How to stop teenagers getting involved in crime

I get that many on boards don't approve or don't believe that fear of punishment/law is a good method, but it certainly worked for me once I knew the effects. Not necessarily the prison time itself, but the loss of status, and the inability to travel afterwards.

I grew up in a midlands town that, when I was a teen was a rather rough place. Crime was always an option especially with the associations/friendships with travelers or other "lower" income families. We all went to the same schools, and spent a lot of time together. Peer pressure was a definite part of why people engaged in dangerous or stupid behavior.

My parents had curfews for us, and punished us when we broke the rules. Not simply physical punishment, although that was definitely part of it, but also the more psychological or emotional punishments. All of that seems to be gone these days as there are apparently better ways to raise children. It always seems a pity to me that nobody teaches new parents these fabulous new parenting techniques... instead, they're left to figure it out for themselves.

I do wonder at the logic of it all. We condemn parents for bad parenting but do nothing to actually provide them with the skills to do good parenting... Just as we condemn the poor for becoming poor, but we remove anything like, home economics, from schools. It seems like we are setting people up for the fall, and then, can stand back to judge them for failing.

Personally, I feel that Irish society has approached this whole issue in a rather stupid way. We demand that physical punishment be removed, but don't provide any realistic alternatives. Instead, there's a host of literature on parenting and child psychology, which often, not only counters each other, but is based on... nothing but the imagination, or personal experiences of the author. Hardly very concrete and very open to being misused.

Just as we remove the traditional boundaries that held children in place. Discipline in the schools, and the removal of the churches influence. Nothing is pushed in to replace the void of that discipline.. Instead, it's all about soft approaches with very vague suggestions, but ultimately deciding very little.

Don't get me wrong. I'm single. Never had children. Abroad, I've taught primary, secondary, and I'm now a university lecturer. I've read a host of books on child psychology, and classroom discipline/organisation... but I wouldn't have a feckin clue on how to raise a child...

I could guess...I could research it on the internet, or read more books, however, considering the importance of parenting in the development of children, why should I need to guess? Shouldn't there be programs in place to teach and support parents in the raising of their children? Not only teaching, but access to other support units?

In regards to the children/teens themselves... I'd favor the enforcing of harsher sentencing for serious crime, and the publication of such sentencing. Inform teens of the very real consequences of what would happen if they were ever convicted on a crime. While it won't prevent those intent on that lifestyle, it might encourage others to do more to avoid it. I often feel that there is a lot of assuming going on. That teens just know already the cost of being convicted of a crime, and I wonder do they really know?