In the ten years between 1984 and 1994, the number of juvenile homicide offenders in America tripled. While crime rates in America have begun to drop, teen-on-teen violence, especially in poor, urban neighborhoods, is still out of control. Year after year, more teenage boys are killed by guns than all natural causes combined.
Against the backdrop of these bleak statistics, a number of communities across the country are taking a fresh approach to "bad" kids. Realizing that locking kids up is expensive and does little to reduce violence, these pioneers are addressing the roots of violence with innovative programs involving schools, rehabilitation programs, and unique multi-agency partnerships. They are, in effect, Reclaiming America's Kids.
In Search of Law and Order: Reclaiming America's Kids, a special three-part series airing over consecutive Fridays, April 10, 17, and 24, at 9 PM (ET),on PBS (check local listings), travels to three communities working to keep troubled youth from becoming lifetime wards of the justice system: Boston, Massachusetts; Fort Worth, Texas; and Richmond, California. Six years in the making, this unique series also meets kids who carry guns out of fear of their "enemies," and asks, "Are they victims as well as offenders?"
The series is based on the research of Roger Graef, criminologist and filmmaker. It is a co-production of KQED/San Francisco, Kikim Media and Films of Record. In Search of Law and Order: Reclaiming America's Kids is narrated by André Braugher, star of NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street." (Interestingly, Braugher was one of the first graduates of Head Start, a program profiled in the third episode of this series.)
Graef's six-year search was prompted by his discovery that many judges have no hope that sending people to prison will stop their return to crime. But most don't know what else to do. "I was appalled at the waste of money and lives, so I set out to find places taking positive steps toward solutions," says Graef. "Our team found real progress is happening in places that realize they have an important stake in young people-not just for their own safety but because these are, after all, kids. They realize kids need good educations, stable families, jobs-a stake in their own futures."
Many of the successful initiatives featured in the series are supported by justice professionals who recognize they cannot address by themselves the wider social problems that cause crime and violence. "We know that incarceration will not solve the problem," says executive producer Michael Schwarz. "Prison does keep criminals off the street, but eventually most of them are released back into the community. The question is, what kind of people will they be once they're released?"
