BrownDenise Clarke, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU
THE DEPRESSED communities in which many so-called 'problem children' live are not entirely to blame for the delinquent behaviour these children exhibit, local family counsellors insist.
In the aftermath of several incidents involving violent behaviour by students one of which left a bus driver dead the counsellors say the hostile environment in the communities in which they live is just one factor influencing negative behaviour in children, which if ignored will escalate into violent actions, such as murder.
"To say that would be to say that every child from a volatile community has the potential to do what he did, and that's not necessarily the case," said Sharon Johnson, counselling psychologist and director at Help for Parents, a family counselling centre based in Kingston.
BREAKING POINT
"Not every child from a volatile community acts on his or her aggression in a physical way," she said. "We also don't know sometimes all of the factors that affect someone's day or that season of their life. It can be a lot of things that lead up to someone just coming to a breaking point and doing something horrible to someone else."
The murder of a bus driver earlier this month and the stabbing of a conductor last week both done allegedly by 17-year-old youths, as well as the stoning of the Denham Town Police Station in West Kingston by students just over a week ago, are the most recent incidents in which school-aged children have run afoul of the law.
In addition to serious crimes such as murder and wounding, the practice of carrying dangerous weapons including knives or even guns, is reported to be increasing among schoolchildren. The use of hard drugs such as ganja and cocaine, and playing truant in order to visit games rooms and other recreation/entertainment spots are also rising problems that parents, schools and the police now have to contend with, when dealing with some children.
"It's like a war spirit has been let loose in the whole of Jamaica. It is like the Bob Marley song Everywhere is War that is how I see it right now," said Family Court Judge, Rosalie Toby.
Head of the St. James Police Community Relations Branch, Superintendent Ivan Brown, whose department is regularly called in to mediate disputes involving students shares the Magistrate's view. He told The Sunday Gleaner that the influence behind the aggression in these children goes way beyond the community.
"The whole nation is a violent nation but I feel strongly that within every community the majority of people are law-abiding," said Superintendent Brown. "Yes, the bad examples are around but I do not feel a well-adjusted child or young person would allow the environment around him to affect his behaviour."
However, Dr. Beverley Scott, counsellor at the Family and Parenting Centre in Montego Bay, said it is not possible for children to be surrounded by violence in the community and not be affected by it. "It is not possible... because children indeed live what they learn and are motivated by what is around them. Aggression in children cuts across barriers, but where the children are negatively motivated mostly to a greater extent more than they are positively motivated, you find that those children will exhibit this kind of behaviour," Dr. Scott explained.
She noted, though, that delinquency has no barriers, since children from communities on both ends of the economic scale are exhibiting this negative behaviour.
Superintendent Brown also poured cold water on the notion that the upgraded high schools are more likely to have delinquent children than the traditional high schools. In fact, he said, the number of students enrolled in traditional high schools who are involved in delinquent activity is on the increase.
DEPRESSED COMMUNITIES
"It's not just the students from the depressed communities who are acting out. I could point to a recognised high school in Montego Bay where on a daily basis we have to counsel students they are leaving school to go to the games rooms, so it is not all about economics," said Supt. Brown.
Mrs. Toby expressed grave concern that a number of children, whose parents were barely adults themselves, are being misguided and even neglected by their young parents. She went a step further, noting that persons who lacked the nurturing environment in their growth and development will find it difficult to display positive emotions later in life.
"They have psychologists who can help and we need to find out why they are behaving in that manner. We can't expect someone who has never seen love to display love towards his fellow man. To ask that is like asking somebody to do something they have never seen in action," the Magistrate noted.
Gifted children too, she said, were figuring prominently in the courts, and she feels that homework and recreation centres should be made available to these students in a bid to foster their development. The counsellors also suggest early mediation and the teaching of problem-solving skills, as well as establishing an effective means of communicating with children as ways which parents, schools and the wider community can use to guide the youth along the correct path.
