Do today's children deserve to be labeled as "corrupt", "unruly", and just plain "bad?" Or are there other factors we need to consider before supposing that this generation of youth is beyond rehabilitation? For instance, speaking from the generation X perspective - anyone born after 1960 - one could say that our parents were just as horrible and crime ridden than we are. Likewise, children of generation Y - anyone born to a generation X parent - could say that at least they are not as psychologically disturb as their parents.

Putting this issue in a more readable perspective, we will analyze the crime rate over a period of years, particularly the murder rates because they are one of the most valid elements of the UCR (Uniform Crime Rate) data because murders are more likely to be reported to authorities. "From the year 1946, (at the end of World War II), the United States experienced the "baby boom" which continued throughout to 1960 and brought forth an unprecedented increase in the number of births. As a result the number of people in the most crime-prone age group expanded very rapidly beginning in the early 1960s, as those born in the late 1940s and early 1950s became teenagers.

After 1960 the country entered a "baby bust" in which many fewer young people were born. This resulted in a much smaller group in the crime-prone age bracket beginning in the early 1980s. In 1946 the murder rates were at 6% per 100,000 people. It went as low as 4.5% as the population dropped throughout to the mid 1960s and then dramatically increased from then on up to the early 1980s as high as 10% per 100,000 people as the population increased" (Stockard, 2000).

Thus, the murder rate rises and falls according to the nation's birth rate. Therefore, this age effect concerning crime is defined as crime over time whereby age-based norms influence our actions. In other words, the "baby boomers" children - born after 1960 - were more prone to commit crimes, especially murder, than their parents were.

Now, studying the data from the children of the "baby boomers" (generation X), their children (generation Y), born between the 1980s to the present - which at most represent the age group from 14 years to seventeen years old - though the population has decreased, the murder and crime rates remain at or around 10%. This difference signifies an irregular pattern of behavior in today's youth in relation to population than the youth of the 1950s and 60s.

Though the population has decreased over time, violence is constantly on the rise. The reasoning behind why today's children would seem more violent than the children of the 50s and 60s would be obvious: television, video game violence, an increase of single-parent families, and widespread narcissism and individualism in the country. In brief, the breakdown of the family unit has contributed more to national violence than any other factor.

This would suggest that environmental surroundings and national well-being play a huge role in influencing the actions and character of children. The famous phrase "When I was a kid" may have to be retired to give way to a new phrase that states, "Here in your day." The fact that many "baby boomers" sit on local and national court benches passing out prison sentences to generation Xers and Ys can be viewed as a lop-sided world view and a total misunderstanding of what today's society has to offer.

The expectations of judicial officials can no longer be measured by the standards of "their day" but must be considered in terms of "our day." After all, it is their children and grand children that are the ones affected by the society they - the "baby boomers" have created. It is a society of dysfunctional families brought on by parental neglect, psychologically disturbed and troubled victims in a world of social selfishness, and thousands of emotionally scared cases of child abuse, molestation, and sexual genocide.

So, to answer the question of "why some generations are more prone to commit crimes than other generations," it is a simple matter of cause and effect. Until the "baby boomer" generation dies out (after draining the health care system and social security), unless the next generation has a plan to curtail simulated violence through entertainment and social selfishness, the country will continue to suffer a serial personality disorder.

© 2003 by C R Hamilton