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Per the article, these are mostly adolescent males. If you read between the lines, these are mostly large violent "children" who need to be in an institutional setting. No family can handle this, and I'm sure many of these kids are from totally dysfunctional homes, with parents who have history of drug, alcohol, and crime problems. If you ask me, the faster we get them off the streets and into an institution, the better.

Before you go "reading between the lines"....you might want to read the actual study. Yes, many of them are male & violent....but there are all different kinds of cases. And to assume they are from *dysfunctional* homes, etc....that's pretty crass. What do you consider *dysfunctional*??? Because I'm a single mom with a child with a mental illness, does that make me *dysfunctional*???? I give my children as much attention & love as many homes with two parents, and in many cases more!

Before you get on a soap box, read the whole 66 page report!

I'm not sure what the answer is, I'm not taking a liberal view of "let's throw more government money on it or unfunded mandates"...what I'm saying is...there's a problem....let's figure out how to fix it and get beyond the "pointing the finger of blame". These children are part of our future.

I'm making the assumption re dysfunctional homes based on the fact that a disproportionate number of children who are removed from regular public school classes and put in separate special ed classes and separate special ed schools, are from inner city, welfare and substance addicted homes. Many were born with mental problems due their mother's drinking and crack-smoking during pregnancy. Many have also never had a resident father, and a revolving cast of substance abusing boyfriends doesn't provide much of a model for controlling aggression and impulsivity. Also, a single parent is much more likely to be unable to cope with a mentally ill child as he grows larger and capable of more serious violence. Obviously there are a lot of wonderful families who have children with serious mental problems, but statistically the dysfunctional segments of society produce a lot more mental illness.