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August 30, 2004
Anti-social behavior is rooted in the home
By Don Eggleston -- August 29, 2004 -- SantaCruzSentinel.com
Thank you for your recent coverage of the release of the report by the Santa Cruz County Domestic Violence Commission. After 30 years of teaching students in the Pajaro Valley — the last 17 years in "at-risk" programs — I believe that domestic violence is at the root of many of our social problems.
Of course, we all know the statistics showing that the prisons are populated with (childhood) victims of violence and sexual abuse. When children are hurt by people who are supposed to love them, they are emotionally scarred. Those scars often show up in anti-social or self-destructive behavior later in life.
Some people definitely suffer from organic problems, such as depression or schizophrenia, but I believe that most of the criminal types and others on the fringes of society have histories of childhood abuse or neglect. In their words, antisocial behavior is a "normal" reaction to childhood mistreatment. I believe that "hurt people hurt people." Few children are born as the "bad seed." Most of our vandals, gang members, prostitutes and criminals are victims of childhood physical and sexual abuse. If you don’t understand what motivates these people to be anti-social, it’s probably because you had a different childhood than they did.
This is not to excuse any anti-social behavior — all criminals need to be punished — but an appeal to everyone to protect all the children in our community. If you suspect child abuse in any family, it is our business to report it. Please support domestic-violence-prevention programs around the county.
Doug Eggleston is principal teacher at New School.
Posted by Nealus at August 30, 2004 10:26 AM
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