NCJ Number
159367
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Politicians and courts in various States advocate harsh penalties for young offenders, such as lowering the age at which violent juveniles can be tried as adults, but these efforts may represent an overreaction to sensational stories and inflated crime statistics reported by the media.
Abstract
Estimates indicate that 2,700 babies are born into poverty daily, more than 2,000 students drop out of school, 250 young people are arrested for violent crimes, and 1,700 children are abused by their parents. Unemployment among teenagers was 19 percent in 1993, up 15.3 percent from 1988, and 3 million children were victims of abuse in 1993. As schools, jobs, and the social safety net erode, more juveniles are finding themselves caught up in the criminal justice system. In response, the trend of legislators is to push for harsher penalties. The media plays a role by routinely featuring images of children who commit acts of random violence. The national trend is to try juveniles as adults in order to incarcerate them longer. Placing juveniles in the adult criminal justice system, however, puts them at risk for abuse and fails to reduce crime.