Dan Coats: “America currently struggles with a disturbing and growing trend of youth violence. Between 1985 and 1994, the arrest…”

“America currently struggles with a disturbing and growing trend of youth violence. Between 1985 and 1994, the arrest rate for murders by juveniles increased 150 percent, while the rate for adults during this time increased 11 percent. Every day, in our communities and in the media, we see horrific examples of this crime. A 13-year-old girl murders her 3-year-old nephew and dumps him in the trash. A 13-year-old boy is stabbed to death while sitting on his back porch. A group of teenagers hails a cab and, after the driver takes them to their destination, they shoot him dead in an armed robbery. I did not have to look far for these examples. Each occurred in Indiana, a State generally known as a safe State, a good place to raise a family, not a dangerous place, yet a State where arrests for violent juvenile crimes have skyrocketed 19 percent in the early 1990's. Juvenile violence is no longer a stranger in any ZIP code. Yet, the problem is expected to grow worse. Crime experts who study demographics warn of a coming crime wave based on the number of children who currently are younger than 10 years old. These experts warn that if current trends are not changed, we might someday look back at our current juvenile crime epidemic as 'the good old days.' This spiraling upward trend in youth crime and violence is cause for grave concern.”