juvenile delinquency

A compilation of real-life stories and photographs in which teens who have been involved with violence, whether as victims or perpetrators, overcame their challenges and dealt with the issues of bullying, neglect, self-image, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and criminal behavior.

Don Henderson, basketball coach for the Springfield Wildcats and head of the Police Department's Juvenile Aid Division, comes up against town politics that threaten his work with the youth and convince him to run for mayor.

Explores the history and current status of youth gangs; how they affect families and neighborhoods; the role of the media; and efforts to end gang violence.

Four teenagers who were sent to prison at an early age discuss their life in prison and their hopes for the future.

A fifteen-year-old boy from an abusive home desperately seeking his older brother's love and approval starts pushing drugs for him and suffers the consequences.

Having escaped from juvenile detention centers and foster care, two teenaged boys live on their own in an abandoned shack in a New York City park, making their way by stealing, occasionally working, and trying to keep from being arrested.

Teenage Reese, serving time at a juvenile detention facility, gets a lesson in making it through hard times from an unlikely friend with a harrowing past.

Examines the possible causes of increased juvenile violence in America such as the decline in moral character and values, fascination with antiheroes, media exploitation, and poverty and attempts to find answers and solutions that would bring back social harmony.

Mark Salzman chronicles his first years teaching at Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for Los Angeles's most violent teenage offenders, discussing what his students taught him about life.

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.