Build Babies – Not Jails

This paper, from JOPPPAH’s Archives is excerpted from the opening address at APPPAH’s 7th International Congress in September of 1995. These words from Dr. Verny are even more valuable today. It takes much neglect, rejection, humiliation, physical maltreatment, and sexual abuse to transform a tiny, trusting, innocent human being into a callous, cruel, and vicious person. This paper examines some of the factors that lead to the development of the violent personality from conception on. It is suggested that the answer to violence is not state violence. The answer is conscious prenatal and postnatal parenting supported by social institutions, laws, and practices which attend to the needs of pregnant parents, particularly the disadvantaged. Our motto should be: BUILD BABIES – NOT JAILS.