It was 1930 when the following article was written. Way back then we identified the fact that there is an unmistakable connection between fatherlessness and crime. (Keep in mind that the fatherless rate was below 3% at this time.)
With the establishment of juvenile courts in the United States around 1900 and the compilation of social statistics on youth who were brought before these courts, the high proportion – 40 to 50 percent – of all delinquent children came from broken homes, struck observers. Since it was far beyond normal expectancy that such a proportion of all youth was similarly disadvantaged, early writers saw broken homes to be an important, if not the greatest single proximate (casual) factor in understanding juvenile delinquency. G.B. Mangold, Problems of Child Welfare (New York: MacMillan Co., 1930), p. 406; Mabel Rhoades
Since this was written, the problem has grown dramatically. Today over 40% of babies in hospital nurseries will go home to a house without a dad. In the ‘30s this problem was understood and discussed.
Over the last few decades we have tried to pretend that fatherlessness was not an issue. The Emperor has no clothes and these children have no dad. The problem must be acknowledged in order to be dealt with. Family has been redefined. The facts are ignored. All studies on the issue point to the obvious conclusion that the safest and healthiest place for a child to grow up, is in his family with his father and his mother. This fact does not fit into our current cultural agenda. There is a price for ignorance, even self-mandated ignorance.
The Justice Policy Institute put out a paper in May of 2009. It was called The Costs of Confinement. It said the following: ‘Approximately 93,000 young people are held in juvenile justice facilities across the United States. Seventy percent of these young people are held in state-funded, post adjudication, residential facilities, at an average
cost of $240.99
per day per youth.’ That is
$87,961 per child per year. (The link leads you to a newsletter that contains the rest of this article)
