The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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end up being good and I learned over the years, well actually I learned that
real quickly, that talking didn’t get you anywhere and the thing that kids
need most in their life is someone putting some limits on them and saying
that this is how you have to run your life, slow them down a little, and get
them under control and go from there.
Along these lines, there are those who believe that the youth lack adequate and
appropriate supervision and discipline. Some indicated that families do not get involved
and/or the families lack adequate parenting skills.
Q. Why do you think younger kids are getting involved sooner
A. I think it is minimal parental supervision. Parents that giving either
mixed messages or not giving clear messages that kids are not to break the
law and this is what will happen if you do. So many parents say that they
didn’t want to do anything until they saw what we were going to do and I
just tell them that whatever they do to their child is going to make a lot
more importance than anything that I can do to them. . .A lot of parents
tend to minimize law violations...They did that when they were younger
and they just thought that the law would take care of it and they could sit
back and watch.
Another example of a belief in poor parenting as a primary cause of delinquency is
evident in the following quote.
…I think a lot of our parents mean well. However, I think a lot of the
parents that we go through don’t have good skills and they seem to fall in
one of two directions. Now, there are some that are really on target but
then you have some parents that have provided poor supervision, who
defend their kids even when their kid gets involved in fight after fight
rather than help their kid look at alternatives to that behavior, they
reinforce that behavior.