What's Wrong With Our Kids?

Joan Ryan column on the teenage girl who slashed the throat of a 75-year old woman in a nice Berkeley neighborhood. Attack seemed random. Not for gang initiation or for money. No bad blood between the girl and the elderly woman. Just unforeseeable craziness. The line from the column which hooked me is this one describing a burnt-out juvenile prosecutor:

"He is tired of kids like this girl coming into court without parents. He is tired of hearing rap lyrics that glorify self-centeredness and greed and brutality. He is tired of seeing the strange disconnect between a juvenile detainee's casual demeanor and the seriousness of the crime being charged."

Wouldn't you agree with him? You've just gotta shake your head sometimes.