1. Sharon Begley and Tom O’Connor both contend that child abuse is a contributing factor to juvenile crime. Begley maintains, however, that a particular biology must be present for the abuse to turn the child into a criminal. Evaluate each author’s opinion and formulate your own argument on the causes of juvenile crime, citing from the texts.
2. Richard Rhodes argues that children learn violent behavior from abusive family members or peers, while Dave Grossman contends that the violence on television and in the news encourages “cluster murders.” Whose argument do you agree with more? Whose use of evidence do you find most effective, and why?
3. Bob Levin claims that such tragedies as school shootings could not have occurred without the access juveniles have to guns. But, as Timothy Wheeler articulates, Americans have the constitutional right to protect themselves with their own...