The book- Lost Boys by James Garbarino

James Garbarino’s book “Lost Boys” examines the rise in violence in America, from inner cities to small villages. The author concentrates in particular on the disturbed young men and boys. These men were sentenced for the deadly acts of violence. The author, Garbarino, attempted to shed light on some of the approaches society might use to identify and address these issues. In general, the author’s primary focus is on identifying strategies for assisting the disturbed youth through lessening violence.

The 1990s saw a haunting trend in the media. In this case, there was a dramatic rise in the homicides as a result of the spreading of the troubled youth through the heartland of America. School going children were not provided with any safety. This book looks into the history and captures the incarcerated young men. There was an association of these young men with lethal violence. Here, Garbarino tries to offer some clues to the common denominator. The main issue is to find a lasting solution for reducing the violence in the nation. The author, Garbarino divides this book into two parts.

Part One

In the first part, Garbarino highlights some of the reasons that force the young men/ boys to get lost. Further, the author uses some specific examples the boys thought were right in trying to protect their identity. Some events and circumstances that resulted in the lethal killing are demonstrated by Garbarino. In reality, things such as depression, shame, as well as neglect and rejection appeared to be some of the common factors amongst the perpetrators. Often, children who failed to have a positive role model ended up having severe behaviors. Frequently, some of the young men who sought acceptance were influenced negative habits. Such negative influences promoted their career of criminals. Also, many of the youths who were troubled had a skewed form of morality and justice. However, all was not lost.

Still, in this part, the author finds the use of qualitative research as well as the quantitative research helpful in trying to do interviews. Interviews were conducted on the violent boys on death row and the juvenile delinquents in detention. Here, Garbarino addresses both the environmental and biological factors contributing to the aggression in boys. In most cases, mental professionals diagnose this issue as chronic misbehavior and the disorder of the conduct. Moreover, the author discusses that the youths with the background of violent should be understood as just boys and not miniature adult criminals. In this book, several passages are used for assisting parents to revise the way they think about their sons who are still teenagers. Garbarino goes ahead to credit Anna Freud’s work for the addition of the misconception regarding the adolescence as a disconnect from the childhood.

It is observed that one potential cause of the aggressive and violent teenagers is the attachment disorder in infancy. This scenario links the childhood with the demeanor and behavior of the future. In most cases, kids experiencing trauma in the form of a caregiver or parental abuse may face dissociation. This experience involves departing emotionally from the physical self of a person. Dissociation is likely to bring some difficulties in functionally socially and feeling empathy. According to the author, such challenges makes young people commit the act of violence more frequently.

Part Two

In the second part, the author Garbarino shifted focus to some of the ways of helping the “lost boys.” People make the opportunity to intercept as they take their time for looking around and study the boy’s behavior who causes the problem. Accordingly, people should not be rushing into judging boys. Instead, they should look at the lives of the boys in trying to find some of the possible needs of helping them because the kind of life they are living is not right.

Garbarino even reflects on his youth. At this point, the author recognizes that he was also on a wrong path of trouble. Besides, Garbarino remembers that he had a system of support that intervened and in effect taught him some facts about life. The author was convinced that such kind of behavior was not acceptable in the society. Furthermore, the author had the opportunity of getting involved in the activities of school and community. As a result, Garbarino was introduced to the benefits of believing in God. He was helped in making choices that the society accepted because of the solid anchor he had in his early life.

Here, the author continued to narrate that what he was going through was not an easy task. However, he goes ahead to suggest that the process of reclaiming the lost boys is possible. It is also possible to nip some of the behaviors that are negative in the bud by becoming the “lost boys” anchor. He argued that these people only need one person in their life. This person will change their life by loving them deeply. Some needed both the guidance as well as the security. In the same way, some of the other lost boys are also in need of a person whom they could easily trust. Overall, many of these people need all the above or some of the special attention. The author believed that the use of social, psychology, and power of spiritual anchors could be used for reclaiming such ”lost boys.“ Garbarino believed in this kind of procedure so strongly. Afterward, the author, as well as his colleague, started an initiative within their place of work for incorporating some of the strategies that the book highlight. Such initiatives include the model of the monastery which incorporates the development of spirits and part of rehabilitation.

