"All too often we hear about a series of horrible crimes covering a short period and we jump to the conclusion that it is an epidemic of sorts, when in fact it is merely an aberration."
"Nevada's cities have lagged behind other urban areas in conducting research on juvenile delinquency and related social welfare programs aimed at youth that is necessary to construct policies to effectively control delinquent behavior."
The weekend of April 22, a group of teenage boys and men in their early 20s robbed and beat two MGM Grand workers and a tourist at a nearby Travelodge, assaulted a convenience-store clerk, robbed and attacked a couple and shot a man at a nearby park.
It brought to mind the pack mentality of boys, the theory that in groups, young men will act more violently than when alone, egged on by their friends and whipped up in a froth of violent energy. Broader still, it brought to mind Newsweek's January 30 cover story, "The Trouble with Boys," in which the magazine examined lagging academic performances among American boys. The article cited data showing an across-the-board achievement gap between boys and girls, from boys underperforming on standardized tests to comprising 44 percent of undergraduates (compared to 58 percent three decades ago). The article cites the creation of an entire industry around the problem—research and books on closing the gender-achievement gap; therapist Michael Gurian establishing an institute to teach teachers about teaching boys; claims by some feminists that 1972's federal Title IX law, which mandated equal opportunities for girls in education and sports, has hurt boys.
The article tempts us to apply similar theories to boys' trouble with crime. Though there's been an upsurge in crime among girls in recent years (some experts say it's always been a persistent, though ignored, problem), boys continue to be the main perpetrators. They're the primary cause of Nevada having the third-highest rate of violent delinquency arrests among the Southwestern states, the second-highest murder rate for juvenile offenders and being ranked fourth out of the six Southwestern states in juvenile property offenses. These rankings come from the Nevada Kids Count Survey, which uses state and federal socioeconomic data to measure quality of life. For most years since 1994, the survey notes, Nevada's juvenile murder rate has exceeded the national average.
Since 2001, the Valley has experienced epic bouts of boys behaving badly:
• The aforementioned weekend of April 22—the binge of beatings and shootings committed by boys and young men who are in the process of meeting justice.
• Summer 2003: The suburban 311 Boyz gang stages various fights throughout the city, videotaping the gladiatorial battles for some misguided sense of posterity. Nine members face attempted murder charges after Stephen "Tanner" Hansen is hit in the face by a rock while he and his friends flee a 311 party in Summerlin. Four eventually serve jail time.
• June 20, 2001: 19 male inmates at Summit View Youth Correctional Center lead a rooftop riot, holding authorities off with makeshift weapons before surrendering.
• Park battles: Recent years have seen rival gangs take their beefs to Valley parks. Particularly popular is City View Park on Cheyenne Avenue and North 5th Street in North Las Vegas.
The April 22 attacks, 311 Boyz's antics and Summit View prison riot all trained global attention on Las Vegas, creating a media frenzy not unlike the tidal-wave coverage of the "wilding" crimes (assaulting and groping women) in New York's Central Park years ago. Prompted by media, we often get whipped up into our own frenzy, wondering, Are boys, particularly, prone to pack violence, or is there some other explanation for these incidents? Or is it mostly hype, pinpointing crimes that are not indicative of any new upswing in male or youth violence? How can we help boys avoid this corrosive , sometimes deadly gangthink?
Rather than blaming gender, some say the violence reflects the pressures of a growing city. The math is easy: More people equals more kids equals more chances for mischief.
But UNLV criminal justice professor Randall Shelden cautions against blaming growth. The Valley has been sprouting for nearly two decades, he says, and the groups and gangs who commit crimes have changed during that time.
"I don't think we have any sort of epidemic on our hands here," he says.
Remember the 311 Boyz? Shelden says people thought they were part of a new trend—yuppified gangsters who'd bring slices of the 'hood to suburbia. Their mischief was isolated. (There are rumors that they're still up to no good.)
As for juvenile crime, Shelden says, "there has been a steady downward trend during the past 10 years. Specifically, the FBI report shows juvenile arrests for violent-index crimes—murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault—declined 31 percent from 1995 to 2004; murder down by about 60 percent."
(Strangely, accompanying those declines locally have been similar declines in government support for programs helping juveniles avoid getting involved in crime. Groups whose funds have been parsed or totally cut this year include: the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas, Late Night Solutions, the Southern Nevada Gang Task Force, Zero Weapons, Zero Tolerance).
In terms of group barbarism, Shelden says the past is prologue: "I know for a fact that you can go back 20 years or so in Las Vegas and find similar spurts covering a short period of time," he says.
Which leaves us searching for an answer to the recent pack violence. If there's no real rise in this kind of crime, no new problem to pinpoint and fix, how do we address it?
Says Shelden: "To find an answer to why these kids are doing this sort of thing now you need to know a lot about these particular kids and what they have been experiencing and this could be many different things—family, gang affiliation, school problems, drug or alcohol abuse."
Hmm. Individual attention to what shapes each child—seems as good a place as any to approach the issue.