Criminals Are Born

Within criminology there is one theory which states that criminals are born. This means that children can easily be pinpointed as criminals based on their background and family history, both of which would contribute to the person they are at birth. That being said, as a response, some institutions are putting forth drug testing in high school to catch those criminals.

Recent studies have shown that many students in the high school setting have at least tried illicit drugs, with many more fully using them by the time they graduate from high school. With the rapid increase of drug use amongst middle schools and high schools, students have begun implementing drug testing programs. The Federal Government is conducting school-based mandatory drug tests in a manner different than those administered in the workplace. The Federal Government does not sponsor or provide funds to volunteer programs, even though they have proven more effective. Random, volunteer tests far outshine those administered by school districts. These government tests do not reduce the number of teenage users, which is meant to be the main concern. Overall, the idea of using school-administered drug tests is a poor one which should be removed immediately.

Recently the government implemented required drug tests for those people collecting welfare checks. While this was met with great debate, it was argued that it was the best way to ensure that the people who are working for the government and receiving financial aid from the government are using it in the manner it was meant: to cover them during rough spots and get them back on their feet within a short time frame. The same idea was implemented into schools for middle school and high school students in an alleged attempt to curb the growing rates of teen drug users. However, it is nonetheless an invasion of privacy which creates a false sense of control, does not adequately test for the drugs which are popular for common use among teenagers, and can only test for things over a 24 to 72 hour period. Students should not be subjected to such wasteful things. It can also be argued that all drugs have the potential to quickly change from legal to illicit and as such, perhaps the illicit drugs children are using are ones which might soon be considered legal so the implementation of such testing programs would be useless within a few years. Nonetheless, the costs incurred by such programs might not be feasible unless the student body for each of those schools is able to raise the money on their own and the government programs are useless and ineffective at reducing the number of teenage users.

Overall, there is a prominent theory that criminals are born. This theory means that some people are born into circumstances, environments, and with predispositions for crime. This type of behavior has led to increased anti-crime measures such as drug testing in schools.

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