ABSTRACT
Revisiting our original question; who is the violent juvenile offender? Based on television and other forms of media, we might imagine him to be the kid in the trench coat or the inner city African-American teenager. While both of these examples profile violent youth in America, it would be incorrect to stereotype all juvenile offenders into those categories. In reality, VJOs come from all socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, and eth nic groups (McShane & Williams, 2003). It is true that crimes by certain groups are more common (e.g., African-American juveniles were arrested for 42.3% of juvenile violent offenses in 1999) than others, but it would be a grave oversight to stereotype youth based solely upon demograph ics (McCord et al., 2001). Juvenile crime can be unpredictable; therefore overlooking certain variables creates dangerous assumptions that can lead to severe injustices against specific groups of people.
