Youth violence has become a problem that must be solved. This book examines teen aggression from the standpoint of development, prevention and treatment.
This book has now won 2 awards: The Independent Publishers Award and Best Crime Non-Fiction for 2007.

A few faces and events have remained etched vibrantly in my memory, and I can recall scenarios as if they happened yesterday. I remember walking down a tier in a flax jacket (a Kevlar vest that protects your chest from being injured if someone should try to stab you). I was attempting to coax a mentally ill inmate who was bleeding to death to come peacefully out of his barricaded cell, so he would not have to be taken out by force. He would not listen to me and was taken out of the cell by correctional officers and brought to the hospital.Normally the cell blocks smelled of bleach and floor wax. It was actually quite antiseptic and orderly until the days when the inmates got into uproars and threw urine, feces, or burning paper into the corridors. Then the hallways would smell foul and a horrible stench would permeate the walls. I don’t know why they’d throw these things at us—be it out of anger, revenge, or just for kicks. Who knows what’s going on in the mind of a mentally ill person that’s locked up for 23 hours out of every 24? The mix of body odor, the smell of urine and feces, and the reek of burning paper is a smell you can never quite wash off or forget.Numerous staff members have been raped, injured, or killed while working in the criminal justice system, trying to offer these psychopaths a second chance at life. This is also something you never forget or totally shake off. Luck and fate were the sole determinants as to who was assaulted: them or you.Officers were often called on to protect my colleagues and I, to prevent dangerous incidents, and sometimes save our lives. One learns quickly that you need to always be aware and careful in a prison, and correctional officers are your lifelines if you choose to work behind The Walls.