This newest phenomenon in the world of crime is perhaps the most dangerous challenge facing society and law enforcement ever. They are younger, more brutal, and completelyunafraid of the law. Violent teenage criminals are increasingly vicious. Young people, oftenfrom broken homes or so-called dysfunctional families, who commit murder, rape, robbery,kidnapping, and other violent acts. These emotionally damaged young people, often are theproducts of sexual or physical abuse. They live in an aimless and violent present and have nosense of the past and no hope for the future. These young criminals commit unspeakably brutalcrimes against other people, often to gratify whatever urges or desires drive them at the momentand their utter lack of remorse is shocking (Worsham 1997).Studies reveal that the major cause of violent crime is not poverty but family breakdown;specifically, the absence of a father in the household. Today, one-fourth of all the children in theUnited States are living in fatherless homes which adds up to 19 million children without fathers.Compared to children in two parent family homes, these children will be twice as likely to dropout of school, twice as likely to have children out of wedlock, and they stand more than threetimes the chance of ending up in poverty, and almost ten times more likely to commit violentcrime and ending up in jail (Easton 1995). The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, reported that the rise in violent crime over the past 30 years runs directly parallel to the rise infatherless families. In every state in our country, according to the Heritage foundation, the ratefor juvenile crime is closely linked to the percentage of children raised in single-parent families.While it has long been thought that poverty is the primary cause of crime, the facts simply do notsupport this view. Teenage criminal behavior has its roots in habitual deprivation of parentallove and affection going b...
