WHEN children commit crimes they are not treated as adults for the reason that they are presumed not to know better. Hence there are Family Courts and special confinement in what are termed Places of Safety. The objective is not simply punishment but rehabilitation.Such a course is even now being actively pursued for adult convicts who might otherwise become recidivists i.e. habitual criminals.
We are not here suggesting that the students of the Denham Town Primary School deserve to be treated as criminals for having stoned the Denham Town Police Station last Wednesday. Indeed students from the same school staged a similar attack on the station four years ago; but the time lapse means that the 1997 incident involved an earlier set of children since the primary school age limit is 12 years.
In those circumstances the social environment must be seen as the constant factor in two disgraceful episodes involving open defiance of the law and the damaging of public property. In the not-too-distant past, children regarded policemen with respect and perhaps some apprehension.
That this juvenile attitude could have changed so radically cannot be attributed solely to the children themselves. There have been suggestions from some policemen that Wednesday's stone-throwing was instigated by adults.
What may be even more damning is the possibility that parents could be implicated; and some of them must be, in the sense that basic upbringing at home has failed to impart first principles about moral values and social responsibilities.
We note that the school principal, Mr. Everton Jones, who had initially been stunned at the behaviour of the students, has claimed subsequently that the school does not have a disciplinary problem any worse than other schools. Indeed he praises their academic achievements.
He has conceded, however, the need for support from Government and voluntary agencies to help educate the students so that they would know right from wrong. That of course is sorely needed along with admonition of parents and guardians about their own responsibilities.
It needs to be said also that the police themselves must realise that brutal policing also undermines respect for authority. Community policing is a two-way street.
