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It’s certainly good news that teens in Coconino County are being arrested at half the rate as six years ago. It’s tough enough getting through adolescence without having to deal with the juvenile justice system.
And it’s also good to know that juvenile judges and social workers are diverting low-level offenders from court into counseling and rehabilitation. As we reported last Sunday, just 20 percent of those going through diversion are reoffending within three years.
True, there are more seriously troubled youth with mental health and substance abuse problems in the system today than in 2009, but the numbers are relative.
Out of 990 cases in juvenile court last year, just 17 resulted in offenders being sent down to the state juvenile prison in Phoenix. For context, there are about 10,000 youth between the ages of 13 and 18 in Coconino County, according to the census.
We can give some credit for the falling crime rate to not only diversion programs but also the anti-school truancy program in the county attorney’s office and more behavioral support programs in the schools. Coconino County also has one of the lowest rates of childhood poverty among the 15 counties and the highest rate of preschool enrollment (the same as the national average) – indicators that both the private economy and public programs are effecting positive change. And within the county, Flagstaff has been rated as one of the best places nationally to raise a child, so extensive are the child-centered programs in the city.
Global trend
But what is striking about the lower teen arrest rate in Coconino County is how consistent it is with not only the statewide trend but nationally and even globally, too. And it’s not just antisocial behavior that is declining. Teen birth rates are at historic lows and so is teen binge drinking and smoking, the types of risky behavior that can lead to hardship and trouble as young adults.
So what’s going on with teens is clearly larger than any one locale, although there is much good work being done in Coconino County (births to mothers without a high school education dropped to 14 percent last year, 10 points lower than the Arizona rate).
We’d like to think that teens behaving themselves starts with parents doing a better job of parenting. At the least, parents today are more involved in their children’s lives, according to surveys, whether it is child care or supervising homework. At best, they are volunteering their time with school and community groups that strengthen an entire network of youth programs.
The economic downtown also plays a factor. Teens and young adults have seen fewer economic opportunities and less discretionary spending after the Great Recession, and they have hunkered down in school and saved money by living longer with their parents. Video games and online social networking can be done more cheaply than a night of partying, and it’s apparently just as entertaining. (Yes, a quarter of the kids in Coconino County live in households considered impoverished – but that was the case a decade ago, when the juvenile crime rate was twice as high.)
Not any happier
But whether teens and young adults at any income level are happier is doubtful. Most surveys show millennials and their younger siblings extremely disenchanted with mainstream politics and pessimistic about their own economic prospects, causing them to not vote or even identify with a party (although they are more socially liberal than their parents). And a study at the University of Michigan cited by The Economist finds that while social networks like Facebook help teens stay connected to their peers, it also lets them compare themselves to people who appear to be doing better than they are, thus fueling discontent.
But the Internet is also the game-changer for this generation of teens and young adults – they are using it as a learning tool, a creative outlet and a mobilizing force for social change. Expanding and deepening access by young people to a full range of digital tools is not only a way to keep them out of trouble. It’s an investment in a future built on innovation and connectivity that previous generations could only dream of.
So as we celebrate that dramatic drop in crime by teens, let’s remember the vast majority who will never come into contact with the juvenile justice system but still need the support and empowerment of adults in their lives in so many ways. The kids are alright – as long as the adults are, too.
Our view: Plummeting teen crime is just one indicator that an entire generation is more serious about their future – and so are their parents.
Opinion
27 July 2014
