I thought that I was the only one who noticed these bogus mainstream media pieces that focus on juveniles and proclaim that America's kids are running amok (and the only solution is more prisons or whaetver). Fake trend articles about kids have led to some of the most brutal criminal justice practices in the world and the real-life trend of arresting younger and younger children and sending more youths to adult prisons.
It's not that the criminals are getting younger, but that we are arresting people who are too young to actually commit a criminal act because they lack the mental capacity to form intent. I'm not talking about 14 year olds who slash people, but 9 and 10 year olds who miss social boundary cues and commit "sex crimes" or children who commit the same acts which once received a tongue lashing - and who are now facing felony charges. I'm talking about children under ten who are arrested for kicking a teacher or shooting a rubber band at another student. Assault and battery once meant something in this country - but not any more - it is applied to people who still believe in Santa Claus.
These faux trend stories aren't just annoying, they are cruel and destructive. Sometimes I even write to the so-called journalists themselves and point out the error of their ways, often to receive pat answers about kids committing more crimes at younger ages. Rarely do these reports actually check Justice Department statistics or other materials to discern the truth about their subject matter.
If you google enough, you will see numerous articles declaring that younger and younger children are committing violent crimes - and these stories date back more than 30 years! There is nothing unusual about children committing violent acts - they have done so since antiquity. Often these stories take as their cue some particular crime - or alleged crime committed in bizarre circumstances. The "journalists" will then create the headline, and try to gather "facts" to fit the theme of the story. Usually these "facts" are statements by police officials that they are seeing more of "this sort of thing." That's enough for a mainstream media reporter - the story has legs. And the unusual story becomes a "trend" and not the exception.
What most mainstream media writers don't realize is that often they are pawns in budget battles. These stories about more youthful violent crimes often pop up when police and prison officials are fighting with other officials over amounts proposed to be allocated for their budgets. Everyone wants more facilities - bigger and better, whether they need them or not. All state officials spend time fighting for their share of the budget pie. State of the art facilities are the means to an end. What we discover in the end is that if you build them, someone will find a way to fill them.
So the next time you read a trend story about juveniles, ask the hard questions - and remember this fantastic piece that has been presented here - because most juvenile trend articles are garbage. Read the stats instead - they're available on the US DOJ Website.
