Juvenile Offenders

On April 20, 1999, 17-year-old Dylan Klebold and 18-year-old Eric Harris captured worldwide attention. The two boys, both white and from privileged socioeconomic backgrounds, went on a killing spree in their Littleton, Colorado, high school. Before they turned their guns on themselves and ended their lives, 13 people lay dead, and more than 20 others were wounded. They were not the first young killers to murder their classmates senselessly in recent years and, tragically, these boys were not the last ones to participate in acts of mass destruction.

Youth violence continues to dominate the daily newspapers and evening news in the 21st century. Mass shootings characterized by multiple victims, often randomly targeted, by unhappy, angry, and alienated children and adolescents using high-powered weaponry clearly represent the ...