Cops, politicians, media reporters: Stop lying about "youth crime"

Those who keep shoving young people out of society deserve the same shaming Joseph Welch hurled at demagogic Senator Joe McCarthy: “Have you no sense of decency?"

Youth crime as a percent of the population age 10-17, 1960-2023

Sources: FBI 2025; US Census, 1960-2024.

Endless crusades to censor and banish youth, whether stemming from panics over culture, social media, or their public presence, are all the same: appalling and idiotic.

The figure and table show the absurdity of the most recent terror campaign against “youth violence.” In fact, violent and total crime by teenaged youths have plummeted by a staggering 75% to 85% over the last 35 years to near-record-low levels.

Yes, that tiny blip at the end is what the newest panic is all about. Since the reopening of society after COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, crime by youth (and adults) has shown a slight rebound but remain well below pre-pandemic levels.

For those who prefer generational breakdowns:

Crimes by youth as a percent of all youths age 10-17

Sources: FBI 2025; US Census, 1960-2024.

Today’s youth are the most racially diverse ever, and full of migrants, the first generations with no racial majority. That diversity is a big reason racist panickers so easily sell their doom-shrieking. Only a generation ago, experts predicted a “coming teenage crime storm” of hundreds of thousands of black, brown, and corrupted white “super predators.”

Instead, teen crime plummeted. But who cares about facts?

You’d think the Four Horsemen had been sighted, so inflamed is today’s cop/politician-media-incited terrorism over “youth violence.” Typical is the standard sycophantism by Fox News New York: “From vandalism and brawls to shocking daylight shootings, teen violence is rising in NYC—and officials are taking action.” “Even in small cities,” NewsNation bellowed, “crime involving kids is up dramatically.” Yes, from nothing to near-nothing.

Cops, academics, politicians, and media reporters/commentators slavishly follow a rigid, unwritten rule: drugs, suicide, mental illness, and (especially) crime can only be discussed as afflictions of powerless demographic groups. In fact, crime has moved dramatically upward in age, from late teens in the 1970s to early 30s today, FBI, homicide, and drug abuse figures show (Boomers and Xers have had trouble all our lives). But that’s a respectable grownup demographic, taboo to link to a scourge like crime.

So, lying to vilify teenagers’ behaviors on social media and in real life is a national epidemic perpetrated by demagogues who know young people have no mechanism to defend themselves in the public arena. (For those who think “lying” too strong a word, substitute “coincidental mistakes that always lean toward inciting fear.”)

The typical scam is to pick some past year (or month, or week), often during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when crime numbers were lower, then compare it to some more recent period for some crime and some city picked to make the point, ignore all other crimes, years, and cities, and holler that “youth violence!” is “surging!”.

Want to depict teen homicide arrests as increasing (and remember: youths comprise over 10% of homicide arrests but account for just 5% of all homicides, indicating substantial over-arrest). Compare 2023 to 2020. Want to depict youth homicide arrests as falling? Compare 2020 to 2012 (or any prior year). Aiding the scam are that the FBI is shifting to a new incidence-based reporting system which expands the number of crimes reported, and a teen population increase of 1 million over the last decade.

The selectively-quoted Council on Criminal Justice 2022 report, which covers only a selected time period during which youth crime had fallen to an all-time low, actually found only one very rare offense had risen:

· Good news: “Overall, there has been a general decrease in most forms of juvenile offending in recent years… Juvenile offending (total incidents) was about 14% lower, and the total number of juveniles involved was around 18% lower, in 2022 than in 2016, the beginning of the study period… burglary (-62%), larceny (-46%), and robbery (-45%) experienced the steepest declines,”

· Bad news: “Homicides perpetrated by juveniles jumped 65% from 2016 to 2022, while along with “a more pronounced increase in the use of guns relative to other weapons, rather than increased weapon use generally.”

Homicide is rare [0.003 of all crime, committed by 0.000015 of all 10-17 year-olds], hardly a commentary on an entire generation or justification for mass “solutions” like curfews or bans. Within that limitation, teenagers are Americans, and guns remain a problem across the age span, with youth trends paralleling adult trends.

For example, gun homicides among teens age 10-19 fell from 3,477 (1993) to 1,677 (2010), then rose to 1,714 (2018) and 2,779 (2023); and among adults age 40-49 (their parents), from 2,195 (1993) to 1,413 (2010) to 1,836 (2016) and 2,734 (2023).

That is, while Gen X teens were 1.6 times more likely to suffer firearms homicide than their middle-aged parents in 1993, today, the two groups have equal risks. However, American authorities (cheerled by a worshipful media) insist on presenting only the teen trend for deploring, ignoring its powerful linkage to the even worse adult trend.

The “cruelty” and “recklessness” appalled Army lawyer Joseph Welch charged red-baiting Senator Joe McCarthy with in 1954 hearings applies now to commentaries on “youth crime.” The cruel, reckless efforts to inflame fear and promote bans and harshness are especially disgusting today, a time liberals, moderates, and “experts” should be celebrating for its extraordinarily low crime and violence levels by the most racially diverse generation in American history.