But the loudest response to Columbine comes from kids themselves, who say that despite unspeakably brutal deeds by a few troubled peers, teenagers aren't all bad. But if we are talking about a generation of young people, I think you could argue that they are the best we've had. Arrests for violent crimes dropped 19 percent from 1994 to 1998, more than three times the dip for adults. Since 1994, there have been sharp drops in murder, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and car theft committed by teenagers. The steady uptick of teen suicide since the 1950s has been declining since 1994.
Drug use is down.
It's a dramatic drop from the peaks of the late 1970s, the tail end of a counterculture famous for its own excesses. Drinking among teens has also decreased, and teen deaths from drunk- driving accidents, once considered epidemic, have dropped 59 percent since 1982. After a spike in the early 1990s, teen smoking is finally going down, too. Teen pregnancy is way down. It's still more prevalent than in other industrialized countries, but fewer older teens are having sex.