When Good Kids Kill

The crimes...the carnage...the warning signs....Why do "good kids" go "bad"? A searing look at murder among teens and how we can stop the violence.

What made them snap?

In New Jersey, a quiet, happy, eighteen-year-old girl from a loving home successfully hides her pregnancy until prom night, when she delivers, then kills her baby.... In Nevada, a high school honor student molests, then kills a seven-year-old girl in the women's rest room of a casino.... In Washington, two seventeen-year-old best friends become deeply involved in a "gothic" lifestyle and carry out the murder of an entire family of four for the excitement....

Behind the sensational, horrifying teen crimes flooding the media, the facts are sobering: violence among young adults is at an all-time high--approximately 20 percent of all known murderers in America are under the age of eighteen. Moreover, the kids who kill are often the "good kids," the honorable, trustworthy, conscientious students who have no history of violence. In a searing probe of our nation's most shocking cases, a noted expert provides an in-depth look at the cases, examining the warning signs and behavior patterns that can be a prelude to murder--and shows how parents, teachers, counselors, and law enforcement officials can intercede before tragedy strikes.