With the current rash (or is it the latest news trend?) of 'flash mob' style assaults and robberies, it's got me thinking about criminal justice and deterrence and punishment. How does societal deal with this problem? We have what are basically spontaneous criminal gangs that can overwhelm police and victims, fueled by a 'safety in numbers' mentality. Clearly our system of deterrence is working here. But at the same time, what do we really expect from these 'persons'? Most of them started out with almost no chance to make it and with the current recession, and likely permanent economic phase change, the now have no chance. WTF. How do we go forward with protecting society here? Shit, late for a meeting.

This is why I think rehabilitation is futile for a few people. They simply need to be kept away from the rest of society.

Can we really punish 16 year old kids like that?

Depends on the 16 year old, I guess.

Rehabilitation must be a tough trade. My stepson was in a car accident a little over a year ago, and had massive head trauma and lost his right eye. The head trauma caused massive mood swings, which (until his medication was properly dosed) were uncontrollable and caused two small run ins with the law.

For 17 months now, it's been total meltdown around my house, because we have this 22 year old who wants nothing more than to work and be independent and live his life, and he is never....NEVER....the best applicant for the job. He was on disability, getting $500 a month, but that's nothing to live on and it's boring so he gave it up to work for a family friend. When that job was shut down he ended up totally fucked.


And so did I.

Bless your heart, McParadigm.

Rehab almost never works anyway. It's not about rehabilitation. It's not about deterrence. It's about incarceration and isolation from the rest of the law abiding society.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if you are joking.

The mark of a truly great troll.

Maybe that's a joke, but I haven't done anything for this kid except fail. And I'm quickly running out of ideas.

Welcome to parenthood!

Great. I'm only 9 years in.

Lemme know when you have a kid less than a decade younger than you who calls you "Dad."

are you black?

who isn't right?

whitey, usually

cono? he's not really on here anymore. but thanks for your thoughts.

The county I live in is considering a curfew to deal with this rise in little ghetto shits coming west and causing problems. Some of the comments on Twitter: #mococurfew are gold, gold I tell ya!

Man, that's rough stuff, McParadigm.