NCJ Number
166084
Journal
New Designs for Youth Development Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1996) Pages: 10-14
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Politicians, policymakers, and the general public have adopted a strategy of condemning and punishing juveniles for their negative behaviors (most of which are exaggerated by policymakers), rather than adopting programs that counter the poverty and abuse by adults that produces delinquent behaviors.
Abstract
The unwillingness of American institutions to face the serious impacts of poverty, abuse, and adult behaviors on teenagers has crippled realistic policies. The defense of traditional programmatic interests, ones which (in a misplaced medical model) aim to "treat" problems rather than prevent them, remains a major barrier to the development of realistic measures. The "youth crisis," a fabricated cliche of self-interested groups in 1983, has become a major tenet of political rhetoric in the 1990's by both of the major political parties. Policymakers have distorted and exaggerated the problems of teenage pregnancy, youth violence, juvenile drug use, and juvenile suicide and then have proposed harsh measures for dealing with the exaggerated behaviors. Policymakers have yet to grasp the nature of the problem; denying poor youth a fair share of society's resources means lots of violence; saving money on schools means spending more on prisons; erasing the future of the young causes them to strike back by erasing the past.