What is it we do not understand about crime? It used to be the case that “if you do the crime be prepared to do the time.”
That adage simply doesn’t apply to juvenile crime in Limerick. At least not to the gang of juvenile thugs I witnessed raiding a shop on Easter Monday.
I had pulled into a filling station shop on the edges of one of the city’s larger housing estates to get a coffee at about 2:00pm Easter Monday. As I prepared the coffee I witnessed four or five pre-teens burst in to the shop and begin to raid the shelves of soft drinks and chocolate. Within in seconds they were gone. But seconds later and joined by more of the same age they once more burst through the doors to commit even more larceny.
In total there were about ten children aged between seven and twelve ripping and clearing the shelves of whatever they could. Concentrating on six-packs of soft drink cans and boxes of chocolate these thugs took their time and literally emptied shelves as they carried out their raid.
After they had left I was struck by the casual attitude of the two staff who as the saying goes “hardly batted an eyelid.” “This happens every day or sometimes twice a day” I was told. “It’s not worth calling the guards, the kids are underage; too young to punish.”
While I must say I was shocked at the behaviour of the thugs I was more frightened by the attitude, albeit brought about by despair and resignation, of the staff.
Does anyone not realise that if these kids are allowed to get away with these actions on a continuous basis the chance of them ever becoming responsible citizens are extremely slim.
Whats next for the thugs? Chocolate becomes dope and money needs to be robbed to feed a more grown up habit. Next step is a baseball bat or Iron bar and threats until the till and takings are handed over.
Does our legal, education or policing authorities not realise that this thuggery is cancerous and will eat not only at the fabric of society but also devour any chance for these hooligans to grow into citizens?
Section 53 of the Criminal Justice Act 2001 empowers and places an onus on the Gardai to deal with children under 12 whom they believe to have committed an offence. Perhaps it’s time for the Guards to adopt a more proactive approach to this problem and nip criminal behaviour in the bud.
Every child pushes boundaries, it’s part of growing up, part of learning. But as a society to accept the behaviour I witnessed as the norm is wrong. It will cost millions in lost lives, jail sentences, social welfare payments further down the road, now is the time to parent.
