Misperception of violent crime has led to criminalization of youth

September 17, 2000

Guest Commentary: Criminalizing Youth
by Jonathan Baird, Esq.

The Department of Justice just released statistics showing a 36% decline in the juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes from 1994-1999. Juvenile violent crimes are now at their lowest levels since 1988. And yet, despite such encouraging statistics, 2/3 of the public believe juvenile crime is increasing. This misconception fuels the "criminalization of youth," reported on below by our quest commentator, Jonathan Baird, Esq., Attorney for NH Legal Assistance and member of the Steering Committee of NH CAN-- the New Hampshire Child Advocacy Network.

Adult problems with teenagers are an old story. Every older generation complains about the younger generation. But something new has been happening. Adults are scape-goating teenagers and blaming youth misbehavior as a principal cause of crime and violence. A philosophy of heavy handed punish-ment, not rehabilitation, has become the dominant legislative and judicial trend.

More and more states are prosecuting juveniles as adults. Since 1992, 45 states have passed or amended legislation making it easier to prosecute kids as adults for a wider array of charges. We also have been lowering the age when kids can be prosecuted as adults. Many states now allow children 14 or older to be prosecuted as adults. Vermont actually allows 10 year olds to be prosecuted as adults.

Surprisingly, these harsh changes have occurred at a time when official crime statistics have shown a decline in the national crime rate for serious violent crimes committed by youth. In the last ten years, the number of youth under age 18 held in adult prisons in the United States has doubled. About one-third are there for property or drug offenses, not violent crime. We are sending kids to adult prisons knowing that young prisoners are at greater risk for physical and sexual assault. We also know such placement is a training school for more crime. Yet, we do not stop.

There is a stereotype that some teenagers are beyond hope. Allegedly, they are time bombs waiting to go off. Anecdotal evidence offers up a generation of Ecstasy-ingesting predators, skate-boarding toward instant gratification and cultural illiteracy. Writer Mike Males has dubbed them the scapegoat generation. We need metal detectors, video surveillance, curfews, and early warning systems to spot the bad apples and protect us. Based on fear, we con-coct "get tough" social policy to sanction and punish teens.

The perception that kids are dangerous has been fed by sensationalistic events like Columbine and Jonesboro. Even though Justice Dept. data shows that schools are actually safer than ever, there is a perception that the opposite is true. While the odds of being shot at school are miniscule, a 1999 Gallup Poll sug-gested that three-quarters of Americans think it is likely that a shooting will occur at their local school.

"Zero tolerance" policies at schools have become more widespread. Schools impose swift and severe punishment for offenses which previously would have been seen as minor transgressions. Nationally, there are many examples of this trend. Consider the case of the third grader expelled for getting into a scuffle on the playground during tetherball. Another third grader was suspended for putting an allegedly threatening message in a fortune cookie for a class project. Then there was a 9 year old who was suspended for bringing to school a manicure kit with a one inch knife.

Here in New Hampshire, I have seen some police treat teenage boys like they are prospective hardened criminals. The New Hampshire equivalent to racial profiling is teenage boy profiling. A group of teenage boys driving around, especially at night, appears to be probable cause for a police stop. There is an automatic assumption: teenagers equal trouble.

Local media have reported on a new practice profiling teens at school. High schools are hiring psychologists to assess the violent threat potential of students. The idea is to assess risk factors so as to predict the degree of threat posed by particular students. One Illinois school's profiling checklist included use of abusive language, cruelty to animals, and writings reflecting an interest in the dark side of life. Other schools have scrutinized tee-shirts and jewelry.

The United States has the highest rate of children and adolescents living in families below poverty guidelines in the industrial world, the result of spending fewer public resources on children than any other industrial nation. Neither political party is willing to face the adult responsibility for youth poverty. Another way to look at our school funding debate in New Hampshire is simply the reduction in adult support for children's' education.

No society congratulates itself as much as we do. We're number one is close to our national motto. Yet we are failing kids by punishing them rather than providing the sup-port systems and nurturance they need to grow into healthy, mature adults.

A credo of past generations has been to invest in the young so that kids could have a better future. That is a tradition we should return to and honor. No one can deny that there are bad kids who will never be rehabilitated. However, we need to see kids as individuals with inherent worth and value and act accordingly.