where other than the neighbors. One son follows the rules and goes to the neighbors, does his homework and waits for his mother, the other son uses the situation as license to do whatever he pleases. Here is a situation where two boys grow up with the same mother, in the same house, in the same neighborhood and who have the same opportunities and temptations, but each chooses to react to his environment in different ways. Children make choices, although they do not choose the environment in which they are raised, they can choose how to deal with it. There are children who make a series of choices not to live within legal, moral, or social bounds; they have contempt for rules and ignore others expectations.Environment is not completely irrelevant either. There are external factors that can either inhibit or facilitate a persons inclination to break the law. If drugs were not available, a child would not become a drug addict. If parents ignore irresponsible behavior by their child, it is likely to persist. If guns were not easily accessible, a child would not use it to commit crimes. The Department of Justice reported that during a thirteen-year period (1983-1996), gun homicides by juveniles have nearly tripled. Handguns were used in two thirds of the youth homicides involving guns over a recent 15-year span. In 1996, an estimated three million crimes were committed in the nation's schools and some 100,000 guns were carried to school every day. The number of juvenile murderers tripled between 1984 and 1994. Youthful murderers using guns increased four-fold over the same period. Juvenile gang killings have nearly quadrupled between 1980 and 1992. In 1994, eight in ten juvenile murderers used a firearm, up from five in ten in 1983. The number of juveniles murdered increased 82 percent between 1984 and 1994.Murder is not the only type of juvenile crime. So what is juvenile crime? In its simplest definition, crime is any spec...
