bad choices people make.

It seems like the opposite is happening. The people who make bad choices continue to be coddled and given freebies.