palimpsest: "Try communication, or help, or old fashioned control or even respect.

A friend who uses Restorative Justice at school tells me that boys would rather cop punishment than have to face the consequences of their actions. Striking a child diminishes both parties."

For once, I agree completely with my old 'pal' :)

The more interesting question is why do people like cuphandle believe that violent crime is increasing against all the evidence. I suggest you look up the Aus Bureau of Stats to get your facts right first, before indulging in this sort of absolute malarky. You are a victim of one of the worst crimes & that is disinformation progated by the popular press & by would-be populist politicians. e.g.
>The number of murders fluctuated slightly between 1993 and 2005, while manslaughter remained relatively stable. The number of murders peaked in 1999 at 344.
The number of manslaughters peaked in 2002 with 48 recorded in that year.
The 270 murders recorded in 2005 represented a slight increase over the previous year. The 263 murders recorded in 2004 was the lowest number recorded in any year since 1993.
The number of victims of manslaughter recorded in 2005 was 25, lower than in any year since 1993.
Source:

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006. Recorded crime, victims, Australia 2005. ABS cat. no. 4510.0. Canberra: ABS

Uh huh. Agreed .....achenne1. The crime and violence has always been there. The level of media reporting and sensationalising is the problem of the day.

I used to genuinely think the 50s were the times to be in a family and that nothing was going on or wrong. WRONG. It was more behind closed doors is all. I was born in the 60s.

Digressing perhaps, TV and such have a lot to answer for when it comes to showing issues of how best to disrespect. Too many examples are on the box nowadays in the form of sitcoms and cheap acting soaps. All the trashy relationships and such. what an insult on a persons intelligence. With this is the dummying down of society with so many reality shows that are being googled at. Gone are the days when you did something wrong, even if an accident like breakinga a window, you went to the neighbour and said 'sorry' and offered to pay for damage. Gone are the days when kids were expected home at a certain time (before dark), having been playing in the park free all day. why are kids so bored. Society and parenting are the places to start.

Respect is the issue though. Giving respect will earn you respect in return. Kids need it and they need to be taught more of these lessons in the home. Do unto others, isn't it?

Well, Cakers, I'm afraid that I'm ambivalent about your reply. The 50s & 60s were the times when incest was a game the whole family could enjoy and naughty girls & boys who ran away from home to escape it were thrown into juvenile detention centres & the like & in many cases there re-abused. I think respect has to come from both sides. Adult to child & child to adult. Yes, society has been dumbed down, That is the fault of the education system as much as anything else. The problem is systemic. I think the citizen has been dumbed down by government so that he/she makes a better less querulous worker bee. But that's a whole other issue.

There are still heaps of runaway children on the streets. They are still open to abuse. As we've seen DOCS is so disorganised & understaffed it cannot keep up with the numbers of child abuse reports it gets. It's not the fault of TV programs. It is all our fault. We don't really give a stuff beyond our petty concerns.

Ah, achenne1 we seem to agree the problems have always been there. It is indeed society itself to blame more than TV. Media does have a lot to answer for in this day and age too. For starters, look how desensitised the young people are now. In my days the movie Jaws had the potential to keep you out of the water all summer. Today's kids would probably laugh at it.

Now young people seem to 'act' like they are bullet proof and without feelings. To the contrary they are needing love and attention more than ever. But instead with their parents, teachers and authority there is the increasing 'I don't give a stuff' attitude. I would say that if parents were more strong with the 'off' buttons on computers, phones and games, and joined there kids in more games and engaging activities we'd have more a handle on them. That is just one little thing. Communication skills are going out the window with the technological interferences. Where is the one on one time gone.

To add, people are becoming ?more gutless, for example with breaking up r'ships over a text message. It is like society feeds on the mishaps of everyone else, anything supposedly 'extreme' or awful is blown even further out of proportion. Media has something to answer for in this sensationalism of 'stories' that were once 'ordinary'.

Of course the use of too much booze has always been there but I dare to say more young people at younger ages are indulging because they are a) exposed to it, b) parents give in and/or more permissive with it c) kids are bored and seems more the cool thing to do every w/end now. In the end, it is the brains of these young people that'll rot prematurely giving resthomes more customers of a younger age group.