Teen Violence and the Media

The professional literature as exemplified by Males (1999) analyzes the idea of widespread juvenile delinquency as a major social problem as logically and factually fallacious. Males supplies evidence showing that those who perpetrate the myth have a vested interest in urging the view that youth--particularly nonwhite ethnic and minority youth--constitute a threat to personal and institutional safety and, more generally, to the very fabric of civil society. Males's analysis is that teen violence has been mischaracterized and blown out of proportion, not only by those who do not have the facts but also by those who have the facts but whose political agenda drives their emphasis on the delinquent character of juveniles. To begin with, as a practical matter juvenile delinquency and teen violence are most commonly associated with members of nonwhite minority groups, principally blacks. That idea, Males implies, feeds an ethos of social cleavage that

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ers from being incarcerated with adult violent offenders. However, even those who support the idea of reconfiguring what the CYA has become are reportedly skeptical, for the reason that "growth of gangs has added a violent component to life inside, and the Youth Authority now houses the toughest of the state's offenders" (Warren, 2005). Further, the article contends that inside CYA facilities violence is "described by one expert as 'off the charts,' and officers routinely use Mace to subdue warring youths." Now this particular article also points out that guard- and administrator-perpetrated violence has been practiced on incarcerated juveniles, but the general line of thought is that the culture of youth rehabilitation is widely viewed as almost beyond repair because the youths themselves have shifted in character since 1941. That is, things are getting worse. This point is also made in a story about prospects of violence in the context of the closure of Los Angeles charter and magnet schools. Students who had thrived at such schools are quoted as being fearful of reentering public schools where gangs consider the schools their "turf" and where academic achievement by some is resented by others, who may be violent toward the ach
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Approximate Word count = 2412
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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