Scout with Criminal Record

[SeattlePioneer]

As Beavah suggests, I consider myself to be pretty easily conned. I think that's quite common as he suggests.

 

It's one of the realities of life I have to be aware of and for which I try to compensate by various means.

 

One of those means is the concept of progressive discipline, as described earlier. That method involves holding people accountable for their actions consistently. It gives people opportunities to reform their behavior, but also makes it clear someone will be shown the door if they continue violating rules of behavior.

 

One of the facts of life in Scouting is that if adult leaders fail to take action with a youth causing problems, that harms other Scouts in the troop who can be the victims of a problem child.

 

If the adult leader was the victim of such behavior, he might be less tolerant of it. I prefer to keep in mind the victims of an abusive youth, and I feel I owe them the protection that should be afforded them by the Scout Oath and Scout Promise.

 

So I have no problem making it clear to a problem child that he must expect to either shape up or be shipped out.

[Scoutfish]

I think some of you might be argueing wether you are supposed to say "toe-may-toe" versus "tah-mah-toe.

 

In the end, you are prety close.

 

"So I have no problem making it clear to a problem child that he must expect to either shape up or be shipped out."

 

And that's just fine since you did give him the option to change his ways BEFORE terminating his membershiop in the troop.

 

Not all boys will use their second cvhances to do better. And when they don't, then you do look at what's better for the well being of the troop.

 

 

The key thing is that you did give the boy a second chance. After that, it's in his hands and the end results are his to brag about or remorse about.

[Twocubdad]

Or at least recognize the limits of their own competence and direct the boy and his family to somewhere else that is better equipped.

 

EURKEA!

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Sure. In a system of progressive discipline, only serious infractions will result in someone being discharged or booted out on a first offense.

 

Other infractions will result in warnings on a first offense, and additional infractions may result in additional warnings, suspension for varying periods of time before someone is discharged.

 

The idea is to place pressure upon the individual to correct his behavior, and give him an opportunity to do so.

 

One of the nice features of this method is that it does not require one to be able to plumb the depths of a persons soul, as Baden P seems to be able to do. It deals strictly with observed behavior.

 

I take Baden P at his word with his claims of this kind of ability, but it's a skill that I do not have, and thus relying on it as a method doesn't work for me.

[BadenP]

SP

 

As far as skill is concerned it is a mindset more than anything else. When I volunteered to be an ASM at that inner city troop of high risk kids years ago I had no special training and had not been to graduate school yet to work on my counseling degree. I can tell you it was initially a very scary proposition for me, and before the first meeting I was looking for excuses to bow out, but I went to that first meeting and it was the start of a whole new perspective and very special life experience.

 

Those kids were so eager to have a troop and earn the ranks, two boys came up to me immediately to show me the knots they had learned to tie. By the end of the night I had met and talked with each boy and their parents, many of these kids were ex gang members(not hardcore members), or had some scrapes with the law but what I saw and experienced that night was a group of boys who really WANTED to be scouts. There were some initial adjustments/problems in this troop, but nothing very serious, and six months in these guys were good friends, helping each other succeed. I spent three years with that troop and they taught me never to prejudge a person by who they were on the surface. After that experience I swore to myself I would never turn away any youth who wanted to be a scout, even if they had had a bumpy road and some troubles growing up.

 

Believe it or not SP and Eng61 having just one boy in your troop who has had some problems in his past would not interfere or endanger your other boys, and you already have the skills to work with him because you already work with and help the other boys in your troop. All it takes is being able to show you care and the boy seeing you are giving him a fair break being treated just like the rest of the boys.

[Eamonn]

Come to think of it, some of the worst Scouts I've had to deal with came from the best families.

Just thought I'd mention it.

Ea.

[Twocubdad]

I hope everyone can agree that we take all the boys as individuals. It is hard to imagine anyone with the empathy and desire to serve as a Scout leader would automatically lump every at risk inner city minority kid with a bandana as a gang member and beyond redemption.

 

It occurs to me that part of this process must be determining which boys are "at risk" and those who ARE the risk. Your boys who really want to be Scouts and enthuasically show you their knots may be at risk but don't pose a risk, despite some scrape with the law in the past. The point many of us are trying to make is that a recent arrest for dealing meth is a rather strong indicator that a youth may present a risk to the other fellas and, at minimum, merits some serious consideration.