The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996            TAG: 9602170028
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

SAVE THE CHILDREN

Virginia is finally taking action against youthful offenders by introducing legislation that would allow youths 14 and older to be tried as adults for felonies ranging from murder to felonious injury by mob. Punishments would include incarceration and ``boot camp'' facilities.

The public has been crying out for action in the wake of numerous murders, rapes, robberies, etc., committed by teenagers who were, for the most part, unreachable by our current justice system. It would seem that we are finally taking necessary measures, but I wonder if we are, once again, treating the symptoms rather than curing the disease.

As I drive through the crime-ridden sections of Norfolk, I see unsupervised children engaging in all sorts of delinquent behavior. Boys no older than 10 approach me as late as midnight, asking for change. The drug dealers on the corner, as well as the gun-wielding thugs who terrorize the neighborhood, get younger and younger.

Where is the parental supervision? Why are we relying upon government to solve problems that should be solved at home? Teenage felons are a result of a permissive and unstructured environment. Thanks to government intervention in the home, we are limited in what we can do to discipline our children. Rather than instruct our children in morality and abstinence, we rely upon public schools, which supply contraceptive devices and condone deviant behavior. We encourage our children to look upon us as equals rather than as figures of authority, which causes them to look elsewhere for guidance and role models.

Government programs have been instrumental in discouraging two-parent households by making it profitable to be a single parent. Consequently, we are dealing with the products of our negligence - unruly youths who have no respect for anyone or anything. And here we go again, looking to government to protect us from the monsters that we have created.

So we go ahead and lock our children up rather than provide them with the structure, supervision and education that we, as parents, are obliged to give them. The future of America will be confined behind bars, reduced to being a liability, and we have only ourselves to blame.

CAESAR GONZALES

Norfolk, Feb. 1, 1996 by CNB