On average, one teenager has been killed each month in Boston over the past 10 years, reports the Boston Herald. Since 2004, local teenagers have been cut down at the startling rate of 18 per year; two 14-year-olds and a 13-year-old have been shot dead since Dec. 22. “I don’t go outside, that's how you get killed,” said one 14-year-old in a violent place. “Kids are walking more in twos,” said Emmett Folgert of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative. “There's an edge right now. They literally won't go across the street to a McDonald's alone. It's ridiculous. They just won't walk anywhere alone. That wasn't true years ago.”
There are no suspects in any of the most recent murders. Over the past 10 years in cases where a black teen is the victim, police identified a suspect only a third of the time. Police have had much better success finding the killers of Hispanic and white teens. Chris Troy of the Boston Urban Youth Foundation said the young killers develop from truant middle schoolers who later drop out of high school. Of the dropouts, 52 percent are in jail by age 30. Without an education their options narrow, but the street is always open. “What do they do?,” he said. “They turn to crime.”
Link: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=180139&format=&page=1