Griffin Speaks
JUVENILE VIOLENCE
My
wife and I have invested several hundred thousand dollars in West
Montgomery. We have invested almost a half million in the Haardt Estates
neighborhood alone. So when I speak about our neighborhoods in the black
community I am speaking about neighborhoods where my wife and I have
invested our hard-earned dollars. We chose to invest our dollars in the
African-American community for several reasons, many of, which are unrelated
to the return we expect to see on our dollars.
On
December 9, 2004, Thursday afternoon a 14-year-old Bellingrath student was
shot in the face while walking home from school. The shooting occurred near
one of our properties. Dwhan Brown, an eighth grader is currently in stable
condition and is expected to survive. This horrific criminal act occurred
when another juvenile who intended to shoot someone else over some type of
ongoing feud shot Dwhan. Dwhan was an innocent victim of juvenile violence.
I
have received several calls from friends, who are saying, “Griffin move
out of that neighborhood. You need to stop being so cheap and move to
Wynlakes.” I patiently hear them out then I respond. It’s not the
neighborhood. The problem is juvenile violence.
A
few weeks ago a double murder occurred in the Garden District across the
street from the richest man in the city. I don’t think Wynton Blount is
planning on moving. The accused killer in that case is the victims’ son.
While he was not a juvenile at the time of the murders I strongly suppose
that his problem began long before adulthood.
Juvenile
Crime is the single largest problem we face in America today. We need to
explore every way we can to bring these kids back into the mainstream and
help them to become productive citizens.
In
1997, in Montgomery, Alabama a night watchman was killed. Three juveniles
were arrested for the crime. One had 8 prior arrests, another had 8 prior
arrests, and the third had 15 prior arrests. We find that kind of thing
occurring all over America. America is not effectively dealing with juvenile
violence and serious juvenile crime.
Can
we do anything about a juvenile justice system that is not working?
Juveniles are arrested, released to their parents the same day. Juveniles
are laughing at the police. I don’t have the answers, but one gentleman
raised an interesting point. He said, “How much juvenile crime would we
have in this country if Congress enacted a law making parents criminally
liable for the criminal acts of their kids?”
Greg
Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by
visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com
