Crime doesn't just happen in the inner city.

[hoosier]

Kids and crime: Suburban bad boys
Socioeconomic status is no hedge against criminal activity, but it may mean the difference between jail and a slap on the wrist.

Savannah Morning News
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Crime doesn't just happen in the inner city.

Violence, drug use and other criminal activity occur in suburban neighborhoods across the city and in the most exclusive schools in the county.

"Delinquency isn't just a lower class phenomenon," said Armstrong Atlantic State University Criminal Justice Professor Don Josi. "Virtually all classes of kids are involved in delinquent acts."


In May, Benedictine Military School sophomore Cole McEachern was arrested and eventually charged with armed robbery, kidnaping and aggravated assault, in connection with the robbery of the Wilmington Island McDonald's.

In August of 2004, Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department investigated an incident at Savannah Country Day School in which cheerleaders made nine freshman girls imitate a sexual act before an audience of boys during a hazing incident. No charges were brought.

That same year, Benedictine began random testing to discourage drug use. Although officials will not disclose numbers, several cadets have been expelled since the testing began.

"We had folks who could not or would not comply," said principal Kelly Burke.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, students report similar rates of drug availability, regardless of race or community - 39.5 percent of white students say drugs are easy to acquire compared to 33.6 percent of black students. And 39.5 percent of suburban students say they have easy access to drugs. That compares to 33.7 percent of urban students and 34.3 percent of rural students.

Self-report studies also show similar rates of juvenile delinquency among the racial, social and economic classes.

The difference is how society perceives and reacts to different classes of juveniles.

"Whites of all ages use drugs and alcohol more than minorities, except crack and inhalants," said Georgia Southern University professor of Sociology and Anthropology Nathan Pino. "But we send middle and upper class kids to treatment facilities because their parents can afford to pay for it. The poor kids go to jail."

And when suburban kids break the law, their neighbors typically work with the parents so no one gets embarrassed or gets tagged with a criminal record.

In lower income neighborhoods where crime is more common, victims tend to be less forgiving and police don't feel they can afford to give second chances, according to Pino.

Kenneth Klingmeyer was allowed probation and community service after pleading guilty to setting a fire on the altar of St. Michael's Catholic Church in 2004 - a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. The prosecutor recommended a one-year jail sentence, arguing that people go to jail for having a crack rock in their pocket.

The attorney for the Wilmington Island teen argued his 19-year-old client's prank had already cost him media exposure and expulsion from private school.

"We as a society just refuse to believe certain people are capable of committing crime," Josi said.

Because society judges juveniles and their actions so differently, bad adolescent behavior may be interpreted as a mistake for one teen and a misdemeanor for another.

"It's so disproportionate it's laughable," Josi said.

In 2003, Chatham County Juvenile Court convicted 741 fifteen-year-olds, according to the Chatham-Savannah Youth Futures Authority. Of those 15-year-olds, 457 were black males and 106 were black females, compared to 121 white males and 57 white females.

Although adolescent misbehavior is typically just a stage, the way it is handled often determines whether the adolescent will grow out of it.

"Many kids mature out of it," Josi said. "But once you're caught and labeled, you're always under suspicion."