The American juvenile justice system was designed over 100 years ago to reform kids who were found guilty of minor crimes such as petty theft and truancy. Today, the system is becoming overwhelmed by crimes of violence. Stealing and skipping school have been replaced by violent crimes, such as rape and murder. The juvenile justice system was never meant to deal with these kinds of problems. In the past the juvenile justice system sought to rehabilitate youthful offenders by taking a protective stance over juvenile delinquents. However, the "protect instead of punish" ideology of yesterday, better dealt with yesterday's crimes. Today as juvenile crime has become more common and violent and our system will be forced to make changes. The justice system will become a ground of harsher punishment, and will limit it's rehabilitative efforts only to those who deem themselves worthy of re-entry into today's society.
             The biggest problem facing law enforcement today may be the very structure of the juvenile justice system. A system that neither punishes nor rehabilitates is useless. Examples of juvenile justice system failures are found everywhere throughout the United States. In Richard Lacayo's article, "SuperPredators Arrive," he discusses Craig Price, a fifteen-year-old Rhode Island boy who deliberately murdered a mother and her two young daughters. Yet, this wasn't his first offense, nor his first murder. Two years earlier he had murdered another woman. He also had a long record of assaults, burglaries and other crimes. Why hadn't the system caught this offender before he had taken three more lives?
             "Violent juvenile crime is increasing at twice the rate of violent crimes made by adults" (Lacayo 60). In order for this epidemic of violence to be controlled, the justice system must undergo many changes. First and foremost is education. Education is most important because it...