More Juvenile Justice, Fewer Excuses

In June 1968, Leslie Allen Williams, then a 14-year-old Michigan youth, broke into a neigbor's home. For that act, he received juvenile probation, and was placed in the foster home of a relative. Within months, Williams molested his relative's eight-year-old child. His punishment? He was removed from the home, but allowed to continue probation. Three charges of breaking and entering and damaging property soon followed. Each crime earned him more wrist-slaps-small fines and more probation.