Judge lambastes five teens
Booby-trapped park equipment with glass, rocks
Pleaded guilty after placing children in'peril'
BOB MITCHELL, STAFF REPORTER, 19 Nov. 2004
Five teenagers have been placed under house arrest for 30 days and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service for deliberately placing broken glass on slides and monkey bars in a Burlington playground.
Ted Brellisford - TORSTAR News ServiceHalton Sergeant Jeff Corey displays containers of silicone and glue found in garbage cans near Desjardines Park in October.
Justice Richard LeDressay yesterday read the riot act to the youths, two of whom are brothers, telling them they were fortunate nobody was seriously injured or killed when they placed children in "extreme peril."
The teens, aged 14 to 16, admitted they used glue and silicone to stick broken glass, rocks and gravel to the playground equipment in Desjardines Park on the night of Oct. 9.
The park is located on Imperial Way, near a housing complex around Appleby Line and Upper Middle Rd.
"It could have resulted in very serious injury or potentially death for some very young people," LeDressay told the teens in a Burlington courtroom following their convictions on charges of mischief.
He said it was "indeed fortunate" that adults noticed the broken glass and rocks when they went to the popular park the following morning.
The teens' identities and any information that would lead to them being identified are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Under the terms of their 30-day confinement, the teens are allowed to leave their homes only for school, work and medical reasons.
Following the 30 days, LeDressay said he expected their parents to impose their own curfew on the teens.
They are also prohibited from contacting each other for the next two years while on probation unless required to during school. (The two brothers are exempt.) Two youths must also stay at least 200 metres away from Desjardines Park; one lives within that distance.
LeDressay stressed that the law prevents him from giving an "in-custody" sentence for the crime of mischief, but if anyone had been injured as a result of their actions, they could have gone to jail.
The high school students made surprise guilty pleas yesterday during their first court appearance since being arrested last month in the heavily publicized case.
At the time, Halton police consulted with Toronto police to determine if the crime was connected to an incident at Woodbine Beach, where 13 utility blades were planted in the sand of a beach volleyball court in September.
Despite numerous tips, nobody has been arrested in the Toronto case.
In admitting their guilt, all five teens said they didn't think of the consequences of their actions that night. The judge said he took that into account when placing them on probation. He also considered that they showed genuine remorse for what they had done, including pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Each of the parents who attended court told LeDressay they were shocked when they learned their children had been involved. Each said their children, who are in grades 10 and 11, had never been in trouble before.
Duty counsel Cathy Hoffman said the incident, which caused shame and embarrassment to the teens and their families, was out of character for them.
Another duty counsel, Elisabeth Cassavoy, said there were small differences between who did what during the group operation, but the teens admitted to being at the park when the glass, rocks and gravel were placed.
The court heard that the plan was hatched at the home of one of the youths the evening of Oct. 9 and the materials came from the same home.
TEDx Dr Warren Farrell
TEDx - The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
One of the foremost speakers and thinkers on gender issues
It's a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science.
It's a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women.
It's a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison.
It's a crisis of purpose. Boys' old sense of purpose-being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner-are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a "purpose void," feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification.
So, what is The Boy Crisis? A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect.
Why boys are in trouble
Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong
The Associated Press
January 5, 1999
According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'
When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.
The Boy Crisis Book
The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
Authors- Waren Farrell PhD and John Gray PhD
What is the boy crisis?
It's a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science.
It's a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women.
It's a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison.
It's a crisis of purpose. Boys' old sense of purpose-being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner-are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a "purpose void," feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification.
So, what is The Boy Crisis? A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect. Read More ..
Health Canada Publication
The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens
"... the existence of a double standard in the care and treatment of male victims, and the invisibility and normalization of violence and abuse toward boys and young men in our society.
Despite the fact that over 300 books and articles on male victims have been published in the last 25 to 30 years, boys and teen males remain on the periphery of the discourse on child abuse.
Few workshops about males can be found at most child abuse conferences and there are no specialized training programs for clinicians. Male-centred assessment is all but non-existent and treatment programs are rare. If we are talking about adult males, the problem is even greater. A sad example of this was witnessed recently in Toronto. After a broadcast of The Boys of St. Vincent, a film about the abuse of boys in a church-run orphanage, the Kids' Help Phone received over 1,000 calls from distraught adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It is tragic in a way no words can capture that these men had no place to turn to other than a children's crisis line."
American Psychological Association
Dating Violence Statistics in the United States
Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
The mean T-shirt: From the Stupid Factory
Todd Goldman says his popular boy-bashing T-shirts are simply funny.
So why are retailers having second thoughts? Read More ..