How parents have the greatest impact on crime …
For a very long time, we’ve heard a lot garbage about the source of crime from politicians, social/cultural leaders, and even church leaders. When you take away all of the political rhetoric, let’s look at what you have.
Fortunately, there has been a lot of study on the topic of crime, but unfortunately we often don’t hear the real results. Take, for example, this story originally published in Christianity Today:
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In the 1950s a psychologist, Stanton Samenow, and a psychiatrist, Samuel Yochelson, sharing the conventional wisdom that crime is caused by environment, set out to prove their point. They began a 17-year study involving thousands of hours of clinical testing of 250 inmates here in the District of Columbia. To their astonishment, they discovered that the cause of crime cannot be traced to environment, poverty, or oppression. Instead, crime is the result of individuals making, as they put it, wrong moral choices. In their 1977 work, The Criminal Personality, they concluded that the answer to crime is a “conversion of the wrong-doer to a more responsible lifestyle.” In 1987, Harvard professors James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein came to similar conclusions in their book, Crime and Human Nature. They determined that the cause of crime is a lack of proper moral training among young people during the morally formative years, particularly ages one to six.
You can bet there are a lot of bad influences out there, which is one reason why the Bible gives us this warning:
“Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for ‘bad company corrupts good character,'” 1 Corinthians 15:33.
It’s also the reason why God, in His great design for humanity, intends for PARENTS to shape and mold their children with moral teaching throughout their lives, using all of life as a curriculum …
“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it,” Proverbs 22:6.
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord,” Ephesians 6:4.
“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,” Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
Psychologists and social scientists continue to arrive at the conclusion God has always known: instilling moral, biblical values in children from the earliest ages has the single greatest effect on crime in our society.
It’s important that parents understand, though, that such training isn’t just a simplistic teaching of rules. It may start there when children are very young, but parents need to train children not only the “letter” of God’s standard, but the “spirit” as well. Let me illustrate this by referencing this story from the Russian newspaper, Pravda:
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In Moscow, a driver received a fine for crossing a full-line. However, the photo made by traffic cameras showed that the vehicle was traveling without any violation of traffic rules.
The man could not understand the reason for which he was fined. Having studied the traffic cam photo in detail, he realized that it was the shadow of his vehicle that crossed the full line.
Jesus taught that violations in “spirit” are just as significant as violations in action. For example …
“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” Matthew 5:27-28.
Raising children with sound biblical, moral instruction that exceeds a list of rules but addresses their hearts, their minds, their desires is the root to abating crime.
Parents, don’t take the spiritual and moral training and development of YOUR children lightly. They will grow up to influences in the lives of others — either for good, or for corruption.
Scotty
September 27, 2016 at 4:31 pm
Thanks for writing this.
For me personally, this is a sensitive topic because it has a lot of factors. In realization that people will always be people, sometimes…even in the bible there are unjust cases and unjust things that have happened/and are happening to people that obey the law.
Recently, I was walking in a v-neck and I had a police officer follow me in my neighborhood. I am definitely the furthest thing from a criminal, but I felt belittled and harassed. Its tough to make the justification on who is a criminal and who isn’t, or how people are raised. Even if they were raised with no flaws, there are some things that people will never be able to experience. Temperaments of people are many different styles with many different people. Its honestly hard to tell who is a criminal, and it doesn’t have to necessarily be how they are raised. Influenced by the hood? Yes. Peers? Yes. Parents? Maybe. I personally think (take this with a grain of salt) that its always a case by case basis and poor parenting is not necessarily the main factor. Good blog 🙂
September 27, 2016 at 8:26 pm
Matt, I think you might be missing the main point of the article. Even if there is injustice, every person has the responsibility and full freedom to choose their responses. If you were profiled, that does not mean you should respond inappropriately, certainly not in an ungodly manner. CIRCUMSTANCES never dictate our thoughts, feelings, or actions, we always do – we can never put those off on anyone or anything else. While it is true that having bad parents doesn’t mean a child will eventually take on criminal behavior, and it’s also true that having great parents doesn’t mean that a child won’t later choose criminal activity, the Bible is clear that raising children to be godly adults is a responsibility of parents as designed by God. The studies mentioned here, as well as others, substantiate the great value of this biblical design. It is far more likely a person who is raised by godly parents in a loving, caring environment with appropriate discipline, and using all of life as a curriculum and laboratory for teaching and demonstrating God’s Word will grow up to never choose to behave in a criminal manner – that’s really the main point of the post.