Mac came into my office and shared how he hit his father the previous evening in response to a wife-beating incident.
The father, he related, chased him upstairs carrying a bread knife,
Mac hit him with a hammer which quickly finished that family fracas.
He related how bad the atmosphere had been since then.
''I hate his f,..ing guts," he said repeatedly.
Mac is currently in a Young Offenders Prison,
convicted of various crimes including acts of violence.
convicted of various crimes including acts of violence.
He illustrates a point made by a physiologist::
'Severe punitive inconsistent
and unjust acts from parent to child
can result in a young person turning outwards
to vent their anger on members of their community
including acts of vandalism.'
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