Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-287) and index.

The phenomenon of juvenile homicide -- Ingredients for juvenile murder -- The legal response to juvenile and adolescent homicide -- Understanding the juvenile murderer -- Peter Daniels -- Jerry Johnson -- Calvin Thomas -- David Collins -- Malcolm Farrell -- Joel Westerlund -- Brian Clark -- Treating young killers with / Eldra P. Solomon -- Reducing youth violence in the 21st century.

In Young Killers, Kathleen M. Heide, a criminologist and a licensed mental health professional, blends compelling case studies with an empirical assessment of male adolescent murderers, creating a readable and interesting scholarly text. This book explores more than a dozen factors that have contributed to the rise of juvenile homicide since the mid-1980s. These factors include the increase in child maltreatment, changes in the family structure, the absence of role models, the saturation of violence in our society, easy access to weapons, youths' increasing abuse of drugs and alcohol, and the rising number of children raised in poverty. These factors often interact with certain personality characteristics and biological influences, causing many youths to conclude that they have little or nothing to lose by engaging in reckless and destructive acts.