Past eNewsletter

Dr. Michael J. Bradley

Volume 2, Number 6

Zero Tolerance=Zero Sense

Dear Reader,

As I pocketed another nice, wasted fee for performing another nice, pointless psychological evaluation on another nice, normal 11-year-old boy, his mother asked if I could call the school principal to see when Tyler could be readmitted. Mom looked exhausted. She had been up all night crying after getting that most horrifying and increasingly common phone call from school:

Adolescent specialists are as shocked as everyone else about the recent spate of school shootings. Given the torrent of media violence we rain down upon our kids’ heads, the innate impulsivity of adolescents, and the insane availability of weaponry (half of this nation’s teens can now get a gun whenever they want), we’re shocked that the number is so LOW!

The jaw-dropping statistical truth that nobody wants to see is that kids are actually much LESS violent these days. The numbers from the FBI, CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and every single piece of research proves beyond a doubt that kids are half as murderous now as they were in the mid-70’s. Over the past 10 years every measure of youth crime and violence has declined anywhere from 15% to 40%.

But our society’s hysterical obsession with school shootings has fostered the creation of absurd zero-tolerance violence policies that don’t deter truly murderous kids, and may actually increase risks for many other kids. These reactionary “call the cops” policies can hurt adolescents by further alienating at-risk children from the firm yet loving connections with caring adult teachers who can often handle these situations much better than the cops. Worst of all, these policies do nothing to address the true threats to our children and actually divert attention away from the real teen killers that are truly deserving of our hysteria.

Which threats? Drugs, sex, and rock ‘n roll (suicide, risk taking). Drug use has never been higher, with alcohol alone killing teens at thousands of times the rate of school violence. Unwanted pregnancies, sexual acting out, and sexually transmitted diseases can end teen lives at ten thousand times the rate of school shootings. Bad driving (usually enabled by “good” drinking, wild risk-taking, and lousy judgment) kills many thousands more of our kids than school shooting rampages. And suicide, the real monster stalking our children, claims 13 of our children every day. That’s 4,700 kids per year. And that number has increased 400% in 30 years.

Now back to Tyler...what really caused him to plot the murder of his classmate? Well, pesky little Mary had been torturing him on the bus that morning (a near-daily occurrence) and he asked her for the millionth time to leave him alone. Of course, she didn’t, and she finally kicked his shin when he ignored her. Tyler worked real hard to not hit her back and instead used that time-tested, 11-year-old response, “Don’t kick me again or I’ll kill you!” Of course even Mary blew off Tyler’s “threat.” But times have changed, and since an adult overheard the exchange, Tyler got handcuffed. And while my evaluation proved that he was no real threat, he sure views adults differently since he got arrested.

It seems only the kids knew this was a non-event. They used their common sense, something that kids need us to do when they say bad words. As for the real threats to our kids, in my opinion that’s where we need to be focusing our hysteria. Not on normal kids with the bad luck of living in an age where they’re not allowed to use the same words that we all did.

Please let me know your thoughts on this or any other relevant subject by logging on to my Parenting Forums at join_a_forum.html

I’ll see you there

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