“The public’s perception reflects the uptick in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic and seems linked to highly publicized incidents of juvenile crime, including school shootings by students and carjackings by young teens (again, despite the general decline in youth arrests since the 1990s).” One solution is sending kids to prison.
A better one is more complicated and more successful. The strategy recognizes that health and social services are a better approach for most adolescents rather than jail terms.