This is a serious question that I'm having difficulty with.
It seems like lately there's a lot of teens having a grand ole time just breaking things, stealing kias, etc. Generally causing monetary distress to the communities they live in without actually stealing anything of value or use.
Like its not crimes of desperation, they're not selling anything they steal, just having a good time breaking car windows and doing general mischief.
I know news media will amplify these for copaganda purposes. Hogs will go wild shouting for public executions of these teens, etc.
But like, what causes this and what can be done to help communities not have dangerously bored teens just absolutely fucking up people's month or year by destroying their budget car they need to get to work, breaking windows which is expensive to fix, and just happens again, and generally just being dicks breaking things.
Not all the victims of crime are annoying SF tech bloggers which are easy to write off and laugh at.
if my simple mind has been completely taken advantage of, please let me know. I just don't get the young chaos agents. I can defend people stealing from walgreens but I just don't get breaking your neighbors shit.
EDIT: Since the real likely answer is sad and doomery, I want to invite folks to offer ideas of what could be done to strengthen these communities and give these kids an outlet.
have you ever thrown a rock through a window?? you should try it
Maybe I'm a weirdo who never liked breaking things. I don't even like smashing bottles, like what if some kid is just trying to ride their bike and have a chill time? Even when I salvage something for parts I dissect it carefully.
this is fair - all the property destruction I did as a teen with my friends in our rural low-income town was to old decrepit buildings from the 40s-50s, so basically harmless - but there is something cathartic about just chucking a brick or rock through the windows of a shuttered furniture factory that hasn't been in operation for 30+ years (and whose leaving permanently impacted the town's economy) so I can't exactly blame kids for doing the same to random cars although I would certainly be miffed if it happened to me.
fwiw all the places I smashed up/spray-painted/used as weed smoking spots as a teen over a decade ago are still standing to this day - but in even more decrepit conditions from 14+ years of successive teens doing the same
Yeah I wouldn't care at all if it was that kinda thing. I just feel bad for the people who are just trying to make it by.