Pacific Standard examines the research into teenagers who commit violent crimes, and finds that their “brains” seem to be much less to blame than their economic status.
“(Researcher Mike) Males looked specifically at the more than 50,000 homicides in California from 1991 to 2002,” reports Pacific Standard. “As one would expect, teenagers perpetrated more of the homicides than other age groups — but only when he did not control for poverty. When he did control for poverty, teenagers committed more crimes than other age groups only in high-poverty areas. In the areas where teenagers had as much money as other middle-aged people, they tended to commit fewer violent crimes. And in the areas where middle-aged people had as little money as other teenagers, those middle-aged people tended to commit just as many violent crimes.”
It’s Poverty, Not the ‘Teenage Brain,’ That Causes the Most Youth Crime (Pacific Standard, March 20, 2015)
