You make this assertion based on what analysis? Based on what data? Or is this a general assumption based on the prevalence of reporting standards in the media, e.g., “If it bleeds, it leads”?

Every generation seems to believe in its own uniqueness – a fatal flaw if ever there was one – and that the “trends” embedded therein are peculiar to it, somehow unlike any that have gone before and are therefore more threatening and requiring special intervention.

It just ain’t so.

There is no generic “young people” and the forces that motivate them to commit “crimes” (again, a subjective term – does graffiti carry the same merit as homicide? After all, both are crimes…) are diverse. Is it spoiled-brat boredom, such as the case in Fort Lauderdale where a handful of teens bludgeoned homeless people for fun and sport? Or is it frustration over regulations restricting the employment of under 18’s, as was the case in Paris last year when rioting broke out?

Solve this problem? Are you kidding? Crime will always be with us, no matter what regulations or draconian punishments are drafted to effect control over certain segments of the population. The very definition of what constitutes a crime varies from generation to generation, if not year to year, in some cases. Remember, it was a crime – a crime, punishable by law!! – for African Americans to marry. In fact, North Carolina only removed that law from its books in the 1990s! And let’s not forget Prohibition, that period of time in the US when the possession of alcohol was a federal offense.

What we define as criminal conduct is a reflection of our society at any given point in its history. Standards change, belief systems are altered in light of new knowledge and information – witness the impact of the Enlightenment. Five hundred years ago it was a crime to assert that the earth revolved around the sun and not vice-versa. We know now that to believe anything else is sheer folly, and yet the Catholic Church murdered thousands upon thousands for this and other equally ridiculous heresies.

What we call criminal behavior – antisocial, antiestablishment, any conduct opposed to the preservation of the existing social order – is elemental in human nature and we could no more “solve” that problem than we could “solve” love and devotion. These are opposing sides of the same coin, which is the currency of human experience. At best, one can hope that through education and continuing enlightenment – that is, an ongoing search for understanding (meaning “comprehension” not in the Oprah and Dr. Phil sense) – reactionary behaviors can and will be minimized, but anyone grounded in reality and common sense knows that eradicating “crime” is a fantasy.

Well those are the statistics, we’ve seen similar numbers for decades. for almost two years I had to go into Newark NJ for work, and almost every day as I was driving I’d see someone chuck some sort of garbage, chip bags, water bottles, McDonald’s bags, whatever out of either their car window or just walking down the street, some times within arms length of a garbage can, I was absolutely astonished, but it was very telling as to why some areas of the place look the way they do, is that a crime?, well yes I believe littering is, but aside from that what does that say about how people decide to live, because it wasn’t people from some other part of the state coming and throwing garbage around the streets of Newark, it’s the people who live there, it may not be murder or rape or robbery but it conveys a general mind set of a certain segment of the population, and I think the good people of Newark as well as other cities and communities should be outraged at these people and should take action for making them live like that, but then they have the “no snitching” thing so it all goes out the window, because all that does is allow the bad guys to continue to do what they are doing. Sorry but this all happened right if front of my face, no second hand stories.