Despite the Goons, the kids here are alright

May 20—The murder of 16-year-old Preston Lord allegedly committed by the criminal pissants known as the Gilbert Goons has been top of mind in the Valley for months.

It's a shocking crime, especially for a sleepy burb mostly known for church spires and fast population growth. It's also a tragedy for this young man's loved ones, his friends and classmates.

But what it's not — at least to my way of thinking — is a statement that young people today are more violence-prone than in decades past. After months of youth violence forums, "what's wrong with our teenagers?" columns and calls for new laws to control thuggish youth, it's time we take a deep breath and level with one another.

What happened to Preston Lord is awful. His accused killers and their brutish pals should face harsh justice. But Lord's beating death is an anomaly, not a harbinger of a youth crime wave.

Today's kids are a lot of things, but they are not a bunch of teenage Crips and Bloods.

As evidence I present to you the detailed statistics compiled annually by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. Their analyses depict the exact opposite of a juvenile crime tsunami, both in the country and our state.

The standout stats to me?

Nationally, the arrest rate for violent crimes committed by juveniles fell 78% between 1994 and 2020, dropping from about 523 arrests per 100,000 juveniles to 113 per 100,000.

In Arizona, the arrest rate for violent offenses committed by juveniles plummeted 61% between 1990 and 2020.

Pretty much no matter how you look at it, the youth of today commit far fewer crimes than kids back in the day — fewer murders, fewer robberies, fewer sex assaults, fewer instances of fights and violence at school. That's true nationally and in Arizona.

Here, the number of juveniles arrested statewide fell from 63,098 in 1990 to 16,525 in 2020. That's a drop of nearly 75% despite the population of the state effectively doubling over those three decades.

Across the U.S., the peak for juvenile violence was 1996, according to the OJJDP. That's also when Gilbert last made headlines for teenage thuggery.

Back then, it was a gang known as the Devil Dogs, mostly athletes from Highland High School who hung out at a local Taco Bell — described by the Los Angeles Times as "a nexus for bullying and violence." In May 1999, members of the Dogs beat an 18-year-old named Jordan Jarvis nearly to death. Five young idiots were convicted in the case.

Again, I'm not trying to downplay the severity of what happened to Lord or Jarvis. A killing, an assault to the point of disfiguring a teenager — these are serious crimes, and they demand swift and deterrent justice.

But media accounts suggest the Goons have about 20 members. Given that Gilbert has more than 40,000 juveniles between the ages of 10 and 19, a couple dozen depraved kids is a problem, but not a widespread societal ill.

All of this is my way of saying that perhaps the attention being paid to the Goons is more than a tad overwrought. Part of it has to do with social media exaggerating every evil. The rest of it has to do with local media's determination that a story that bleeds must lead.

Am I disgusted by the Goons' crimes? Absolutely. But last week, when I drove through Gilbert headed to a family gathering, was I gripped by mortal fear of rampaging teenagers? Nope.

I've reported stories in tough neighborhoods. I've been to Compton, lived in Trenton, New York, Philly.

Gilbert ain't exactly a scene from "The Wire."

David Leibowitz has called the Valley home since 1995. Contact david@leibowitzsolo.com.