The days of the sneak thief who stole a couple of apples or a packet of sweets from a chain store are actually over. I had a chance to say this to a young offender the other day, "Sweets from a chain store?" He said, "You must be joking. That's what kids do." I may add that he was aged 11. In other words, today's young criminals would find it laughable to risk being caught for petty theft of this description. They've got enough money in their pockets to buy the sweets they want, anyway. I think it's all too easy to put the blame on anyone but ourselves.  Faced as they are with a society that frequently gives them up on the grounds of color1, race or low learning ability, these children turn to crime as a means of showing off their self-respect. Nurtured on films and TV glamorizing   the role of the criminal, they are quick to copy these anti-heroes. It is a matter of increasing concern to the police and government that the Children and Young Persons Act, 1969, is becoming improper to deal with the rise in young criminals. Because the emphasis has been placed on the cause and gentle treatment of their crimes, rather than on old-fashioned methods of punishment, the children themselves know well that there is very little that can be done to prevent them continuing to steal, damage and in some case even cause the death of those they choose to terrorize  . I don't like the look of this situation any more than you do. In our own interests and in those of our children and grandchildren, we cannot continue to take the "it's nothing to do with me" attitude we have used for so long. We must unite in a common demand for harder and stricter methods against these young criminals. Psychologically speaking, the reason why some youngsters commit crimes is that   _  .
they want to take revenge on society they think it a way of showing their self-respect they are good at imitating the criminals in the films they don't know what they are doing is against the law