FEDS FEAR TEEN CRIME WAVE

Top law enforcement officials warned Congress today that the nation's crime rate may rise drastically during the next decade because of an increasing number of violence-prone teenagers. FBI Director Louis Freeh testifed before the Senate Judiciary Committee that an expected 20 percent increase in the teenaged population by the year 2000 may severely impact the crime rate. Drug Enforcement Administrator Thomas Considine noted violent crime rates for 14-17 year olds are double those for adults, with most of the difference linked to increasing drug use. He said criminologists are predicting a "crime wave" early in the next century, when the majority of the population boom hits adolescence. "Teen crime is increasing in leaps and bounds,"TIME correspondent Ann Blackmannotes. "It's a huge problem, particularly in the inner city, where so many kids are growing up without fathers as role models."