EDITORIAL
Paddling for tagging
is not the way to go
In (hat child a delinquent? Unruly, always "tagging" public
property with graffiti? Never fear, the California State Assem
bly Public Safety Committee has approved a hill allowing juve
nile court judges to issue parents of the adolescent vandals this
command: whack the little bugger 10 times with a wooden
paddle. Do it right here, in the courtroom.
The landmark bill, which still must survive another com
mittee hearing and an Assembly floor vote, would, if enacted,
institute court-ordered corporal punishment for the first time
in more than 40 years.
This is not the way to deter crime. It may have worked to
deter Michael Fay, the spray-paint wielding American ado
lescent who got coned in Singapore for his deeds of vandalism.
But that was Singapore, where they have caned vandals all the
time without a munnur from the United States until an Amer
ican boy received the punishment.
Rather, the proposed measure is a way for the state to control
Cirenting. For a young person, a parent's advice and then the
w provide the most powerful deterrents against wrongdoing.
For example, a parent tells a child not to spray paint cars or
else they will be grounded. To reinforce how wrong the act is.
the state will enact a law punishing juveniles who spray paint
cars.
The threat of spanking is a deterrent reserved for two to three
year olds in a family setting. The state has no business autho
rizing that a child be spanked. Furthermore, they have loss
business authorizing that a parent spank their own child in a
courtroom.
Threatening a naughty child with some swift swat* works as
a deterrent because the act of spanking is one that humiliates
the child. The judge-sanctioned swatting proposed in Califor
nia works upon the humiliation principle as well. In fact, the
hill requires that the names of juvenile offenders who get juid
died be made public — a tactic used to humiliate the offender
and deter other would-be taggers.
This punishment is not aimed at two and three- year-olds.
It is aimed at teen-agers, many of whom presumably have been
subjected to worse acts of violence than a spank with a wood
en paddle. This bill seems to say that the Assembly of Cali
fornia makes no distinction between the intellects of three and
13-year-olds, and that they deserve the same punishments.
This hill is not geared toward making a child understand that
there are other outlets for fun besides spray painting black let
ters on public property. Like a throe year old who gets hit. the
adolescent will not understand why his act was wrong, hut
only that he has done something Iwtd.
The proposed legislation, which was not inspired by any
court case but by an Assembly member who admired the out
come of the Fay case, is not going to stop kids from tagging.
Ordering a parent to whack their child with a paddle of spec
ified size (throe-fourths inch thick. IB inches long and 6 inch
es wide with a 6-inch handle) while a judge looks on to deter
mine whether the paddling is "satisfactory" is only going to
create an unfavorable situation.
The child will probably Iks angrv and humiliated (and per
haps inclined to retaliate with another act of violence), the par
ent will 1m* a instrument, instructed by the stale on how to pun
ish the child and the judge will have too much power in telling
the parent to whack harder or more times.
In order to deter a crime, a balance must bo struck between
telling a would-be offender what will happen if the crime is
committed, tolling him how his criminal actions will affect
society and tolling him what options are available for him
besides crime.
Why not enact a punishment that puts something back into
the community and make the adolescent offender scrub graf
fiti-covered walls for a few hundred hours? Some may argue
that if that worked, it would have been tried already and would
still bo happening. Well, whacking the offender will not make
him understand the consequences of his actions any better. If
the vandalizing teen-ager doesn't realize the consequences of
his actions after hours of scrubbing and repainting walls, at
least the state has a clean wall and not someone else’s sore
behind to show for it.
Oregon Daily
PQ PO*JiVr fuCtNl OREGON ».’40J
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COMMENTARY
Growing up is hard these days
Summer brings many things
vegetables, trips to the
beach, suntans and class
reunions This year marks the
tenth anniversary of my gradua
tion from high school I got my
invitation to the class reunion a
little while ago and it started me
thinking about what it was like
growing up and being a teen ager
So much has changed since
l‘>H4 Kids today have it harder.
They're faced with increased
pressures surrounding their
future The |ob market is inse
cure Life as a kid is tougher.
Besides the pressure to wear out
rageously expensive clothing, life
itself is more unsettled Nothing
is as it was
When I was in high school, the
cliques were defined as the prep
py-smart kids, the losers and the
non-conformists.
Unless kids came from back
grounds where they experienced
abuse at home, basically every
one was going to go on to college
after graduation
Today teens and adults have
become more divided. One gen
eration has no idea what the next
is doing or what they want What
are adults over HO afraid that
teens are going to do7 Just
because a kid expresses his or her
anger doesn't moan he or she is
going to lash out at strangers on
a street comer.
Adolescent* coming up in our
society are not alone in their feel
ings of anger. Even hack in 19H4.
the world was changing in dra
matic ways.
Teens today are living with
social problems that, in the past,
have been exclusively thought of
as "adult in nature.” Kids don't
have much of a childhood any
more.
The anger manifested by teen
agers isn't directed into con
structive venues. Kids don't have
any place to vent their pent-up
emotions and they don't get the
attention they need to learn about
their choices. Teen pregnancy
and drugs become alternatives
because they feel good — not
because teens are aware of the
outcome of their actions.
As\f Moser Kornkfjj)
Kids have figured out how to
gain access to illegal drugs and
alcohol. Teen pregnancy is per
vasive Denying that this access
exists, or believing it exists
among only the had kids, shows
how little responsibility we, ns a
society, want to share for our
future.
Some young teen-age mothers
are tomorrow's leaders. When
those leaders are, as the Vine
Mender characterized them,
“disaed and totally pissed." what
will their response lie toward the
elderly 20. 30 or 40 years from
now? Given the opportunity to
give back to sex uity. will they, or
will they just turn off as they feel
they're Ixung turned away from
today? If a teen mother is forced
off welfare after two years and
can't give her children proper
< are. how will her kids make a
difference later?
Society is changing at an
incredibly fast rate The infor
mation superhighway is permit
ting people to meet each other
and communicate in ways
they've never met and commu
nicated before.
Men and women relate to each
other differently and address
issues of equality and violence.
There are no clear guidelines
as to how to achieve balance in a
culture spinning around and
around.
The complex energy and
intense feelings a kid experiences
from 13 to 17. compounded with
parental figures who are them
selves uncertain as to what will
happen next, are overwhelming
and intense It’s no wonder
they're going crazy and acting
out.
Teen-agers at 1H know more
about life than people of the same
age at any time in our history. But
kids are still kids. They still eat
candy. They still feel growing
pains and they still have to have
a first time for everything.
The high school I went to was
located in an African-American
community. Most of the students
wen* white and middle-class We
wore bused in and the experience
as a whole was wrenching for the
mostly affluent students of that
Ohio public school.
Teen-agers at 18
know more about
life than people of
the same age at
any time in our
history. But kids
are still kids. They
still eat candy.
They still feel
growing pains and
they still have have
a first time for
everything.
Thu limo of my life, which for
many people is high school, was
diflerent for me, and is probably
what brought mo to the Univer
sity last fall. It isn't what teens
have to deal with every day in
1994 I may have escaped the
boredom and uncertainty a kid
who graduated from high school
this past June has to face.
Now, with young people. I'm
stumbling along trying to deter
mine my future. At least I'm not
going to an overpriced, formal
dinner with a bunch of losers
from high school, and then a class
picnic. Gee Well, teens can be
assured of one thing after grad
uation. Class rounions are so
cheesv.
Anne Moser Komfeld will be a
columnist for the Kmerald next
fall