The Tribune

By Morgan Adderley

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

WITHOUT systemic intervention in the lives of at-risk youth, there will be more murders and acts of violence committed by teenagers and young women, according to noted psychiatrist Dr David Allen.

He spoke to The Tribune days after a young mother, 19-year-old Breanna Mackey was stabbed to death by a group of women.

According to Mackey's family, the attackers were her friends and their dispute originated over a cracked cellphone screen and ended in murder.

Marion Bethel, attorney and United Nations expert, and Glenys Hanna Martin, Englerston MP, also spoke to The Tribune yesterday. They offered condolences to the family of the victim and their perspectives on what led a group of women to carry out such an attack.

As founder of The Family: People Helping People organisation, Dr Allen runs a court ordered adolescent programme. Any adolescent in public schools, who is involved in major, violent trouble, gets referred to the programme.

Dr Allen said: "We've had now up to 120 young men and women… And let me tell you -- some of the highest scores in that programme are the young ladies.

"Watch out the next few months-- the women are coming along powerfully… And they are tough."

He added: "The average age of a murderer is between 16 and 25. So our view is this: a person who murders or is murdered in the teenage years is not an act-- it's a non-intervened event.

Destructive

"What we've found is if you take the same child (between 10-14), you will see they were involved in destructive issues. The interesting thing which is really fascinating for us, is that we find these young people are deeply hurt. They have really socially deprived backgrounds, but more than that, on three tests-- the first one is the depression test, they are depressed; the second one is on the anger test, they have a high rate of anger."

Dr Allen continued: "But the sad thing is, on the post traumatic trauma test, 86 percent of them score in the danger realm. Which means that already, they are so deeply hurt in their hearts, they have murderous rage, they have poor impulse control. So when put together in a group, through the herd instinct, they could hurt people or kill.

"If we don't intervene in these young lives, when they have problems, if they're not addressed, watch out for the murders at 18. Either they get murdered or they murder. This is happening in Atlanta, Detroit, and also Chicago.

"In fact it's gotten so bad in Chicago, they have psychiatrists on the emergency floor to see the kids because they have such high scores with PTSD. But guess what? Our kids are scoring the same thing - 86 percent are occurring in the danger realm of PTSD. Which means what? They're pre-killers."

Mrs Hanna Martin reached out to the family of Mackey shortly after the murder occurred. The teen was a resident of Mrs Hanna Martin's constituency.

Mrs Hanna Martin told The Tribune: "There are a number of elements of that incident which leave you sort of speechless or startled. The victim was a young lady, only 19. A teenager. She's a mother. And the allegation is that she was attacked by other young ladies in the street. It's just sort of another piece of the puzzle…of a social reality that's unfolding, one in which there appears to be simmering anger.

"I don't know the facts of this alleged offence, I don't want to talk about that. I want to speak more generally on the violence in our country.

"I woke up this morning thinking of that child, whose mother, young mother, is not here anymore. And is going to have to be raised, I guess, by extended family members.

"Like I said, I'm not commenting on the facts of that (case), because I don't know. It's a matter under investigation…. But I know in my constituency that there are a lot of pressures in the community. It's people out of work, and the day-to-day living is difficult for many people. And so I just think that when you look at solutions to crime and violence, that you have to look at it in a much broader way. And that the solutions have to be more broad-based.

"A lot of these incidents escalate, and they start from what appears to be very small things, but these take on huge proportions in people's psyche. This is a tragedy that almost defies words, because of the elements of it... The thing that sticks out in my mind is the child whose mother has just been plucked away," Mrs Hanna Martin said.

Action

Mrs Bethel, who currently serves on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEDAW), also called for preventative action targeted at both sexes.

"I think that this attack by young teenage women on another teenage woman is really alarming because (it sends) a signal that the perpetrators of violence are not just young men.

"But it really means again, as I've said before, that we need to target all of our young teenagers, whether they are young women or young men in terms of conflict management and anger management.

"Stabbing somebody (allegedly) for a cellphone -- it's out of control.

"And there's no rhyme nor reason for that.

"I do think early intervention is one of the best ways that we can help young teenagers. And it is particularly alarming that this is a part of the culture that is also permeating that of young women," she said.