There is plenty of debate about how to handle juvenile troubled teens. It is widely accepted that it is more cost effective to offer intervention programs for juvenile troubled teens then to lock them up for the rest of their life. The legal system has begun trying teenagers as adults in violent crimes as a way to send a clear message that society will not tolerate such behaviors. Still there are plenty of juvenile troubled teens out there not getting the help they need.
 The answer of how to handle juvenile troubled teens has two sides to it – the public health solutions and those that come from law enforcement. From the public health perspective juvenile troubled teens are the result of society not having the right structure in place for them. The fact that today’s teenagers have so much access to negative items including drugs, alcohol, and firearms should be held liable for their actions just as much as they are.
Law enforcement has been forced to get tougher on juvenile troubled teens in order to offset the amount of violence they are creating in our society. Most vandalism and theft are acts done by troubled teens. However law enforcement also sees the benefits of trying to get juvenile troubled teens a chance to turn their lives around. The question is how much of an opportunity do you provide? Statistically most juvenile troubled teens who commit serious crimes have been in trouble with the law previously.
You also have a large portion of the population who believes the job of the legal system is to punish troubled teens for their crime not to try to understand why they took place. There continues to be plenty of debate about how to handle juvenile troubled teens but the fact remains that something needs to be done for the overall good of society.
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