Ottawa -- If officials want to end youth violence, they need to go back to basics, a former FBI director said Thursday.
That means teaching children what behavior is acceptable -- and punishing those who cross the line.
"We have to talk about the tough issues," said William Sessions. "Are we going to allow our young people to suffer the outrages of modern society because we won't talk about it and won't teach?"
Sessions, the bureau's director from 1987 to 1993, spoke Thursday at Ottawa University. His trip, which was sponsored by the DeFries Family Endowed Cultural Fund, included two speeches and meetings with faculty.
Sessions focused his morning speech on youth violence -- a problem he said could happen even in towns like Ottawa. He said youngsters who lash out at classmates have something in common: "They were kids, in almost every instance, that were victimized by their peers."
"There's no reason to point fingers," Sessions said. "The educators have not handled it. Law enforcement has not handled it. Lawyers have not contributed to the solution. It just goes on and on."
Sessions blamed the victimization on the social hierarchy that develops in schools. He said most youths taunt others attempting to fit in with the crowd.
The key to ending such behavior -- and its violent response -- is character education, he said.
"Many times, whether we believe it or not, they did not understand the evil that was involved, they did not understand the legality that was involved, nor the ethical breach that was involved, because they hadn't been made sensitive to it, they had not been trained," he said. "Nobody had taught them right from wrong."
Sessions was appointed FBI director by President Reagan in 1987 but was removed by President Clinton in 1993. Sessions led the bureau during its controversial standoffs at Ruby Ridge and the Branch Davidian complex in Texas.
Before being named FBI director, Sessions was a U.S. attorney and U.S. District Court judge in Texas. He now is a partner in a private practice in San Antonio and specializes in alternative dispute resolution procedures.
-- Staff writer Terry Rombeck can be reached at 832-7145.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.