We're Not Monsters: Teens Speak Out about Teens in Trouble

I think adults miss something very important about teenagers. They think teenagers are dangerous I little vortexes of evil. I. But my friends and I have so much more we'd rather do than waste time gathering guns and ammunition and stuff. My friends and I are not harmful. But inconsiderate treatment can stir to terrible action those who are." -- John, 15

"We are human beings, not machines. A person can only take so much before reaching a breaking point." -- Jill, 19

We've all seen the newspaper stories, watched the TV dramas unfold. They're everywhere, it seems: teenagers who shoot classmates in schools, who molest children, who commit suicide or cut themselves or give birth in secret and leave babies on doorsteps or in Dumpsters, Are these teenagers born bad -- or did something happen to make them act this way? Why do teens today feel so angry, so full of pain, so alone?

Listen to the voices of teenagers as they comment, candidly, on teens in trouble. The experts, those who study these difficult issues and discuss them in the media, draw their own conclusions. The teens here tell it like it is.