dysfunctional "family"
Paul1405,
Many such families are brought to this stage by mostly outside influences. Parents aren't allowed to discipline children, financial pressures such as rent, registrations, rising costs in free-fall, insurance stress & etc etc. Most of such costs aren't really comprehended by the average securely employed Public Servant hence the decisions made by them impacting so severely on low income families as to cause severe stress which the ignorant refer to as dysfunctional !
Actually dysfunctional families are neglected by way of relevant authorities not addressing the problems until it is way too late. Of course there are people who are by nature recalcitrant & generally disruptive & uncivilised who cause stress to neighbours & the community yet the authorities are traditionally dragging their feet. Police aren't allowed to act as they should & Magistrates are tough on those making a mall mistake & handle real troublemakers with kids gloves. To get back on parallel running rails we cannot get away from the fact that a national Service is desperately needed to restore society ! Only then can the troublemakers learn to adopt a more caring & responsible attitude ! Those in authority now could do evening classes in integrity to star the ball rolling !

Hi Indy,

I don't know what experience you have with delinquent children, but I have some, both in Sydney and Brisbane. Most, 80%-90% come from what I would call dysfunction backgrounds.

You claim; "Parents aren't allowed to discipline children" When I say dysfunctional background, I mean there is virtually no home life to begin with, what there is, is a shocker anyway. What little childhood some kids have. A life of instability, drugs, violence, poverty, in and out of institutions from as young as 12. The only "family" some kids know, is the mob they hang out with, which they prefer to the so called parent(s). Anti social behaviour begins at a very early age, the progress through, drugs, crime and violence is rapid, by 18 they're ready for adult prison, and a future life of crime.

Hi Paul,
I know a few kids like that, aged around 11, and heading directly toward jail.
They think they know better and can fight the whole world and win.
They can't be told, they will have to learn the hard way.
So I say 'Bring on the hard way' already.

I also know and care about other kids, good kids, who are the victims of these bad kids.
And this is the important point.
I don't want the good kids I care about bullied and mistreated and turning into bad kids themselves because other people raise little monsters who will not change until they've hurt enough people and learned regret the hard way, and well - when you're dealing with toxic teenage narcissists, it might be a few decades of harming others before they come to their senses, if ever.

I don't agree with smacking kids, certainly not as a standard go to punishment, but these kids have gone too far and examples need to be set.
Lets just save all the harm done to innocent kids and innocent people and punish these kids properly. Parents had no problem smacking me as a kid when I did the wrong thing, and the school had no problems pulling out the cane when I messed around at school.

You can't say you don't know you're doing the wrong thing when you attack people in their own homes with machetes so if the punishment was a public flogging, they'd deserve it.

You think I'm wrong but that Vietnamese bloke would still be alive, his wife and kids would still have a husband and father.

I understand your sadness surrounding the plight of the monster kids.
It wasn't really their fault either but your feelgood bs isn't working.
You need to produce a solution that kept that Vietnamese bloke alive.

I'm sure harsher punishments will actually reduce the total harm being done currently.

Paul1405,
take note of what Armchair Critic says. Dysfunction derives from a countless number of issues however, the most direct cause is lack of discipline & anyone denying that is simply in no position to even comment. Yes, dysfunctional parents & that includes the middle class career parents, are the basis of drug abuse, crime etc. Just look at the idiocy that are tattoos & piercings ! No functional parent will allow a minor to make that decision & tattooists who disfigure minors should be charged heavily as those who provide alcohol & cigarettes to minors. Who is to blame for much of such dysfunction ? You guessed it, Child welfare & other family support groups starting with Kindy & pre-school. Another devastatingly irresponsible group are the free to air Tv programmers. Where are the Government officers who are supposed to keep an eye on society ? They're glued to computer screens denouncing Pauline & Trump & spending all day of social media instead of working ! All that has to change, we need those in charge to held accountable & to achieve that there's only one way, Discipline & responsibility. i.e. A national Service !

Like... where are all these so called experts when you actually need them?
All these people who the government help have University degrees and specialise in this area.
Where are their solutions?

You could argue that between the entire lot of them that all they've manages to foster is a basket-case of a system, if you take in the bigger picture.

You have shite kids becoming parents themselves and raising even shiteier kids, and it's not these kids fault they're born into toxic environments and unfairness from the start, or that they grow up with chips on their shoulders and resentment for everything and a 'I don't care about anything' attitude, and that becomes their charter and life moving forward, but knowing this doesn't change the problem of the harm they end up doing to others.

If we can't even protect and defend the good kids and innocent people and create real deterrents to prevent kids going down the bad path, then what hope is there for a better system?
I understand that a better system might include education, and adult mentoring, and an opportunity for these kids to choose for themselves something better as well as serious punishment.
But if accept things the way they are we'd just be accepting this current situation as being 'the best we can do'.
And it's not really good enough, we need solutions, not feelgood crap that isn't getting results.

The "lock em' up, and throw away the key", approach is not working. The number of children in juvenile detention has increased by 10% since 2021 to new record levels. 80% of those children have not been sentenced, due to a severe backlog within the court system. The lock em' up, and throw away the key approach might make some in society feel good, and its politically appealing, but there is no evidence it does anything to reduce the level of crime among juveniles. By concentrating on punishment after the fact, is both costly and self defeating.
"But if accept things the way they are we'd just be accepting this current situation as being 'the best we can do'.And it's not really good enough, we need solutions, not feelgood crap that isn't getting results."
The evidence is the feelgood crap, is not leniency on juveniles, but a concentration on a punishment system that is not working.