Rob Brodie, who works on trying to rehabilitate criminals following their sentences, said that of 20 case files he recently pulled at random, 14 of the criminals were from single-mother homes.
Along with a call for politicians to toughen drug laws, the faith leaders pointed to a breakdown in the family home as the leading edge of the downward spiral.
Building on the momentum of Boston preacher Eugene Rivers, who's been in Toronto to introduce his own strategies for crime fighting, the faith leaders sent out a call for everyone - politicians, police, faith leaders, mothers, fathers and educators - to do their part.
Bruce Smith, a former Toronto Argonaut football player who is now an outreach worker and chaplain, speaks from experience.
“I grew up without a father,” Smith said. “I ran with gangs and packed a gun when I grew up in Texas.”
Comment Policy
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Absent fathers root of gun crimes, faith leaders say Young male adolescents who have no male role model at home 'look to gangs for family'
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The soical costs of family breakdown are enormous, widespread and well established.
ReplyDeleteThey say 80% of incarcerated felons have fatherlessness in common. It has a higher correlation with criminal activity than either race or social economic factors.
We need to do more here at opine of collecting and disemenating this information.
Its powerfull gut level stuff & I wish I had more raw data to use in argumets and exchanges.