What does Les say is our problem with kids and the law today?
The core problem is that children today have no fear of the Law, because the judicial system no longer instills that fear. They believe they can do almost anything and only receive a slap on the wrist before returning to the street. Sociologists have removed this deterrent from the system.
Les explains that the sociologists have totally removed this fear from our judicial system. He says our kids have no fear of the Law, and that is our problem. They can do almost whatever they want, knowing they will only get a slap on the wrist and be back on the street. He illustrates with a friend who served in Japan after World War II: the police dealt with offenses on the sidewalk, and there was practically no crime and little court business. Les connects this to Israel’s instruction to turn a rebellious, drunkard son over to the authorities to be stoned to death—an awful, obscene spectacle—and then hang him on a tree as a public warning. People may call it barbaric, but they did not have the crime problem we have.