Bethel violence gab fest

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Bethel violence spurs community meeting
Toward the end of the article, there's the usual discussion about the need for recreational activities to occupy youth as a means of preventing youth from doing drugs or drinking alcohol, thus preventing the trouble caused by bored, high man-children.
I ran youth programs for several years. I think youth recreation programs by themselves contribute exactly zero in preventing youth from drinking and doing drugs and committing crimes.
Tying recreation programs to crime and alcohol prevention is based on the assumption that many kids drink and do drugs primarily because they are bored. This assumtion is itself based on feedback well-meaning adults get from the youth themselves. "Why do kids drink?" we ask. "Because we're bored," say the youth.
I call B.S. At-risk youth ALWAYS say they are bored. Even when they are having fun, they're bored. Everything is boring; just ask them!
In other words, I think that kids aren't at-risk because they are bored; they are bored because they are at-risk. They are bored because there aren't enough functional adults in their lives, guiding them, protecting them, encouraging them, restricting them. Being bored isn't the cause of the problem; it is another symptom of the problem.
There are no YOUTH problems; there are only ADULT problems. If the youth are out of line, it is only because adults are failing.
Swimming pools and recreation centers will, by themselves, prevent nothing. Without a strong adult presence, kids who are going to drink and commit crimes will do so with or without pools.
Finally, the desire for pools and gyms as a means of preventing youth from drinking and committing crimes is typical of "magical thinking." It externalizes the problem; it tries to find a source of blame outside of the addict or abuser. It works like this: if pools and gyms prevent our kids from drinking, then there's nothing I can do about it, and it's not the kids' fault. I don't have to change; the kids don't have to change; we just need to build a pool and a gym, and Abracadabra, the kids will behave properly because they won't be bored.
I live in Nome, where we have a pool and a gym. They kids are still bored, some of them still drink and commit crimes.