Juvenile Crime | Juvenile Crime and Violence Are Not Increasing

In May 1998, a skinny 15-year-old whose self-described hobbies included “sugared cereal [and] throwing rocks at cars,” fired 51 shots into a crowded high school cafeteria in Oregon. Two students died, and 22 were wounded. The suspect, Kipland P. Kinkel, also was accused of killing his parents.

TV broadcasts and newspapers were full of the story. The New York Times ran it for three straight days on the front page. President Bill Clinton used his Saturday radio address to decry the “changing culture that desensitizes our children to violence.” He asserted that these...

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