I was very pleased to see John Kelly’s “Youth Crime Mystery” article in the March issue. We see too few critical and evidence-based assessments of youth policy, even in Youth Today. The fact that young people are behaving demonstrably better than one would gather – certainly from popular media, but also from many other parties invested in trumpeting only the extreme examples from their case studies or police files – makes the implications of this article a potential watershed in youth services.
If young people are behaving better and better, how, then, to promote programs associated with diversion? Perhaps we need to develop strategies recognizing that young people are entitled to strong community support, even when they are good.
Anthony Bernier
San Jose State University
School of Library and
Information Science
