Little is known about cause of teen-age violent crime

Associated Press Arizona Daily Wildcat Unidentified students lend each other support Monday before entering James W. Parker Middle School in Edinboro, Pa., for the start of classes. The school was closed yesterday for the funeral of slain science teacher John Gillette, who was shot at an eighth-grade graduation dance Friday. Students nationwide have opened fire four times since October, killing 11 people and wounding 25 others.

Although the recent killings have prompted many to worry that violent teen-age crime is on the rise, experts still contend they know little about what is causing the deadly trend.

Violent crime among adults is down, but "the problem is the increase in violence among teen-agers," said Michael Polakowski, a University of Arizona public administration and policy associate professor.

And the crimes committed by children are more serious and frequent than in years past:

A 14-year-old boy Friday gunned down a teacher and wounded three others at a school dance in Edinboro, Pa.

Witnesses said the boy pulled out a .25-caliber handgun and shot the teacher in the head, then walked inside and fired several more shots before leaving.

The eighth-grader is charged as an adult with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and gun and drug charges.

Four girls and a teacher were killed last month in Jonesboro, Ark., when two boys, ages 11 and 13, allegedly pulled a fire alarm, then fired on classmates and teachers as they filed out of the school building. Ten others were wounded.

The boys allegedly skipped school, loaded the 13-year-old's stepfather's van with guns and drove to a wooded area near the school, from which they did the shooting.

In December, a 14-year-old boy opened fire on a prayer group at a high school in West Paducah, Ky., killing three students and wounding five others.

The teen carried a .22 -caliber handgun with three spare clips of ammunition, two rifles and two shotguns into the school, where he told his classmates they were props for a science project.

He was charged as an adult with murder, attempted murder and burglary, and court records show he admitted stealing the guns from a neighbor's garage days before the shooting.

In October, a 16-year-old boy in Pearl, Miss., was charged with killing his mother and then shooting nine of his classmates, two of whom died.

The increase in juvenile violence, Polakowski said, stems from two factors - the availability of handguns and an increased number of children involved in drug trafficking and gangs.

Polakowski and others also say the root of the problem can be traced back to a deterioration of family values.

"We need, as a society, to stop and think that with all the violence surrounding us, how can this not be affecting our kids?" said Mary Koss, a UA professor of public health.

"In the U.S., with the availability of handguns there is a rapid progression to lethality," she said.

"We ask ourselves how could we have known what they were going to do," said Polakowski, who teaches criminal justice courses and was in law enforcement for seven years. "The answer is to pay more attention and respond to the deviant actions of the juveniles."

Polakowski said the juvenile justice system needs to be refocused, and questioned whether children should be sent back to the problematic environments in which they grew up.

In November 1996, Arizona voters passed Proposition 102, which amended the state's constitution to require juveniles who are at least 15 years old and accused of murder, rape or armed robbery be automatically transferred to adult court.

The proposition also requires youths to pay restitution to their victims, allows county attorneys to defer prosecution of less-serious offenders, creates community-based alternatives to juvenile court and opens juvenile proceedings and records to the public.

Before the proposition passed, prosecutors had to ask a judge to transfer a minor to adult court.

But Koss said putting juvenile offenders in prison is not the answer.

"The state of Arizona spends more on prison than on education," she said. "We need to redirect our resources toward other violence prevention measures."