What's Happened to This Generation?

Another young life is lost.

A 14-year-old boy jumped from his 14th floor home after he was brought to the police station to be questioned over a molest case.

The crux of the matter that is discussed seems to be whether the course of action by the police had been appropriate and if the boy had jumped because he suffered much shame and humiliation as the police had taken him straight out of school and into the police station.

As a parent, would you not reprimand your boy if he was questioned by the police over a molest case?

As police, would you not bring the alleged suspect for questioning no matter where he was?

As parents and police, these were natural courses of action. I would be more surprised if they didn't carry them out.

But no one would expect the boy to jump to his death.

Most of us have utmost faith in our police, that they only do the necessary when they have substantial evidence. I feel that there is hardly a moment we would deem 'appropriate' to bring someone back to the police station for questioning. They were just doing their job. I would dread the day when even police have to over-consider the feelings and circumstances of the accused/suspect.

I remember a teacher sharing what she had observed when a few of my secondary school mates got into trouble with the police. She said she was surprised that the police were very rough with those boys,'like gangsters'. Surprised as I was, I felt the treatment was justified as the boys were ruffians themselves. Even as a teenager, I was quite convinced that those boys would be frightened into behaving properly in future, and I believe they did because I never heard about them misbehaving again in the remaining years of my secondary school life.

I am not suggesting that the police in this case had treated the boy roughly. In fact, I highly suspect that the police these days are inclined to treat their suspects in highly civil manner because of how our society has evolved.

I am just wondering how the boys in the yesteryear would have reacted if they were brought back by the police for questioning. Despite immense shame and humiliation, would they have jumped? Likely not.

What has happened to this generation?