I doin't understand the kids today...

[Marilyn Lawson]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1132354213882&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

Makes me wonder = Do these kids have a life?

"Churches have to come to the table and stop being silent. We're not immune to the violence just because we're praising the Lord," he said."

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1132354213877&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

Why all the shootings? Why are the majority of shootings happening a few perticular groups of people? Why do they have to be in gangs to feel accepted?

http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20051118-011/page.asp

It might take this attack by 3 people on one youth, in a church - to finally make changes to our Justice system.

This Young Offenders Act is absoulte garbage.

I knew as a kid if I did something really bad - I was gonna get it!! And I I got it really good a few times - sometimes for things that were not my fault.

I knew if I went to court for something - I would go to reform school, and I was afraid to go there.

Now the kids get a slap on the hands.

When are kids held accountable to the things they do?

Is it now all out war and it doesn't matter where you are - even if it is in a house of God?

This story just sickens me.

Makes me scared as to what can happen when the rules become so light and ones that are now no longer enforcable by parents, schools or the police!!!

I live in one of the 'hot' areas within the city - and No I can't move - I will be able to one day.

Kids just sitting and plotting, getting stoned (not like it use to be, just to be happy - but to blank themselves out of reality), robbing people because it is easier than going to work at McDonalds.

No programs in some areas, mentors have all gone away, people afraid to step up and say 'You are wrong - help us', 'Let's change the area we live in', or how about the sinmple fact of excepting people and inviting them to your house and show them that someone cares.

I see kids standing outrside like a vultures crowding together. Playing dice, smoking, puffing on joints, when they should be in school.
Many parents can't have any influence on the kids - and in many cases, parents have lost the control of the situation - via peer groups, laws put on them, and fear from CAS stepping in and charging them if they withhold anything froim kids.

I worry about Kevin, Robert & John - not forgetting my grandkids that will now grow up in this world!!

Who's kid is next? How many more are going to be put into the ground, before things change?

Just a point of view.

Marilyn:gen06

[Barbara Moulton]

It is hard when things like this happen. Try to remember though Marilyn, its not the "kids today". It's "some kids" today.

I am not negating the rise in gang/teen violence but here are some links about other teens that paint a different picture.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/05/16/squamish-050516.html

http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/about_us/newsroom/v_2_0_1/news_detail.aspx?newsid=416

http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2005/06/16/1090828-sun.html

[Ian Gentles]

Yes Marl, its the areas some folks have to live in, others wouldent understand!
Would also add, to many friends dismay, these people should be exacuted, its the only just sentance to pass!
I have planned weapons, most legal, in place at home, in case someone comes here. Would I kill them, YES, if thats what it takes.

[Barbara Moulton]

Yes Marl, its the areas some folks have to live in, others wouldent understand!
Would also add, to many friends dismay, these people should be exacuted, its the only just sentance to pass!
I have planned weapons, most legal, in place at home, in case someone comes here. Would I kill them, YES, if thats what it takes.

So teens born and raised in poorer neighbourhoods where opportunities are few and violent influences are many, should be executed if they become involved in that violence? For the most part, we are talking about young people shooting young people.

I am against the death penalty. But that is not because I think that there is no crime that should be punished by death in the objective sense.

Rather, it is because, that execution can only be a just sentence in the world today, if every person who is charged with murder is given the same defense and the same resources for that defense.

Sadly, it seems that when it comes to punishments for crimes like murder, it is not a case of "to whom much has been given, much will be required". Individuals from privileged backgrounds do much better in the coursts then individuals from impoverished backgrounds.

And lest you think I speak through rose coloured glasses, I remind you that we did live pastor in the Jane Finch area of Toronto. My husband did have knives and guns pulled on him.

[Marilyn Lawson]

I am not totaly set on the death penalty.

I do think that kids many kids are out of control.
But I don't believe it is just in the project areas.

I lived in a very upper middle class area as a kid. I ran wild with the best of them - to a point.
Many of the kids I grew up with, would never ever step foot on housing property.
We didn't need to. Everything people could find in the projects - could be found in the better areas.

Do people from the housing areas have a lot less - YES.
Have they been shown how to achieve the things that "regular families" have - No. Some learn the hard way how to do it, some never do.

Many in housing want to achieve things for themselves. Many don't know how.

As for the guys that are shooting each other - well I think they should be locked up for a very long time.
The focus needs to be taken off the people causing the shots and focus needs to be put on kids that are watching from the sidelines!!!

How that is to be done - I am not sure.

Am I scared for me -- not really, they don't really bug me. I already paid my dues and stood up to them. Not just that I came out in the middle of the night to help one of them - with no hesitation. They don't forget that.

I am scared for Kevin and the other kids around me that have wonder who is next or seeing the friends being picked up by metro.

The last week alone, we have had 3 raids - with ETF, dogs, marked and unmarked crusiers, tv cameras and a whole lot of parents asking 'what is going on?

What happened to people talking, or people being held accountable for things that happen.

Marilyn