There are few things more dangerous than an unemployed young man. Whether in Karachi, Cairo, Detroit or Durham, testosterone and boredom are a volatile combination.

In the Mideast and south Asia, too many disaffected male teenagers and young adults fall prey to religious hate and bombings. In America, too many succumb to drugs, crime and gangs.

A couple weeks ago, Stan Chambers, a reporter on our Durham staff, interviewed the mother of 19-year-old Mark Travers, who had just been charged with a murder that occurred last October.

Sheila Travers said her son's first conviction in 2005 made him all but unemployable and put him in a tailspin. He had a drug problem, and his rap sheet since that first conviction is indeed a long one.

"I tried to get help for my son," Sheila Travers said, "but hardly anyone would listen."

We're still trying to learn more about Steven Lavance Oates Jr., the 19-year-old who, according to police, was responsible for a horrific crime wave that culminated in the murder of Duke grad student Abhijit Mahato. I'm guessing Oates was bored and unemployed.

Durham has a crime problem because it has a bored-unemployed-and-ripe-for-trouble-young-men problem. Deal with this second problem and you'll go a long way toward solving the first.

Are all of those guys reachable and rescuable? Of course not. But some are.