Mike Males

Many factors are blamed for the problem of juvenile crime and violence, such as violence on television and video games, the breakdown of the family, or a decline in religious values. In the following viewpoint, Mike Males argues that most violent juvenile crime occurs in communities where the average income is below the United States poverty level. He claims that children living in poverty-stricken areas suffer higher gun fatality rates than more affluent children and that children of color are more often killed than white children. He contends that more effort should be put into reducing poverty than punishing criminals. Males is a senior researcher with the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice and a sociology instructor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

As you read, consider...