ddress real

. THE images evoked by
the senseless murder of

- Reena Virk, brutally
beaten and left to die
in a Victoria slough last
fall, by young teenage

girls no less, shocked
even the NDP politi-

. cians from their state of

. perpetual slumber
when dealing with
juvenile crime.

Unfortunately, though
_» awakened, the only thing
’, provided to a socicty in crisis
© was politically correct rhetaric
. delivered by a government _
. without aclue.
, We, as.a society, haven't
“been able vo come to grips
with the’ ravages of juvenile,
.4,or More accurately, young
“ offender crime.
B.C. has the highest crime
rate in the country.
Jancouver is the bank rob-
 bery capital of Canada.
Monrreal,.Toronto and
Calgary put together can’t
match the City of Vancouver
lone.
“Murders, violence, rob-
beries, rapes. We're it,
Highest in the country:
’ crimes are going
h the roof. Car. thefts -
‘doubied in | s than

ryone who hasn’t them:
elves; or, doesn’t know any-

e, who has.been.the victim

‘acrime'in ‘the past five!

Leo
Knight

crime and
punishment

Five’ll get you 10 and a
donut there are no hands
raised by readers of this
space. I'd venture a guess and
say this was not true 10 years
ago. .
So how'd we get to this
distressing, state? Ask a dozen
criminologists and vou'll get
a dozen different answers.

Yer, this was a week dami-
nated by items like the shoot-
ings in Arkansas of school
kids as young as 11 by nwo
other kids aged 11 and 13.
Scary stuff. Bur don’ let
yourself get lulled into a state
of complacency just because
the incident occurred in the
Excked States of America.

Could this happen here?

‘Ina heartbear, When most of
¢you were kids in school, there

was the possibility of getting. °
into a fight with a schoolvard
bully. Maybe a group of

« tougis: But what was settled

“with fists is now more likely

to be challenged with a knife
ora gun.
Gangs intimidate not only

. with their numbers, but with
~ threats they are more than

prepared to back up in blood.
This is what our kids have to

‘face in schools today.

“In n Surrey Jast month, nwo

teens were gunned down by
other teens in a drive-by
shooting for no apparent
motive other than an earlier
argument at a party. In

Langley last year, five kids
were shot in ‘another drive-by
shooting inspired by nothing
more than an argument
resulting in a loss of face by
the perpetrators of the shoor-
ing.

The terminology in itself
demonstrates the problem.
Drive-by shootings. Home
invasions. Car jackings. These
are the new words being
added to everyday lexicon,
‘the jargon of the streets. But
not just vernacular, mean-
nothing words, preferred by
teenagers wishing to be disas-
sociated from the older gen-
eration. The words and
phrases denote terror itself.
Acts designed to scare the
victims so absolutely to make
prosecution nigh near impos-
sible lest retribution be meted
out.

“Stick” is no longer some-
thing you throw for Sparky in
the park. It’s something that
happens to people. “Off” is”
not what we do to the light

switch. It’s what gets done to —

a perceived enemy.

* A “ride” isn’t what you do
ona bicycle. It’s your ear
stolen by some punk already
on probation for the previous
20 or 30 cars he stole. *

“Stroll” is nor what you
do with your new love. It’s
where kids, barely into their
teen vears, sell their bodies
for money, drugs and sur-
vival.

~y anteee oy

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Famous Players Theatre) © ~

“nine” is not a baseball
rea. It’s a gun. Available for
$300 to $500 on the black
market.

Last year there were just
over 300 so-called “hate
crimes” province wide. The
city of Vancouver had over
10,000 auto thefts, the
majority being committed by
teens, Yer, the attorney gen-
eral created a hate crimes unit
specially funded by the
provincial government to
attack that problem.

Certainly, a gay bashing or
racially motivared assault is
foul and unforgivable. But,
with just over 300 document-
ed incidents, does it really
merit a special squad?

The NDP give millions of
dollars in grants to a myriad
of organizations with the
acronym “AIDS” in their
name. But try to get funding
for a new prison or more statf
and Corrections officials are
Virtually laughed ar.

Want to set up a program
to deal with problem youths
beginning to show signs of

mailbox

Dear Editor:

T was the least impressed
with Ingrid Rice’s March 18
cartoon. The only thing that
came to my mind is she read
one of fast week’s Globe &
Mailand sceing the good joke
about Chretien in the “Letters

” Casual =

Dressy - ‘Spec

Wednesday, April 1, 1998 — North Shore News —.7

trouble? ned have to stand
in line behind the one-legged
Nigerian lesbians.

But it is possible to
change.

An innovative program
has been going on for the
past five vears in Broward
Counny, Florida. The district
attorney, Harry Sharestein,
recognized that the bulk of
Jacksonvilles problems were
caused by. youth crime. He
also realized the habitual
offenders saw no conse-
quences for their acts.
Probation on top of proba-
tion. Sound familiar?

Shorestein began a get-
tough program for youths
falling afoul of the law. He
tied it to a correction facility
which also housed a high
school and specially-trained
instructors, Attendance was
mandatory. So was gradua-
tion. No probation and ritual

“grounding.” No finger wag-
ging and pty promises of
punishment. Real conse-
quences for real crimes. But
tied to positive rehabilitative

crime issues, Victoria

programs.

Shorestein found out his
program reduced the recidi-
vism rate by more than two
thirds. His program began
paying for itself in reduced
policing and corrections ;
costs.

Gay bashing, though rep-
rehensive, is not a problem.
Purse snatching, auto thefts,
burglaries, assaults, extortions
and murders are a problem. : .

Sooner or-later, this attor-
ney general, his lackeys and
the judges he appoints are
going to Have to realize that; -
the public doesn’t want polit-

_ical correctness, regardless of *

what the U.Vic. professors

say. on
The public simply wants

to feel safe... : -

They want their kids to go

_ to school without fecling

afraid: They want to.find .
their car where they parked

it. They want to come home

and find their TV right where . :

- they left it.

Is that too much to- ask. Bo
~—thasigin@airect.t ca

ene noermerenernraa wan emincmtein ne

to the Editor” section, figure
it would make a good subject -

for her work.
Aren’t cartoonist building
a career on creativeness and

‘originality?’ Do we have) 10
endure week-old jokes, taken,

from our national papers?

ial Occasion=

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News cartoon not amusing —

Pm. sure = North: Shore
News is better than this =. By
the way I loved: the: 1998
Loonie Edition! I even took it

- fo my workplace so my, fellow!
- workers’ can enjoy it as’ ‘well!
Louis LeBlanc:

.. North Vancouve r