Moreover, children and adults alike claim that our youth today are not being taught any values. Although it may be a weakness in the study to have values, as such, not clearly defined, it still seems that people in their teens and those close to it do not have value-based criteria for making decisions. The study somewhat refuted the first assumption. It seemed that it's not so much that America is afraid of her children as we might be beginning to hate them. Fred Ali, the Executive Director of Covenant House of California and a person who has spent twenty-five years caring for children at risk, has the impression that children are being treated punitively by our legislators.
Children are an easy target.
Bills passed in the last few years, such as the changes to welfare reform and new legislation introduced into the juvenile justice system, show a regressive legislative branch responding to their impression of what America thinks of its children, and may even be misleading the public. Public policy would have us think it has increased. Now, in Alaska, the juvenile court records may no longer be sealed. According to Fred Ali, adolescent crime continues to decrease. At least at the level of public policy, it looks that way.