The value of childhood is easily blurred in today’s
world. Consider some recent developments: the child-murderers in the Jonesboro,
Ark. schoolyard shooting case were convicted and sentenced. Two boys, 7 and 8,
were charged in the murder of an 11-year-old girl in Chicago.
Children who commit horrible crimes appear to act of their own will. Yet, as
legal proceedings in Jonesboro showed, the one boy who was able to address the
court couldn’t begin to explain his acts, though he tried to apologize. There
may have been a motive—youthful jealousy and resentment. But a deeper question
remains: why did these boys and others in similar trouble apparently lack any
inner, moral restraint That question echoes for the accused in
Chicago, young as they are. They wanted the girl’s bicycle, a selfish impulse
common enough among kids. Redemption is a practical necessity.
How can value be restored to young lives distorted by acts of violence The boys
in Jonesboro and in Chicago will be confined in institutions for a relatively
short time. Despite horror at what was done, children are not—cannot be—dealt
with as adults, not if a people wants to consider itself civilized. That’s why
politicians’ cries for adult treatment of youthful criminals ultimately miss the
point. But the moral void that invites violence has many
sources. Family instability contributes. So does economic stress. That void,
however, can be filled. The work starts with parents, who have to ask themselves
whether they’re doing enough to give their children a firm sense of right and
wrong. Are they really monitoring their activities and their developing
processes of thought Schools, too, have a role in building
character. So do youth organizations. So do law enforcement agencies, which can
do more to inform the young about laws, their meaning, and their
observance. The goal, ultimately, is to allow all children a
normal passage from childhood to adulthood, so that tragic gaps in moral
judgment are less likely to occur. The relative few who fill such gaps with acts
of violence hint at many others who don’t go that far, but who lack the moral
foundations childhood should provide—and which progressive human society relies
on.What does human society depend on to make progress according to the author