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Who says the kids of today are? FBI stats indicate that juvenile violence is at a twenty-year low. I think kids are somewhat more independent of parents (cars, urbanization, mass transit, etc) and have a greater space to experiment with different things but overall this image of the youth out of control is more fearmongering by the usual powerhungry sources.

"Youth violence has been one of the greatest single crime problems we face in this country," said Attorney General Janet Reno. September 6, 2000
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel00/school.htm

Victimization in the nation’s schools has decreased since 1992, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2001 reports that, between 1992 and 1999, violent victimization rates at schools generally declined from 48 crimes per 1,000 students ages 12 through 18 to 33 per 1,000 students. Data also indicates that, between 1995 and 1999, the percentage of students who said they were the victims of any crime of violence or theft at school decreased from 10 to 8 percent.

During 1999, students were victims of about 2.5 million crimes at school, 1.6 million thefts, and 880,000 nonfatal violent crimes, including about 186,000 serious violent crimes (rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault). In comparison, students were victims of 2.1 million crimes away from school: 1 million thefts and 1.1 million nonfatal violent crimes, including 476,000 serious violent crimes.

Over the 1995-1999 period, teachers were the victims of 1,708,000 nonfatal crimes at school, including 1,073,000 thefts and 635,000 violent crimes. On a per teacher basis, this translates to 79 crimes per 1,000 teachers annually.
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2002/mar02leb.htm

Does that look peachy to you? Who are the "usual powerhungry sources" that you mentioned?

Does that look peachy to you?

As compared to what - the Garden of Eden? I only claimed that violence is today low relative to near history (at least in the past 10 not twenty years). There was never an ideal time and in a country of 300 million people you're going to get some bad eggs.

Who are the "usual powerhungry sources" that you mentioned?

Typically people who misuse statistics to increase their power and authority to solve non-existent problems.