Daily Times

A lack of a sense of morality – rather than the opportunity to commit crime or social background – is found to be the most important factor in teenagers breaking the law. The crime statistics of UK show that under-17 are responsible for 23% of all crimes committed by the young offenders. The common reason for crime among children is admittedly because of the weakest moral sense and generally lack of self-control. On the other hand, the teenagers who avoided the criminal activity, was not because they feared the consequences or lacked the chance, but because they saw it as wrong.

A research held by the Cambridge scholars in Peterborough, UK for over five years involving some 700 teenagers between the age of 12 to 16. All of the teenagers were asked about their attitude towards lawlessness and what illegal things they had done. Interestingly, their answers were cross-checked with police records. Crimes occurred when teens with a little sense of right and wrong were in areas where people were unlikely to intervene. Professor Per-Olf Wikstrom, who led the Cambridge study, said, “Many young people are ‘crime-averse’ and just don’t perceive crime as a possible course of action. The idea that opportunity makes the thief – that young people will inevitably commit a crime in particular environment runs counter to our findings.”

Camila Bathmanghelidjh, the founder of Kids Company, cautioned against branding some young people as amoral. She said, “Society is lecturing children and youth about how well behaved they should be, but it’s not acting in a way that warrants respect. It’s a good thing to teach right from wrong, but really where children observe it the most, is in experience.”

Graham Beech, the director of the crime reduction charity Nacro, said, “In my view, the key to preventing crime by the small number of young people who are most likely to get entrenched in crime is to get in early, instill positive attitudes and teach them how to solve their everyday problem in a better way.” Much of the behaviour labelled as ‘criminal’ is not, in fact, unlawful, but it is anti-social and is experienced as upsetting or threatening by those who witness it or are on the receiving end. Different people including different generations have different ideas about what is acceptable behaviour change. Offending by young people often take place in public and is very visible.

Many strategies have been tried to intervene in situations where young people are falling prey to criminal activities particularly when the children considered less fortunate comparing to other groups. The intervention programs structured with sports activities attracted many and proved as a diversion tool from criminal behaviour among young groups. Sports have benefits for everyone, but can be a particularly powerful tool for tackling youth crime. There are plenty of stories of sports keeping young people off the streets and out of trouble, engaging them in education, and inspiring them to get back on track.

The statistics and concern for other countries in the preceding paragraph can enlighten us that how the problem is viewed across the world. There is an evident seriousness in dealing with the situation. The issues of youth crime, deviant behaviour and how to get out of this situation have the attention of all peer groups. Political parties have included the problem in their manifesto and willing to bring laws to tackle this issue. This is how the world is viewing youth problem passionately, but who is pondering on the issue in my beloved country? We can’t find anyone in ruling elite who had ever highlighted this problem.

Before the general elections of 1997 in the UK, the Labor Party stated that “sport can be crucial to the social and personal development of young people. By participating in sporting activities, they can learn to differentiate between good and bad behaviour.” The Labor Party after winning the elections started supporting several sports programs for at-risk youth in the UK. The efforts have resulted in lowering juvenile crime rates.

There is an immediate need to invest in sports for at-risk youth. The crime rate and deviant behaviour are on the rise among young people. News reports and videos appearing on social media confirm the deteriorated situation of social fabric across the country as the participation of youth in sports activities is declining. The incidents of street crime generally involve young people who are engaged in such activities just for excitement and thrill they enjoyed by committing these crimes. We have to stop them from getting bored and have to save them from idleness because “the devil makes mischief for idle hands to do”. This trend could be reversed if even a fraction of the government money spent on punitive approaches to dealing with crime is directed to engage all youth in organised sports. Federal, provincial/municipal governments, need to develop and establish policies and commit programming resources and have to act as a guardian of misdirected youth. Policy development should aim to attain three primary objectives that are to reduce the supply of motivated offenders, to make crime more difficult to commit and to create structures that increase the supervision of possible offenders.

The sports superstars or sports idols are often running a ‘product-led’ games development approaches rather than a needs-based youth work approach. They are running after to find a talent but never interested to engage the young people in healthy activities. The modern playing facilities are also not meant to provide a space for the youngsters but are maintained as monuments for a particular class who is able to afford such services. There are many other barriers to access many playing facilities close to their neighbourhood including, cost, distance, location and perception that the sports centres are not for the likes of us. It is not a simple thing that means ‘one size fits all’, will not work with a diverse population; there must be an approach to tailor program for a particular area of particular interest in a particular kind of sport.

Instead of bringing them to justice after they commit a crime, it would be wiser and effective to keep them away from criminal activities. Investing in youth welfare activities would be more fruitful than combating the criminal behaviour. This would be more cost efficient and could cut the cost of criminal justice system.

Although there is limited empirical evidence of a direct causal relationship between youth sport and juvenile crime reduction, there are several rationales as to why youth sport reduce juvenile delinquency. Because, it keeps young people busy and out of trouble, meet a need that youth have for excitement, make young people feel empowered, an increase in the feeling of connectedness and develop problem-solving skills, it fosters teamwork, develop athletic abilities. Sports also improve self-esteem and develop cognitive competencies, provide positive role-models and mentors, develop decision-making skills among youngster and above all provides employment opportunities.

The newly established local governments can take this opportunity to tackle this issue with the help of federal and provincial governments. The local leadership can work out where they have to intervene in the social spectrum. The involvement of parents and residents to help with the range of tasks involved in sports coaching sessions, leagues and tournaments can strengthen these intervention projects.

The writer can be reached at malikmasud@hotmail.com