Juvenile Crime Sprees

It's a situation detectives are becoming all too familiar with, teenagers being sought by police. "The problem is that the children and I refer to them as children because that is what they are get involved in some criminal activity and it goes wrong and it becomes a crisis situation,” Detective Rod Demery, Shreveport Police said.

That could have been the situation when the owner of Goodies Beauty Supply was shot in the head after refusing to give money to a 15 year-old attempting to rob her. "We as human beings, as a society we want to protect and cherish our young and when we become afraid of them, we see them making really bad choices and doing really bad things it's frightening to us,” explained Dr. Bruce McCormick, Family and Medical Psychologist. That didn’t stop the violent streak from continuing this time a robbery/car jacking gone bad. Arnina Hill's body was left at the intersection of Jewella and Meriwether, three teens were charged in this case. "

Juveniles today are more advanced than they were 10 years ago as far as their home situation and families. Not all have both parents, so they are mature really early” said Demery. Poverty, relationships with family, educators and mentors are key to behavior. In fact, Dr. Bruce McCormick says today's hi-tech ways could be doing more harm than good. "Exposure to violent matter in take movies or television and certainly in real life can have a connection in that it can desensitize the individual to the seriousness of violence and it makes violence actually seem more legitimate as a possible behavior,” commented Dr. McCormick. For detectives that walk the streets day in and day out, there might be a way to help before it's too late. "They are influential and if they see someone they admire, respect and look up towards, they can change the entire pattern in life."