According to statistics presented here, the homicide rate has not fluctuated much over the past 20 years, and despite public concern over juvenile crime, young offenders represent a small and declining part of serious crime in the U.S. However, the availability of handguns and assault weapons has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of children murdered or committing suicide. Factual distortions and heightened levels of fear have led political leaders to focus on ideas for fighting crime that have included hiring many more police patrol officers, placing first- time offenders in shock incarceration facilities, and trying serious juveniles offenders as young as age 13 in adult courts. The author calls on policymakers to recast the fight against crime as a public health problem as well as a law enforcement issue. This paradigm would shift resources to prevention and would promote efforts to rehabilitate offenders.