s adds up to 19 million children without fathers. In comparison to children who live in two parent homes, these children will be twice as likely to drop out of school, twice as likely to have children out of wedlock, and they stand more than three times the chance of ending up in poverty, and almost ten times more likely to commit violent crime and ending up in prison. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, reported that the rise in violent crime over the past 30 years runs directly parallel to the rise in fatherless families. In the United States, according to the Heritage Foundation, the rate for juvenile crime is closely linked to the percentage of children raised in single-parent families. While it has long been thought that poverty is the primary cause of crime, the facts simply do not support this view. Juvenile criminal behaviour has its roots in habitual deprivation of parental love and affection going back to early infancy. A father's attention to his son has enormous positive effects on the child's emotional and social development. A young boy abandoned by his father is deprived of a deep sense of personal security. In a well-functioning family the presence of the father embodies authority and paternal authority is critical to the prevention of psychopathology and delinquency. In addition to the problem of single parent homes, is the problem of the children whose behavioural problems are linked to their mothers' drug use during pregnancy. Children reaching their teenage years could result in a potentially aggressive population. Drug use has more than doubled among 12 to 17year olds since 1991. "The overwhelming common factor that can be isolated in determining whether young people will be criminal in their behaviour is moral poverty". (Worsham, James-Blakely, and Stephen, 1997, p 24) According to the recently published "Body Count: Moral Poverty . . . and How to Win America' s War Against Crime and Drugs," a new g...
