Saving Our Kids from Delinquency, Drugs, and Despair

As director of delinquency programs in the Louisville, Ky., schools, the author of this sobering report has heard on the front lines the ``crime bomb that is ticking away, threatening to destroy America.'' Juvenile delinquency, as he demonstrates, is caused by many privations: illiteracy, welfare dependency, abandonment are but a few. His research suggests that, despite a proliferation of remedial and rehabilitative programs, large numbers of young people become caught up in a negative social and justice system. To break out of that cycle, Baker supports the teaching of morality and suggests new ways to treat first offenders, including a special court. He advocates school programs of early intervention to counter the lure of the streets and training programs, such as Job Corps, along with other practical approaches based on some two decades of his experience. (Jan.)