Losing a Generation: Probing the Myths and Realities of Youth and Violence.

In addressing youth violence, myth and reality become so intertwined that the true causes and effective solutions become obscured. This issue of Social Justice appears at a time when myths about youth and crime are running rampant in the U.S. Moreover, these myths are driving policy development in the area of juvenile justice. A thoroughgoing attack is taking place not only on youth, but also on the juvenile justice system itself. This system was originally established in Illinois in 1899 to “prevent cruelty to children.” Although it also extended social control over poor, working class, and youth of color, it did provide some protection to minors who had been institutionalized in reformatories and other “houses of refuge.” The trend of the last 30 years to deinstitutionalize young people and to create community-based alternatives is now being reversed in favor of an intensified focus on incarceration and punishment. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) is concerned that pending legislation “calls into question whether we are going to continue to have a separate juvenile justice system in this country” (Howard, 1997: 25).