Teachers, parents, and those who work with youth are both frightened and besieged. Children are described as remorseless, coldhearted, amoral. In describing adolescents in crisis, we regularly and without hesitation use language that is dehumanizing and racial. With this barrage of misinformation, it is difficult to sort out truth from myth. Juvenile crime is violent crime.
Most youth are criminals.
Youth are creating the violent crime problem. We're jailing the violent, dangerous youth. Youth violence is a new phenomenon. Violence has long been a characteristic of teenage males. In a period of 50 years, youth crime rises and falls with relatively modest curves.