1 - Introduction

Summary

On a warm, clear Sunday morning, I walked out onto the deck at the rear of my house to read the morning newspaper. The house sits atop a high, steep hill that looks down upon a nearby street lined with homes on either side. As I sat engrossed in the events of the day, the air was suddenly punctuated by the sound of loud and garrulous voices wending up from below. Glancing down, I saw four young males walking together up the steep slope of the street. Judging from their size and dress, they appeared to be about fourteen or fifteen years of age, though it was difficult to estimate their age with any certainty from the distance at which I was observing.

As they ambled up the street, these young men turned abruptly to one side of the road and climbed up onto the foundation of an expensive new home under construction near the edge of a narrow, precipitous gorge. Trees surrounding the construction site allowed only fleeting glimpses of the boys, but the nature of their activity was evident from the sounds emanating from the site. The crack of splintering wood, the explosive impacts of bricks and other materials being hurled down the hill, the sound of concrete bags tearing open, all testified to the damage these boys were inflicting on the home, damage that probably amounted to many thousands of dollars.