Article August 7, 1995 Issue

Helping youth offenders

Geraldine Schiering with contributions from John West

John West is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher who is a scoutmaster in the inner city. He takes referrals for his troop from the neighborhood, from a children's treatment center, from an SBH (severe behavior handicapped) school, and from the juvenile court in his city, where he serves as a volunteer probation officer. In the past ten years, his troop has served nearly two hundred boys. In this interview with contributing editor Geraldine Schiering, he talks about the experience that led him to see the connection between the healing ministry of Christian Science and helping youth offenders.

John, how did you become involved with volunteer probation work?

My wife and I live in the inner city, in a redeveloping neighborhood. We have a carriage barn behind our home, and one evening I discovered two young men attempting to break into it. I confronted the first one, and soon we were on the ground wrestling. His friend came to his aid and pulled a knife. To take on the kid with the knife, I would have had to hurt the young man I was wrestling with, and from a Christian standpoint I couldn't do that. I had served with the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam. Hand-to-hand combat was part of our training, and I knew what I could do. But I chose to release the boy and let them both leave. That is when the real moral wrestling started.

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