Linda J. Collier

Violent crimes by youths, such as the 1998 school shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in which four students and one teacher were killed, point to a need to treat some juvenile criminals as adults, argues Linda J. Collier in the following viewpoint. She asserts that the juvenile justice system is outdated because it was designed to deal with the vandals and petty thieves of an earlier era, not today’s juvenile murderers and rapists. Collier, a Pennsylvania lawyer who has worked in Philadelphia’s juvenile court, maintains that the states should set a uniform minimum age for trying violent youths as adults.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How much has crime by juveniles increased since 1984, according to statistics cited by Collier"

2. According to the author, what is...