Despite the Goons, the kids here are fine | Notice

The murder of 16-year-old Preston Lord, allegedly committed by the piss-poor criminals known as the Gilbert Goons, has been a major concern in the Valley for months.

It is a shocking crime, especially for a sleepy suburb known primarily for its church steeples and rapid population growth. It is also a tragedy for this young man's loved ones, his friends and his classmates.

But what this is not – at least in my opinion – is a claim that young people today are more prone to violence than in decades past. After months of forums on youth violence, “What is wrong with our teenagers?” and calls for new laws to control young thugs, it's time we take a deep breath and stand up to each other.

What happened to Lord was horrible. His accused killers and their brutal friends should face tough justice. But Lord's beating death is an anomaly, not a harbinger of a wave of youth crime.

Today's kids are many things, but they're not a bunch of teenage Crips and Bloods.

As proof, I present to you the detailed statistics compiled each year by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. Their analyzes describe the exact opposite of a tsunami of juvenile crime, both in the country and in our state.

What statistics stand out for me?

Nationally, the arrest rate for juvenile violent crimes fell 78% between 1994 and 2020, from about 523 arrests per 100,000 juveniles to 113 per 100,000.

In Arizona, the arrest rate for violent juvenile crimes fell 61% between 1990 and 2020.

No matter how you look at it, young people today commit far fewer crimes than children of the past: fewer murders, fewer thefts, fewer sexual assaults, fewer fights and less domestic violence. school. This is true nationally and in Arizona.

Here, the number of juveniles arrested statewide fell from 63,098 in 1990 to 16,525 in 2020. That represents a nearly 75% decline despite the state's population doubling over those three decades .

In the United States, the peak of youth violence occurred in 1996, according to the OJJDP. That's also when Gilbert last made headlines for teenage brutality.

At the time, it was a gang known as the Devil Dogs, made up mostly of Highland High School athletes who hung out at a local Taco Bell — described by the Los Angeles Times as “a link between the intimidation and violence. In May 1999, members of the Dogs beat 18-year-old Jordan Jarvis almost to death. Five young idiots were found guilty in this case.

Again, I'm not trying to downplay the severity of what happened to Lord or Jarvis. A murder, an attack going so far as to disfigure a teenager: these are serious crimes which demand rapid and dissuasive justice.

But media reports suggest the Goons have around 20 members. Given that Gilbert has more than 40,000 young people aged 10 to 19, about 20 depraved children are a problem but not a widespread societal ill.

All of this is my way of saying that maybe the focus on the Goons is more than a little overblown. This is partly because social media exaggerates all evils. The rest is due to the local media's determination to prioritize a bleeding story.

Am I disgusted by the Goons' crimes? Absolutely. But last week, as I walked through Gilbert on my way to a family reunion, was I gripped by a mortal fear of rampaging teenagers? No.

I reported stories in difficult neighborhoods. I went to Compton, lived in Trenton, New York, Philly.

Gilbert isn't exactly a scene from “The Wire.”

David Leibowitz has lived in the Valley since 1995. Contact [email protected].