Teen Court Research 3 Continued stay up past their bed time. Small children in the primary grades need 10-12 hours of sleep and failing to get it can easily be noticed on their grade level. As the children get older, however, the effects are harder to notice particularly in high school teenagers. The effects are still there, however, and they can lead to many problems. Often times schools are then blamed for the children's lack of learning when in reality it's the parent's fault. There are other factors that parents are responsible for.
Do they love and care for their children and show the emotions in a way the children can understand. Do they yell and get after them the night before school day or in the morning on the way to school. Do parents argue in front of children. Do they blame the children for the parent's problems. Do they teach the children discipline and respect, not only for the school system, but society in general. Do they give the children the same respect they demand for themselves.
No, parents aren't entirely to blame for students that fail to do well or that get into trouble. They are, however, part of the problem as is the school system, and poorly operated judicial court systems. No one individual or system need point the finger of blame on anyone else without first looking into their own house.
If the parents and the school system fail to provide the students with what is needed, the a life of crime may lie in the direction the child takes Then it will be up to a court system that may or may not work. Special programs, such as teen courts, will then have to continue working with teenagers where both parents and school have failed. Parents and schools can be said to give everything a child needs - everything except love, attention, respect, caring, and needs fulfillment when the teenagers need it and in a way recognized by them. More often then not a busy parent will say "don't bother me now" instead of "I'm sorry honey, I'm right in the middle of something now, and can't help you just now, but don't go away as I will help you momentarily."
Teen Crimes, Schools, and Parents (April 1973) Weaver, R. D. Teen Crime Reports 4, 1
Teen Crimes have not changed much in the past ten years. Statistically, it would appear, for example, that between 1979 and 1989, very little has changed in the area of juvenile crime.
In 1979, teenagers committed approximately 20.1% of all murders in Texas and in 1989 it was about 21%.
Teenagers committed about 25.4% of all Texas rapes in 1979 and 21% in 1989.
Teen robbers made up approximately 36.3% of all robbers in Texas in 1979 and 32% in 1989.
Of all aggravated assaults committed in Texas, Teenagers made up about 24.2% in 1979 and 23.3% in 1989.
Sixty percent of all burglaries in Texas in 1979 was done by teenagers 19 years and under, and in 1989 57% was committed by youths 13-19 years of age.
Teenagers were also responsible for 57.4% of all motor vehicle thefts in 1979 and 51.5% in 1989.
It is quite obvious, that the juvenile court system has failed. If you take for granted that once a teenager commits a crime and the court system does very little about it, the teenager and friends will continue to be involved in a life of crime.
With the great failure rate that the juvenile court system seems to be boasting, one might think that a few intelligent people in the right high places would recognize the need for using teen court programs, particularly District Teen Courts of The National Teen Courts of America and Teen Clubs of America, Inc.
Teen Crime, a Decade Later (October 1990) Weaver, R. D. Teen Crime Reports 10, 1
Teenagers may be a major reason for higher home insurance rates. Teens burglarized homes and businesses once every three minutes in Texas. Of course, this is only an annual ratio of teen crime compared to fixed time intervals. There were 33,432 burglaries in Texas in 1989 and approximately 57% were committed by teenagers 13-19 years of age. School age teenagers under the age of 18 committed nearly 90% of these 19,292 burglaries. The age group of 13, 14, and 18 years old committed nearly one third of all of these burglaries. The total value of items burglarized was approximately $410,425,535 and over 23 million dollars of that figure statistically was due to teenagers.
The clearance rate for these type of crimes is very low. For example, in cities with population of 100,000 or more such as San Antonio, Texas, have an average rate of clearance of about 14%. Taking this low rate into consideration and the fact that if teenagers are not provided a correctional path to prevent them from repeatedly committing crimes, the statistics will not change much in the future.
It has been over a year since Texas law allowed the use of Teen Courts in dealing with youths, however, very few cities in Texas make use of the concept. Teen Courts, particularly District Teen Courts, have proven very successful in dealing with youth offenders. The longer the judicial systems ignores these Teen Courts, the more society can look forward to repeat offenders as the youths get older.
Teen Burglars and Higher Home Insurance Rates, (November, 1990) Weaver, R. D. Teen Crime Reports 11, 1
Teenagers statistically committed approximately 454 of the 2,126 rapes reported in Texas in 1989. Statistically, reported rapes are much less than those actually committed. Approximately 21% of all rapes are committed by teenagers and approximately 82.4% of those rapes are committed by school age children 18 and under. This averages out to fiendish average of one rape committed by a teenager every 5 1/2 hours.
Everyone talks about the dirty old men, but most people would be surprised to learn that the 18 year old age group committed more rapes than the individual age groups of 19-24 and 45 and above. The ages of 25-44 were grouped in five year groups, however, if those age groups were averaged out, then 18 years old would be recognized as the age group with the highest incident of rape.
Rape is not a crime to be dealt with by a Teen Court and should be properly handled in a criminal adult court. In dealing with the root of the problem, however, had the teen rapist been referred through a District Teen Court before the stage of raping occurs, perhaps it never would have happened. Certainly, rape does occur for a variety of reasons. The rapist usually have a variety of mental problems, ranging from not being liked or loved, or being hated and abused and much more. Many times, however, there is a trail of smaller crimes that have been overlooked. Had these teenagers been dealt with in such settings as a District Teen Court instead of falling through the cracks of an outdated, under funded, and overworked juvenile court system, then these rape statistics would be much lower.
Teen Rapist (December 1990) Weaver, R. D. Teen Crime Reports 12,1
Teen robbers accounted for nearly 1/3 of all robberies in Texas during 1989 and they weren't taking from the rich to give to the poor. Of about 7,676 robberies committed in Texas, 2454, or about 32%, were committed by youths 19 years and under. Of this figure approximately 82.5% was committed by school age students 18 and under. These figures account for approximately $12,716,220 of the total value of $39,738,190 in assets robbed in 1989.
In other words, while robberies occurred once every 14 minutes in 1989, one robbery every 42 minutes was at the hands of a teenager. Teenagers have found that the judicial system is overcrowded and unprepared to handle the large numbers of juveniles that come before. Often times, juveniles go unpunished as a result of a broken down juvenile court system. Sometimes, the blame is put on the arresting officers, but they did do their job in arresting the perpetrators. Sometimes the blame is placed on a prosecuting attorney's inability to present a timely or adequate case. Often times, it is the court itself that is not functioning as efficiently or adequately as it should. Sometimes, a judge is more interested in politics than in justice. A lot of judges fall for the stories fed them by the teenagers and their families.
Teenagers appearing before District Teen Courts often admit to actions that they would not have provided a regular adult court information on. Cases adjudicated by District Teen Courts have an extremely higher rate of success than other probationary programs used by the regular court systems. For example, many courts allow teenagers to go free on the condition that they do not commit a particular crime again. Big deal, the teenager just has to be careful not to be caught again.
Teen Robin Hoods (January 1991) Weaver, R. D. Teen Crime Reports 1,1
Teenagers commit approximately one out of every four aggravated assaults. During 1989 in Texas, there were approximately 18,633 arrests for aggravated assault. Youths 19 years of age and under committed 4350 of these assaults. A teenager 18 years or under committed an aggravated assault once every 37 minutes or about 3615 or 23.3% of the total cases.
Teenagers have short fuses and need to direct their energy in positive directions. Many of these reported cases would reflect a history of problems.