Evidently, this book is a thoughtful, impressively well studied, and necessary research of the reason some American boys engaged in bad behaviors. These lost boys become murderers, and violent. For this reason, Garbarino tries to find lasting solutions about what can be done beyond the building of more prisons simpleminded response. Many people think that building of more prisons is the best way of preventing such behavior as well as helping these boys. The author approaches this situation by delving into the confluence of social, spiritual, and psychological factors making the ”acting out” boys resort into violent activities. Garbarino points out that some of the reasons causing the young people misbehave are the lack of love and responsible adult for proving mentorship. Often, the ideas of the author are innovative. Moreover, they involve the families of the boys in addition to other social institutions.

Reaction

The issue of the violence of the lethal youth was marginalized not long ago. However, things decided to change in April 1999 in the wake of the shootings in the Littleton in Colorado. Currently, almost all of the people of North America can now look in the newspaper to find out the way their kids were involved in activities of violence. This book tries to bring out the understanding of the classism and racism’s legacy that defines this issue and informs it in various ways. In the same way, people have to make use of such energy mobilization. Mobilization of energy is not a guarantee that people will henceforth do what is right only.

Evidently, when it comes to actions, North Americans people are t position one. For this reason, the national motto of these people should be ”Just do it.“ In case the needed thing involves thinking more deeply about the issue, then individuals have to consider learning much more about the traditions of European. Here, both the deep analysis and theory have a greater and longer history of social credence. A good theory is something practical. In trying to do a good practice, one must first understand things deeply. Evidently, this procedure is common in several programs of sound.

Regarding the issue in this book, people have to think more deeply. The use of a parable can also help to make such a point. Today, some parables are applicable because many forces exist both around and inside individuals hence the need for looking where the light is good. People first think of places they can get grants, funding, and cooperate sponsors. A scenario where life is practically comfortable. Often, if the real issue such as the one facing the ”lost boys” lies somewhere, then the only way to yield few results beyond the action appearance is to work where light is good. At this time, there is a need for the improvement of ”conceptual toolbox“ to help dig deeper into such kind of issue. Individuals should not do not have some little favorite response.

For this toolbox, the second vital concept is the opportunity and risk accumulation in the lives of children. It is not good to only look at one single factor when trying to account for activities relating to violence. Regarding the ”lost boys,“ there appears to be no cause of the tragedy, rather there is only the risk accumulation. This scenario can be explained by the example of a child building a tower the use of blocks. Here, the child places one block after each other until the time he puts the final block the tower falls over. It is not possible for anyone to assume that the fall of the tower results from the last block. The tower would not have fallen provided the block was there by itself. In simple terms, the damage to anything results from the accumulation of factors of risks.

Both the adolescents and the young boys are increasing their acts of violence in small towns, suburbs, as well as the communities within the rural. After having worked as a psychologist for twenty-five years, James Garbarino is thoroughly convinced that boys everywhere are more violent and angrier than ever before. Regarding the school-based shooting that occurred recently, it is obvious children attend the same school with troubled boys no matter how hard parents try. Also, it does not depend on where people live. These troubled boys are almost everywhere. Such boys have the ability to get guns and pull triggers. This phenomenon resulted in debilitation and deaths as well as the staggering costs of psychology. Parents and guardians feared for the lives of their children. In the same way, many children feared going back to school; teachers also become afraid of their students.

The author reveals some of the reasons why boys and young men are becoming increasingly vulnerable to violent activities such as crime. Obviously, the lack of support and supervision by adults are some of the contributing factors to the continued growing threats to the basic safety of the children. These boys and young men who are vulnerable consider violence to be something normal. Violence is the ”right thing to do.“ One of the boys interviewed by Garbarino confesses that he was not going to take it anymore. This boy, Terry knew he would one day pay dearly for his actions. However, he did not care about anything.

In conclusion, Garbarino, the author of this informative book explores the plight of the ”lost boys” accordingly. According to the lessons learned, there is a deadly combination of allowing easy access to guns as well as ignoring bad behaviors that are excessive. This practice has to be controlled. These boys and young men continue to destroy families in different areas. Fortunately, it is possible for parents to spot some of the troubled boys. This procedure helps in taking steps towards protecting their families for such act of violence. Every peer and parents should report signs such as withdrawal, failure to connect, hypervigilance, masking emotions and so on. The author, Garbarino helped in highlighting the plight of the lost boys and the necessary steps needed to correct their bad behaviors.

Work Cited

Garbarino, James. Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them. New York, Free Press, 1999.