First, we must recognize that violence against women produces women criminals. In Virginia, 90% of women applying for public assistance are victims of long term abuse and molestation. Being repeated victims gives them a sense that they are not responsible for their actions and have no control over their futures. These women provide the source for increased women’s prison populations. Almost all woman inmates that I have met are victims of worse crimes than the reasons for their convictions. Very few programs deal with that frequent and overwhelming need.

Second, a staff person at Virginia’s juvenile learning centers told me that about 25% of the kids entering their system have been identified by public schools as eligible for special education, but after the intake center’s assessments, the number rises to 50%. From my experiences, also, at least half of the young criminals and young adult criminals are either eligible for special education or are almost eligible. In spite of that, I have only known of a very few justice system employees that recognize it as a cause for criminal behavior.

Third, I sure hope that I do not sound pretentious, but the quality of the programs serving low-income people and criminals is not good. Too often, the quality is awful. Often, the workers expect instant results from their participants and simply punish them for doing what abused or handicapped people do. At the same time, what can we expect when one probation officer has 150 clients? A couple decades ago, American manufacturing confronted their crisis of producing poor quality. But, the agencies and organizations dealing with troubled youth show very little inclination to acknowledge their poor performance. Most often, they behave the same as do many prison inmates. They simply blame their clients or someone else.

Finally, peer and community influences are major factors that many researchers identify. Most neighborhoods have good wholesome people. Most public housing projects include wonderful healthy residents. However, alienated kids gravitate to other alienated people. They reinforce each other and they are so desperate for friends that those friendships are much more important than jobs or the threat of incarceration. What’s more, these alienated kids are highly visible because their parents or others do not allow these kids to be in their own homes, and their street visibility gives them more prestige for other vulnerable people. We need to more rigorously focus upon ways to recruit and retain meaningful close contacts with alienated youth. The research and information is available about how to recruit their loyalty.