Jocelyn Schneider testified in the Brandon Craig trial (March-April, 2009) that at age 15 she was forced out of her own home by a father who preferred to live with his girlfriend. Within a year she was distributing drugs for Mexican gangs, accepting stolen vehicles from drug dealers, involved in illegally obtained firearms, and then—one night—involved in the brutal murder of three high-school students.

When I argued that teachers, school counselors, and parents in that small community must have known what was happening to this young woman, readers of this blog voted in the poll that they “disliked” what I was saying.

Please read Education Week’s “Lessons Sifted from Tragedy at Columbine.”

If you don’t have time, then here’s the bottom line: Abused and neglected children can become abusive, murderous teenagers. Psychosis begins to manifest itself in adolescence. Mentally disturbed adolescents “signal” the adult world that they need help—and far too often no adult pays any attention. Sometimes the adults around troubled teens either abandon them or try to help them hide their internal chaos from the world.

Time for schools—especially—to step up to the plate. Do what you’re being paid to do. Educate and mentor our young people. When you know that “things at home aren’t quite right,” do something about it. Get involved.

Yes, Americans value privacy. But I think what happens in these cases is that the community uses privacy concerns as an excuse to do nothing.

The Brandon Craig trial was reported in the media as an adult murder trial, because it took ten years for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and by then they were adults. But, if you consider this tragedy in light of the Columbine massacre, which happened in the same year, it looks very different, doesn’t it?