Juvenile Crime: What's the Deal?
By Caleb Ambrose, 10th grade
February 18, 2007

“I’m going to kill myself, or I’m going to die somehow” are some of the last words fifteen-year-old Christopher David Penley ever spoke.  The entire Millwee Middle School came to a chilling halt when Penley threatened other with gun.  Despite officer, teacher, and peer requests, the student refused to surrender.  Scared for the safety of the others, a police officer shot and killed Penley when he aimed—the public would later discovered—a pellet gun, at officers. 

School shootings, gang involvement and youth on trial have become commonplace on the nightly news.  Although juvenile crime has been a societal issue for decades, it has recently captured media attention, posing several important questions:  What is juvenile delinquency?  Is it a serious problem?  And, most importantly, what can we do to stop it?

What is juvenile delinquency?  The term encompasses a range of behaviors.  Since juvenile law, like all criminal law, is state specific, the term’s meaning varies by state.  Generally, the term includes socially unacceptable behavior, status offenses and index offenses.  Society defines socially acceptable behavior.  For example, acting out in school is socially unacceptable and, therefore, is sometimes considered a form of delinquency.  Status offenses are crimes because society deems youth too young to engage in those behaviors.  Status offenses include running away from home, truancy (skipping school), underage drinking and sexual promiscuity.  Since such offenses are defined by age, states differ on their classification of individuals as either juveniles or adults.  Roughly three-fourths of the states have defined 18 as the cut off for defining juveniles.  Two states have age 19 as the cutoff; seven states, age 17; four states, age 16.  Therefore, running away from home at age 17 is an offense in some states, but not others.  Index offenses are criminal acts regardless of the age at which they are committed.  These include robbery, rape and murder. 

Is juvenile crime a concern?  The public has increasingly been concerned with the high rate of adolescent violence.  In 1997, 57 percent of elementary and middle school principals reported that at least one incident of violence occurred in their schools each year.  Ten percent of all public schools experienced at least one serious violent crime including murder, rape, aggravated assault, fighting with a weapon and robbery each year.  More than 6,000 students are expelled each year for bringing guns or explosives to school.  However, not all youth who engage in criminal activity get caught.  In one study 17 percent of high school students reported carrying a gun or other weapon in the past 30 days. 

Although Penley had a pellet gun and was his only victim, his death reminds our community of other serious juvenile crime:  school shootings.  In April 1999, two high school students from Littleton, Colorado, shot and killed 12 students and 1 teacher, wounded 23 others, and killed themselves.  Just one year earlier, Kip Kinkel murdered his parents, then went to school, opened fire and killed two students and wounded many others.  In 2001, another student in Santee, California, killed two classmates and injured thirteen others.

Since it is clear that juvenile crime is a problem, our community, politicians, teachers, parents and activists must work together to reduce juvenile delinquency.  We must address the underlying problems.  It is likely that Kinkel, Penley and the students in Littleton had one thing in common: mental health issues.  A fifteen-year-old who barricades himself in a middle school bathroom, unwilling to negotiate for his own survival is probably suffering from depression or some other mental health concerns.  We can only speculate why these youth chose violence or the threat of violence as a coping strategy, but we can conclude that they needed help.  To provide this help, school funding should include youth counselors who can screen for mental health concerns early and provide referrals to parents.  These referrals should be affordable so that all children can have access to such services.

Penley, Kinkel and other juveniles in crisis have demonstrated that juvenile crime is a big deal in our communities.  We must make helping youth a priority.  Their violent acts are cries for help.  

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