Same here; living next door to Newark NJ, I never understand how people expose themselves to the danger present any time more than one “youth” is around. Not blaming the victim; just curious.
When I was in my early 20’s, which was in the early 90’s, I remember very clearly that the girls (yes, almost exclusively girls/women) my age, that I hung around with had a horrifying lack of situational awareness. Sometimes, I felt it was almost as if they subconsciously felt had something to prove by talking to or associating with certain people that they did.