NCJ Number
84804
Date Published
1978
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This study was prepared by Vocational Foundation, Inc. (VFI). It is based on 115 hours of interviews with more than 100 of VFI's clients and a wide range of outside experts.
Abstract
The VFI interviews dramatically affirm the proposition that inner city youth between 16 and 19 are heavily prone to robbery and violence. Behind the rising siege of crime is demography: the changing age composition of the U.S. However, the difference between black and white crime rates is far too great to be explained by demography alone. Two of the other causes are the utter collapse of the system of juvenile justice and the increasing inaccessibility of entry level employment to dropout youths. Improving the predictability of the justice system is only a limited first step toward remediation of the problem. Even more important is to provide youth with the opportunity to go straight in a way, given the fact that there is an unemployment rate of 44% among inner city adolescents. These figures indicate that since the early 1950's black teenage unemployment has risen about three times faster annually than white unemployment. Approaches to solving the problem include an attack on the exclusive use of and heavy reliance on educational and testing requirements and other credentials. Job reform is also needed, as well as a more realistic assessment of the opportunities afforded by conventional schooling. (Resources in Education (ERIC) abstract)