The statistics about the problem today are confusing. There are those who insist that there is an epidemic of youth crime and paint a picture that is much like the one depicted in Clockwork Orange. All of the talk about super- predators scares a lot of people. There are those who suggest otherwise. He quotes Mike Males of the University of California, who found that adjusted for poverty, 13-19 year olds have almost the same crime rate as people in their 40's and one that is well below those in their 20's and 30's.
Parents are six times more likely to kill their kids than the other way around.
The media have made a lot of adults very nervous about young people - seemingly well beyond the actual threat. The result has been enthusiasm for more punative responses. We, of course, go through fads in treatment. This rejection of help is a strength - it is the way that young people have survived the adversity of poverty an racism. If this mistrust of unfair, controlling, and punitive adults is subdued, it undermines the very survival technique that has allowed these youths to make it as far as they have.