Law enforcement experts wrestle with rise in juvenile crime

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- An 18-year-old arrested in a Moonglow Drive shooting, a 17-year-old charged as an adult in a rape and robbery, and three teens tied to more than a hundred Cary car break-ins; the headlines for teens involved in crimes have been relentless.

Youth advocates want the public to understand more about what they are up against, and that it's a group effort to change a teen's life.

Diana Powell has been a long-time advocate for peace in Wake County. She says the crimes committed by young people are hard to follow.

"It's hard to sleep at night because you realize that our young people are taking that chance and making bad choices," said Powell.

Those bad choices land teens in a system designed to rehabilitate, not just punish.

"We take time to really go through and study what is exactly going on with this child and come up with an individualized plan to help make sure that that child can be successful," said William Lassiter, Deputy Secretary the deputy secretary of the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

He said that though they have had success with a crime prevention council, counseling services, and teen court, there are cases that can be more challenging.

"We reserve our deepest in of the system or confinement for those kids who are the most high risk that have committed the most serious crimes. And the reason we do that is because kids that are in those confined facilities tend to actually recidivate or get in trouble more often than kids that don't go to facilities," said Lassiter.

Another problem is that young people are using advancements in technology to get better at committing crimes.

In the case of the car break-ins, search warrants reveal the teens used key fob programming devices to break into vehicles without possessing the original key.

They also show how one teen would even have gun parts mailed to his girlfriend's house.

Retired Apex Police Chief Jason Armstrong said law enforcement works hard to stay on top of the latest ways criminals are using technology.

"That is the most frustrating part of it for us in law enforcement. When we see the innovation and the effort that some of these young people put into going to commit a criminal act, if they would take that same energy and that same effort and apply it to something that is legal and positive," said Armstrong, who is now CEO of Armstrong Consulting.

The search goes on to describe how the teens went live on social media to display handguns and a large sum of cash.

"You see these young people there, video recording themselves in the middle of the crime that they are committing. That just, that sends the message that for them, they don't understand that this is real life, that there are real consequences to this," said Armstrong.

Everyone agrees, to combat teens involved in violent crimes, it requires everyone.

"Community members, we need your help. When you see a kid that's in need in your local community, help them help us identify those kids so that we can make sure that resources are available to them," said Lassiter.