Preventative Solutions vs. Reactionary Approaches One of the biggest failures in society in dealing with youth violence and bullying is the natural reaction of punishing the offender. This is very essential in dealing with an offender that they SHOULD be held accountable for their actions and the results that stem from their actions. This said we should be dealing with these issues on a more preventative level. Politicians, schools and the general public tend to turn a blind eye to the problem until it comes up and bites them in the ass. Unfortunately, it is to late and someone is usually seriously injured or dead by this point. Then they want the offender punished to the fullest extent of the law. They want to know why and get to the root of the problem. Then the media coverage settles down, the strength of using it as a political football dissolves and the issue again gets put on the back burner in order to make it appear that the next “issue of the day” is the most important to the community. Funds are reallocated and until the next person is injured or killed, everyone puts the thought of such a tragedy out of their mind as that is easier than always admitting that the potential is still there and that it could be anyone of our children that are the next victim. Youth violence and bullying prevention should never be used as a political issue to gain points in the polls. Instead it should be a continued and evolving process of prevention through education and awareness. It is much more cost effective as a community or society to spend money on preventing a tragedy than to react after a tragedy. To get an aggressive child assistance in managing anger and emotion is much less costly than to wait until they act out the anger in a physical attack on another and then sentence them to closed custody. They will then be involved in the legal system and chances are this will not be the only offence. The reality is that they will probably continue on to commit further violent offences through adolescence and into adulthood. The costs will continue to pile up as the positive results continue to fade. When you hear any health department speak on any preventable illness, they are always focused on the preventative measures that one can practice in order to reduce their risk. An example of this is smoking. The way to prevent lung cancer is to stop smoking. Information is available everywhere on this. Everyone talks about it and many do quit smoking as a result. The cost to an individual who smokes and quits is substantially less than the costs associated with someone who continues smoking and develops cancer. It is called prevention and it works. We have to keep the same ideals when looking at the problem of Youth Violence and Bullying. This is further reinforced when you take into account the long-term effects that bullying and violence has upon its victims and society as a whole. The bullies will continue and will be bullies when they finish school and enter the workforce. Further when they are bullies at work, the victims will take off more sick days. This costs companies and the economy as a whole. For those people that feel the effects to do reach them, they should think again. The same is true for school children. If children and teens are the victims of the bullies, they will have more reported cases of being ill and missing school. Test scores and overall performance in academics can be reduced, more medical care, reportedly more headaches, stomach-aches and other related illnesses. More attempted and completed suicides as a result of lowered self-esteem and higher rates of depression. More missed days of work for parents to deal with their “sick” child. As the more doctors’ visits, more meds that are used, increase in missed days that company benefit packages are covering, the higher the rates for all companies and workers. These are just a small number of the associated costs of a reactionary approach to deal with the aggressor and problem after it has happened. The costs of preventing this whole cycle and situation are much less for everyone. Even those who do not have children. So when someone says, “I do not have kids. It does not affect me. Why should I care about this problem?” you have a solid answer for them. From the Book - Youth Violence - An International Crisis By James Miller (604) 582-9624