In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.

The surveillance footage doesn’t show the actual stabbing, but it’s still a shocking video. The seven boys might not even be in high school. Some wore COVID-19-era masks, but you can still see all of them laughing and smiling as they walk through the mall in Wheaton, a neighborhood in Montgomery County. The smiling boys were armed with knives, we now know, with the sole plan of stabbing a stranger.