To stop gangs, call the Scouts

THE LOS ANGELES City Council recently paid $593,000 for a report on how to end the city's rising gang violence. The taxpayers didn't get their money's worth. The much-ballyhooed study, directed by civil rights attorney Connie Rice, makes a whopping 100 recommendations yet can't bring itself to mention the most important driver of gang involvement — family breakdown. "A Call to Action: A Case for a Comprehensive Solution to L.A.'s Gang Violence Epidemic" recycles all the failed nostrums from the war on poverty, such as government-created jobs, "life-skills training," "parenting education and support" and "crisis intervention." Since the 1960s, trillions of dollars have been spent on such programs without so much as making a dent in the underclass culture that gives rise to gangs. And these initiatives will never make a significant difference in that culture as long as the vast majority of young males in inner-city neighborhoods are raised without their fathers.

To be sure, plenty of heroic single mothers are bringing up law-abiding young men. But the evidence by now is overwhelming: Boys raised in fatherless homes, on average, are disproportionately likely to get involved in crime and fail in school. Without a strong paternal role model, these boys are vulnerable to the lure of macho gang culture as a surrogate for a father's authority.

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The city should encourage philanthropic institutions that make the cultivation of positive values their core mission. A brigade of Boy Scout troops throughout Boyle Heights and Watts would do more to teach boys the importance of persistence, hard work and respect for authority than 1,000 social service and gang-intervention workers ever could. By giving youth a positive moral code, the Scouts and similar civic groups can reclaim lives and replace gang culture with true achievement.

Boys raised in fatherless homes, on average, are disproportionately likely to get involved in crime and fail in school.

The obvious, proven, plain, clear truth.

Two-parent (mom & dad) households produce better children.

Period.

My boy will be going into the Cub Scouts soon. I look forward to it. It would be nice if we could have had the law and order society of the 50s with all of todays modern conveniences (air conditioning, cable, computers, etc...). Alas, it’s not to be. Within a 100 years this nation will be unrecognizable.

Scouts are a very good idea.

Getting rid of PDFPD Rap Music - Pathetic Dysfunctional Foulmouthed Poetic Diarrhea

Is even better

i’m with you. i was working for a company that was big with the united way...they came in and did presenations, had a celebration day, employees were encouraged to donate money for “jeans days” privileges, etc. i was hounded for not donating!

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