c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He is now a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.)

UNDATED _ A few years ago, I received word that the 20-year-old son of a friend of mine had been stabbed to death. An ex-offender with a reputation as a skilled street-fighter, the young man lost his last battle in a dispute with an equally pugnacious teenager.

The resultant brouhaha engulfed the entire city. Youth violence was condemned by city officials, the local media and private citizens alike. At the funeral, family members pleaded with the victim’s young comrades _ dressed in black hoods and reportedly bent on revenge _ to end the killing. As I ministered to the family, I asked God _ for perhaps the 100th time_”How do we reach these kids?” Four years later, I’m still asking the same question.

The query now comes in the wake of a national debate on the value of the juvenile justice system. With teens accounting for as much as 20 percent of the nation’s violent crime rate, many believe the system has outlived its usefulness.

Critics rightly argue the juvenile system’s original mandate _ to provide social services and intervention strategies for immigrant youths facing adjustment problems in a new nation _ bears little resemblance to the issues that come before the court today. Domestic violence, teenage pregnancy and an underground economy based on the manufacture and sale of illegal drugs are just a few of the problems faced by the social workers, therapists, attorneys and judges that make up the juvenile court system.

However, many of the proposed remedies for this admittedly sick system are worse than the illness itself.

For example, Congress _ with the support of the Clinton administration _ is preparing to pass legislation that would provide up to $1.5 billion in grants to states that agree to try juveniles accused of serious felonies as adults. The proposal gives increased impetus to decades-long attempts in each of the 50 states to prosecute young felons in adult courts.

The congressional proposal, however, is short-sighted. If passed, the effect would be to overtax an already burgeoning and inefficient adult system.

Moreover, adult courts and prisons would gain responsibility for a youthful population with which they have no history of rehabilitative success. For example, a new study of young offenders in Florida indicates that juveniles tried as adults there graduate to more serious and violent offenses, and return to prison faster, than those tried as juveniles.

As one who works in adult prisons and has counseled young offenders, it is obvious to me that mixing the two populations will not work.

For one thing, inmates from the baby boom generation and inmates from Generation X may be convicted of similar crimes, but the ethics and values embraced by the two groups are different. As a result, the conflicts that arise between them are sharp and often violent. To add an increasing number of minors to an already volatile mix is to risk unwarranted trouble.

The potential for increased prison violence is exascerbated further by the presence of gangs. The Crips, the Bloods, the Latin Kings, the Five Percent Nation and others are establishing new chapters in prisons nationwide and young offenders will only provide new fodder on which such gangs feed.

Yet recognizing situations that must be avoided only brings me back to my original question:”How do we reach these kids?”The answer: Bring them to the Bible.

Statistics show that the most effective programs for reducing delinquency and crime are based on biblical principles.

For example, the Ten Point Coalition, a group of 43 churches in Boston, has been instrumental in working with law enforcement to help dramatically reduce teen crime in that city.

The Rev. Eugene Rivers, a co-founder of the coalition who became a Christian during his days in a Philadelphia gang, believes”Sunday School is the most revolutionary institution”there is.

Another example is the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Led by the Rev. Tony Evans, the church works with the court system in Dallas to provide a probation site that is run on biblical principles for juvenile delinquents.

Both Rivers and Evans believe the breakdown of the family has left many of our youth with no sense of direction or personal value. These ministers believe it’s the responsibility of the Christian community to serve as surrogate parents for those kids lacking parental guidance. And under their direction, the Christian community has responded with notable results.

It is amazing that with all the fretting and handwringing over the state of our youth, we have overlooked the one thing proven to work.

Perhaps that says more about us than about our children.

MJP END ATCHISON