An unusual package of stories in last Sunday's paper posed a troublesome issue for News & Observer newsfolk: Should a newspaper put individuals' private problems in a public spotlight toward the greater cause of addressing an important societal ill?

The issue is the problem of young minority males going to prison in greatly disproportionate numbers. The N&O's report focused on three teenagers, two black, one Latino, who fit the mold of kids who end up in prison: in trouble at school, at home, with the law. The paper told their stories as examples of the problems that a local organization, the Triangle Lost Generation Task Force, is trying to address. The youngsters' lives were splashed across the front page and a full page inside the paper.

What was unusual about the report was the focus on these three young men as exemplars of a type -- future prison inmates. The report made clear that the three "aren't necessarily headed for prison," but it nevertheless thrust them into the public eye in a way that most of us would not consider favorable. Profiles of each told of their problems with poor grades, expulsions from school and brushes with the law. The project was unusual for focusing on living souls instead of the institutions and policies that are the usual journalism fare when examining big societal problems.

All that was deliberate, says Holly Stepp, The N&O's Wake County editor, who edited the stories. The project began in July as a standard reporting effort that focused on the task force and the prison-population problem. That story didn't have much life to it, Stepp said, so she and reporters Thomasi McDonald and Samiha Khanna and shifted the focus, dramatically, to those most affected by the issue. "How could we write a story that is more compelling, not just about the adults but the beneficiaries, if you will, of what the adults are talking about? Let's talk about the kids -- who do they look like? What is their life experience?"

So the reporters set about finding African-American and Latino teenage males who fit the profile that the task force was worried about -- poor behavior in school, legal problems, lack of parental supervision. That's not an easy population to plumb, you might imagine, and the team talked to a number of young men and parents before finding three who agreed to have their stories told.

Aware of the pitfalls of spotlighting individuals, Stepp said, the paper tried to make clear to the youths and their parents that the stories would be about problem youths on a possible path to prison. "We were frank and upfront, and that's why we had some trouble finding these kids," she said. "We tried our very best to be very clear about what we were doing." Several initially agreed to be interviewed, then dropped out when they fully considered the possible negative implications.

Indeed, the picture that emerged in The N&O was bleak. The Rev. David Forbes, chair of the task force, described the problem of minority youth prison rates as "tantamount to genocide." The boys and their families were depicted in unblinking terms. "If you can't get a job, there ain't nothing but two things: rob and sell drugs," one youth is quoted as saying. The mom of another says, "The way he flips out and his attitude, I'm afraid someone will kill him before he goes to prison." (The individuals were identified by name, which added credibility to the reporting, but I don't think it's necessary to reproduce that here.)

Imagine reading that about yourself or your children. The paper got a lot of reaction to the stories, including some from the young people profiled.

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