.' Introduction In 1988 in Central Park, a group of youths raped and savagely beat a young woman who was an investment banker. Surprising to most followers of this story was the revelation that these young attackers all lived in apartment buildings where doormen were employed. The knowledge that these adolescents were the product of a middle-class environment, as opposed to being raised in the ghetto, somehow made this crime more troubling. The night of "wilding "was even more difficult to understand when one of the attackers explained that he joined in "just for kicks. " In another highly publicized incident that same year, several white youths from an upper-class suburban area in New Jersey sexually attacked a semi-retarded girl. When pressed for an explanation, one young observer of the incident said that "she asked for it. " In 1987, the nation watched as the Iran-Contra hearings were held before a joint House and Senate committee. There, Marine