European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 20, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 Ramstein ant crime program youths held accountable for crimes by Dick Hodgson Kaiserslautern Bureau chief Ramstein Germany children in the Ramstein Mili tary Community who Are involved in crimes May get More than they bargained for under a new punish ment Deputy base com Mander David Stripling has instituted a pro Gram that puts the responsibility for Juve Nile crime on the offender not the some of them make statements to their buddies like they cant do anything to me or the worst they can do is Send me Back to the Stripling compounds our problem we Haven had an effective we needed a program which would make an Impact on the kids because we have so Many repeat most criminal acts involving children in the Community Are shoplifting or vandalism and occur on Stripling we have regulations covering some specific actions which must be As a in instances like shoplifting in the commissary or he the regulatory requirement is that a shoplifter loses his or her privileges for a minimum of six months for a 35cent Candy bar or a for simple that suspension is not an effective frequently a kid could care less if he could go Back into the by for six mom or a brother or a Friend will go in and buy whatever he Stripling said his which resulted from a series of juvenile burglaries at the Ramstein is designed to give the offender a Chance to learn from the experience As Well As exacting a we had 11 kids Over a period of found a Way to break into the he they stole Between and Worth of Candy and junk others involved were hiding the stolen merchandise in maids rooms in base and some were even going so far As to by word of that they had Candy and stuff for taking these kids by and commissary privileges for six months would not have taught them anything use he so we came up with a Way which we Hope will prevent this sort of thing from happening Striplings office issued letters barring the 11 from All military facilities in the with the exception of medical that puts a terrible Burden on the whole he because it excludes a child from it is in Many cases impossible for the family to remain in eur in addition to barring the offenders from the we gave them a Chance to redeem the second Page of the letter Stripling issues says he will withhold imposing the ban provided the offender meets certain we required each of the 11 to maintain a clean police to adhere to an curfew seven nights a week and to perform a specified number of hours of Community service he in we require restitution of the stolen merchandise and take their by and commissary privileges for a kids Are talking about7 program Ramstein Germany although there Hast been an identifiable downturn in discipline problems As a result of ram steins new probation its effects Are being seen in schools in the military one of the most important things that has happened so far is that kids Are talking about said Wayne Conna one of two guidance Counselor at Ramstein Junior High their Grapevine picked up on this new program very he they All know who was what they were caught doing and How they Are being punished for doing Connaway says the Grapevine treatment of the program is going to be a Large part of its the kids Are noticing it they Are things Are different than they were he As the word gets the kids May think a Little More before get Ting involved in some sort of Connaway says one reason for the problem of juvenile crime Here is that there int much for kids to in the 50 percent of the kids from the school would find some kind of summer he this there Are so Many applicants that not one child on Ramstein a under 16 years of age is going to be Able to get a summer hire so we have some problems Here which dont exist in some other we do have Good programs like the Aya american youth but those Are Only Good for a couple of hours a it takes a really creative Parent to find constructive things for their kids to do the remainder of the Connaway says another difference Between military communities overseas and civilian communities in the states that May contribute to the discipline problem Here is one of we let kids Here get away with More than stateside kids get away he Ive been Here More than 10 and Ive seen the German police touch one the american for the most has touched them with a couple of saturdays of super Vised by a the kids just Haven been held its no big Deal for a Junior High kid to have his id card lifted be cause Hes almost always got friends who can handle his by needs and All of he suspending is by and commissary privileges Only keeps him out of the main stores which Check he can still get into the the Delicatessen and almost All the places he needs to so it Hast been a very Tough and i think its wrong for kids to be taught that they Arent responsible or that there Are not big consequences consequences that Dick Hodgson commander worked together Ramstein Germany the parents of children who Are involved in the bases new probation program generally support one father this was a Good cooperative Effort Between the parents and the base commanders he the com Mander went considerably More than Halfway in making this program for the parents who were willing to meet him there was a great rather than let the teenagers off completely and rather than overreact in some other this is a constructive Means for making atonement for what they have he and i think the vast majority of parents understand and appreciate this whose child was involved in the probation program because of a vandalism said he believes the program offers a combination of first of the child who did the misdeed is being held he if the full sentence banishment from All military facilities were carried the whole family would not just the person who committed the this approach teaches the child even though he did something its not the end of the world there is a Chance to redeem but not every child who is offered a Chance under the probation program benefits from he there were two distinct groups in the group of kids who were working off their he there were some who were really enthusiastic about and there were some who did the absolute All the parents of the offenders were required to spend at least two saturdays supervising the work their re actions seemed parallel to those of their he the object of that was not to punish the parents As Well As the but to let them see what was going on and to provide adult he Dick Hodgson the number of hours of Community service required of the 11 juveniles involved in the commissary thefts ranged from 40 for a youth Stripling described As Only peripherally involved to 300 for one he called a they will be putting in 40 hours a week this working directly for managers of base facilities to work off their he if they Complete their probation if they get in any trouble during its we impose the Stripling says most parents Are supportive of the new which he expects to put some Teeth into deter ring juvenile he said the base is hoping to provide additional programs for juvenile offenders and their fam Ilies As the probation program we arc trying to offer some constructive help to parents and kids who Are having these sorts of he one of the things we have done in addition to letting the kids work off their sentence is to begin setting up an informal counselling program with senior candidates for psychology and counselling degrees through one of the universities operating Stripling said the reason for offering tic informal versus referring the families to one of the established Community counselling is the fear of Many Active duty people that entry into formal military counselling programs May adversely affect their if we can get them into some Type of counselling to help them Deal with their children and their childrens problems that should help alleviate the prob he we Hope this is going to give the kid who has made a mistake a Chance to see the error of his ways and get himself straightened Stripling our intent is not to be entirely i would much rather put a Model citizen Back on the streets than throw him out of the making these kids responsible members of the Community is our ultimate teens like program for practical reasons Ramstein Germany the teenagers for whom ram steins new probation program is designed seem to agree with their elders that its but for purely practical about 40 percent of the youths interviewed said they we rent aware of the programs but those who were aware of it were universally in favor i have a Friend who got caught robbing the and having to work Over said pointing across the that a lot better Deal than having to go Back to the that opinion was shared by almost All the Young sters who knew of the program and knew people involved in r know about said 14 that what in he said the in which he is doing Awn and janitorial has both positive negative i think its pretty Good because you can stay with your family and friends and he have to put in a certain number of depending on what some of our employers tend to be strict with us than with regular hires like there punishing others act like were just summer except that m a desk since she Doest do a said he is doing janitorial and and described his situation As Tor i better than going Back to get sent my  vandalized some cars last