A major area overlooked is the rate of substance abuse among teens.
New Hampshire has one of the highest rates in the country.
And increasingly those young people are ending up in court.
NHPR's Mark Bevis has more.
A new study from The New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. offers a little bit of good news.
Juvenile delinquency in the state has decreased about 10% since 1996.
In general, kids in NH get in trouble with the law less often than in most other states.
At the same time however, the state has seen a drastic increase in drug arrests of young people……about a 60% increase.
Katie Merrow is a Senior Research Associate with the Center.
Tape:
Katie Merrow is a Senior Research Associate with the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies.
Merrow says the number of young people in treatment has gone up since last year's increase in funding.
But they are still 20% down from where they were in 1998.
For NHPR News, I'm Mark Bevis
