Pubdate: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2011 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Alan Gray Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n653/a07.html?1147 CRIME BILL'S PROGRESS SHOULD BE ARRESTED Re: Ottawa seems determined to cut youth act, Column, Nov. 5 I agree wholeheartedly with Peter Mcknight's article arguing that Bill C- 10 will have the result of putting more youth in prison. If estimates are to be believed, it costs the Canadian taxpayer about $ 200,000 annually to keep each and every prisoner in jail. I suggest that 90 per cent of these people in prison probably showed characteristics in their teenage years that they might be on the path to self destruction. As anyone who has experience of children with bi-polar disorder, depression or low self esteem can attest, it is far easier to handle this problem before they reach adulthood and before all sorts of privacy rules are thrown up as roadblocks. Depression or just low self esteem leads children to experiment with drugs and mix with undesirable peers who want nothing more than to recruit vulnerable children into a world of drugs and drug dependency, which ultimately leads to acts of criminality and, often, jail. Surely a better solution would be to give each high school in the country $ 200,000 to identify children with these traits or problems and get them help or treatment before they reach 18 years old and parents are all but impotent to intervene. If this money kept just one child out of prison, the expense would have paid for itself. If it kept two children out of jail, we would be ahead of the game. Once some of these people experience prison, they might feel they have no future and will, no doubt, become repeat offenders giving our politicians the satisfaction of being able to say, "You see, we did need more prisons." Alan Gray White Rock - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.