Is the vulnerable child of today the offender of tomorrow?

The link between childhood vulnerability and propensity to crime in adult life has been established beyond doubt by researchers, but this is not a sweeping generalisation that all vulnerable children will become criminals. 

Definitely not! Yet it is a phenomenon to be studied if we really wish to have a society with ever diminishing crime rates, especially among young people.

For clarity, “childhood vulnerability” as a concept means being susceptible to harm or negative experiences due to one’s young age, developmental stage, or specific unavoidable circumstances, leaving a child at risk of exploitation and negative outcomes and denial of rights, needs and security, as compared to their peers. Experts also refer to vulnerable children as “at-risk children”.

Locally, we can particularly highlight as vulnerable the following groups: street children; children living in violent and abusive homes or who are rejected by parents; children without parental care (neglected); children with disabilities; migrating children; working children (child labour); children with children/pregnancies; children with criminal parents and children affected by HIV/Aids, among many others. 

However, no two children experience vulnerability in the same way; there are always case-to-case dynamics.

Nonetheless, narrowing down all the aforementioned groups, the core of it all is the family. Well established values within a family will solve most of the issues that create loopholes for vulnerability of children. 

Families have power to prevent delinquency and crime.  In the research-based book Family Life and Delinquency and Crime: A Policymakers’ Guide to the Literature (1994, Page 5), Kevin Wright and Karen Wright note that: “Families help teach children to control unacceptable behaviour, to delay gratification and to respect the rights of others. Conversely, families can also teach children aggressive, antisocial and violent behaviour.”

How? Experts inform us that children learn through different ways. Among many: observation and imitation, or what is called modelling which sometimes is incidental resulting in unintentional learning, for example of biases and anything parents did not intend to expose to them; routines, direct instructions, reinforcement (reward and punishment), the emotional climate of the home, parental communication and expectations, attachment and bonding, conflict resolution styles and finally through cultural and social values. (Marc Bornstein, Ed., Handbook of Parenting: Volume 1, Children and Parenting, London, 2002). 

These various ways are maximised for the good of the child when there is a continuum of consistency of parental care as a child grows up.

This tells us that we can reduce to a great extent the rate of crimes and delinquency by stabilizing the family structure. The assistance of the government is crucial, especially in complementing the parenting effort of the families and creating avenues for growth for young adults as they leave their families. 

When the system has poor incentives to guide young people to be productive and engaged in the society, even after they have been integrally formed well in their homes they can lose it all as they switch into the survival mode of the streets.

Countries with low crime rates have the best job security as well. In Tanzania, many individuals currently in correctional facilities (prisons) might not be there if meaningful employment opportunities had been available.

It is a big problem to accept our kind of frustrating joblessness as a social dynamic, even among those who are educated. 

Our government ought to address the problems systemically from the causes and set grounds properly for elimination of situations that push more and more young people into joblessness and crimes.

On the other hand practical solutions are needed for problems of street children. 

We need consistent advocacy against trafficking of children for work in cities and child labour in all its ramifications, as this is one of the leading causes of accumulation of vulnerable homeless children (street children) who in the long run, without being helped, become criminals.

We also need a system that holds adults socially answerable and legally accountable for abuses and domestic maltreatments which make many children to flee their homes for safety elsewhere.

Stronger child protection laws and policies are needed to ensure that children are always attended to and protected by adults who are charged with the duty of care and to legally safeguard them from cruelty, torture, abuse, or maltreatment. 

More enforcement regarding residence of children in their family homes is a crucial matter of consideration as time goes.

With modern technology, our system of nationwide residents’ registration ought to register children as individual residents attached to an address. 

As such, when found roaming around in the cities, mines, etc. and vulnerable to being harmed or engaging in crime, they can be reunited safely with their families. This has been done in many countries and it works effectively.