PAUL VASEY, LONGTIME newspaperman and current morning host for CBC Radio in Windsor, has set himself an ambitious goal in Kids in the Jail: Why Our Young Offenders Do the Things They Do (Black Moss Press, 272 pages, $14.95 paper): He wants to know why some kids commit crimes so violent that they must be placed in maximum security jails. His method is to exhaustively interview staff and inmates, as well as juvenile court judges. In the news business, a good rule of thumb is go to the source, he explains. And that's exactly where things went wrong. These sources emerge as caring and dedicated people. But they do not have extraordinary insights about teens who apparently lack empathy and remorse. On the contrary, we hear from them only the conventional explanations (It's the parents' fault; the early years are crucial; they were abused). All this you can hear around any bridge table. And none of it explains random, purposeless evil acts, committed without hope of gain.

But no human being has ever explained that. Vasey's account, though too long by half, is a worthwhile insight into a little-known social hell and at times the tension of suppressed violence is palpable.