The Heritage Foundation - a Conservative think tank - reported
that the rise in violent crime over the past 30 years runs directly
parallel to the rise in fatherless families. In every state in our country, according to the Heritage foundation, the rate for juvenile crime "is closely linked to the percentage of children raised in single-parent families. And while it has long been thought that poverty is the primary cause of crime, the facts simply do not support this view. Teenage criminal behavior has its roots in habitual deprivation of parental love and affection going back to early infancy, according to the Heritage
A father's attention to his son has enormous positive effects on a boy's emotional and social development. But a boy abandoned by his father in deprived of a deep sense of personal security, In a well-functioning family," he continued, "the very presence of the father embodies authority" and this paternal authority "is critical to the prevention of psychopathology and delinquency." (2)
On top of the problem of single parent homes, is the problem of
the children whose behavioral problems are linked to their mothers' crack use during pregnancy. These children are reaching their teenage years and this is "a potentially very aggressive population," according to Sheldon
Greenberg, director of Johns Hopkins University's Police Executive
Leadership Program. What's more, drug use has more than doubled among 12-
to 17-year-olds since 1991. "The overwhelming common factor that can be
isolated in determining whether young people will be criminal in their
behavior is moral poverty," Greenberg says. (3)
According to the recently published "Body Count: Moral Poverty . .
. and How to Win America' s War Against Crime and Drugs," a new generation
of "super-predators, " untouched by any moral inclinations, will hit
America's streets in the next decade. John DiIulio, the Brookings
Inst...