The Outstater

July 8, 2026

Civilizing our ‘Youths’

THE REALITY IS that a couple of generations of urban juveniles have not been socialized — have not been civilized, if you will. The solutions are difficult but generally understood. The problem is in what sequence they should be applied.

Both Indianapolis and Fort Wayne experienced multiple shootings over the July 4 weekend involving numbers of “youths,” the media code for fatherless black teenagers running amok at 1 o’clock in the morning. Officials were quick to express sympathy for the families involved (of both victims and perpetrators, interestingly). And inanimate objects, e.g., guns,  were mentioned of course.

But the emphasis from the official podiums (besuited apparatchiks standing behind the mayors like bowling pins) was on how we can help these young men find a place in civil society. The leading Democratic candidate for Indy mayor is building a platform on that plank.

That is a proper emphasis. The question, though, is whether it should be the first emphasis. Victor Hugo’s observation that to civilize a man you must begin with his grandmother is pertinent here. The policies the mayors like to run up the flag pole will take years, possibly generations to take hold, and then with only a fraction of the delinquent population.

That’s the soft, indefinite approach. The hard, immediate one is to enforce society’s laws regardless of political context. Nothing gets an errant juvenile’s attention (and that of his mother) like seeing the thug down the street behind bars on serious charges.

Parents need to know that their sons will be held accountable to society’s basic standards, that is, they will not be given a pass by a woke prosecutor or judge because of irrelevant social grievances of one sort or another. “Westside Story” was a musical, not a societal blueprint — and Black Lives Matter was a fraud, literally.

In all, we liked the response of Tom Vaughn, the Republican candidate for Marion County sheriff. This week he told listeners of the “Hammer and Nigel Show” (WIBC) that there is no  such accountability. Officers pick up the same juveniles weekend after weekend because they get released with few consequences. He questioned why juveniles should be on the street at 1 a.m. for any reason.

Iron-clad curfews, not a sociology lecture, would seem the place to start. — tcl

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