No surprises there
That was my initial reaction when I read the report, “Snapshot in Time: The Root causes of Crime in Waterloo Region”, and especially the information related to Males 15-24 and the following page that talks about youth unemployment and the fact that those things combined with high levels of alcohol consumption, “it is believed to cause an increase in the homicide rate”. Sometimes it just seems that research doesn’t reveal anything in the way of new information but only serves to confirm what have been long held beliefs by members of our community. It doesn’t make the information any less useful to us and in fact it is important information to guide and direct actions we can take to address these specific issues related to the criminal activities of males 15-24 in our community.
Ray of Hope operates Secure and Open custody facilities on behalf of the Province of Ontario for young men aged 13-17 and in the course of any given year we will serve a few hundred young men. Some of them may spend most of their teenage years returning to our care because of their ongoing conflict with the law and as the report suggests conflict with their peers. For many they have not learned the social skills required to manage their anger in a socially acceptable manner. Unlike most adults who learn constructive ways to deal with conflict, or can afford to have lawyers argue for them, young men tend to be impulsive and find the quickest and easiest way to deal with someone they are having trouble with, which generally relates to some type of punch to the face and escalating violence.
It also comes as no surprise that alcohol or drug use may also contribute to criminal behaviour. Ray of Hope also operates a variety of Youth Addiction Treatment programs in the community and there are a number of similarities between the youth we serve in these programs and the youth engaged in our justice programs. The majority of youth entering our addictions treatment programs already have some type of probation orders from the court system related to previous behaviour, but they have not gone far enough to have landed in custody. The majority of youth in our custody programs have substance abuse problems with drugs or alcohol that are related to their crime. For some, they were involved in robberies or break and enter crimes to fund their drug habit, while others committed their crimes while intoxicated or high.
I don’t think that anything I have stated should come as a shock to anyone reading this blog. It is kind of how life is in any community and it has been this way for years. The question we have to ask ourselves is, “can we do anything to change this”? In their report, “Review of the Roots of Youth Violence (2008)”, The Honourable Roy McMurtry and Dr. Alvin Curling identified the following as contributing factors to youth violence:
- Poverty,
- Racism,
- Community Design,
- Education System,
- Family Issues,
- Health,
- Lack of a Youth Voice,
- Lack of Economic Opportunity, and
- Issues in the Justice System
Even without delving into any of the details of the report it is evident that the issue is extremely complex and that no single simple solution can possibly resolve this situation for our community. As a single issue, something like poverty is a huge challenge for our community and seems to be constantly in the news. But there seems to be little political will to really address the issue and find the resources it will take to minimize the impact of poverty let alone eliminate it. The challenges of system change seem to be too overwhelming and yet if we can bring about some systemic changes the impact could be transformative.
But maybe more can be accomplished by focusing on individuals. Over the past few years the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Youth Justice Services has introduced a concept entitled, “Relationship Custody” to both direct run and transfer payment agencies. The idea behind this concept is that staff are not to be primarily concerned with guarding youth in our facilities but with building relationships with them and trying to encourage them in making better choices for their lives in the future. I believe that Ray of Hope has operated with this type of philosophy from its very beginning and we are always looking for ways to connect with youth and provide them with the support they need to keep them from reoffending.
At a recent staff meeting one of our staff shared about a young man who had spent some time in one of our custody programs in his early teens. He was still struggling with a number of things so a friend suggested he connect with one of our reintegration staff. After meeting with this youth and exploring his life situation, the youth agreed to enter one of our addiction treatment programs. After successfully working through this program he has now enrolled in our Youth Employment program where he is gaining specific life skills and job skills to help him take control of his future. We may not have transformed the system, but this one young man’s life is being transformed.
The challenge is to try and work at both the system and with the individual and then maybe at sometime in the future the percentage of young males 15-24 in our community may prove to be an indicator of a positive healthy community rather than indicator of violent crime.
Author: Harry Whyte
For the past 5 years Harry Whyte has served as the CEO of Ray of Hope Inc, a local agency that provides support to youth in the areas of Justice, Employment and Addictions, along with the Ray of Hope Community Centre that provides support to people impacted by poverty. Harry and his wife Lois were also the parents of 4 boys, now in their late 20’s and 30’s and so has some firsthand experiences with the challenges faced by young men and their families.
Find more community responses from colleague’s in Waterloo Region who also work with young men:
- No cookie cutters in the kitchen, please by Rohan Thompson, Project Manager, inREACh
- They just keep coming back by Funke Oba, Community researcher & organizer, past President of ACA-WR