Super-predators

John DiIulio has warned that among the nation’s 40 million preadolescents are many "fatherless, godless, jobless" who will create the next juvenile crime wave.

Extent of violence

CDC advocates a public health approach toward reducing youth violence.

Average rate of arrest of juveniles for violent crimes is 517 per 100,000

District of Columbia the rate is 1528

West Virginia it is 89

Snyder and Sickmund project if there is no significant change in the tendency of youths to become involved in violence, juvenile violent crimes will double by 2010.

Characteristics of violent youths

In 1997, white youths accounted for roughly 40 percent of arrests for murder.

Elliot and Ageton’s self-repot survey of 1700 juveniles

social class differences in those reporting committing robbery and assault

Nearly 20 percent of youths arrested for aggravated assault in 19997 were females.

Trends of violence

Children as victims

In 1997, on the average, five juveniles were murdered every day.

Firearms

Among all age and sex groups, males at age 18 had the highest per capita arrest rate for weapons violations in 1997.

Strongest link between guns and drugs

drug sellers carry handguns to protect themselves

Sheley and Wright’s study

1. 22 percent of male high school students currently owned guns and 83 percent of male juveniles in correctional institutions reported owning guns at the time they were arrested.
2. More than half of the incarcerated adolescents who had handguns said they had borrowed them from family members or friends.
3. Both the male students and inmates had been exposed to violent environments.
4. As long as guns are available to anyone, they are available to motivated juveniles.

Gun control

Brady Bill

mandates a five-day waiting period for the possession of handguns.

Kansas City Gun Experiment

directed patrol around gun-crime hot spots can reduce the numbers of guns and gun crimes on the streets

Franklin Zimring

raising the price of guns and creating a scarcity of ammunition would have a significant negative impact on juveniles’ decisions to spend money on guns

Media violence

violence in the media is not causal, but probably aggravates adolescent violence

Families

Delbert Elliot found two significant causal factors in youth violence

the structure of the modern family and the lack of connection between parents and children

Children who routinely see their parents fighting or physically punishing their siblings learn that violence is a normal way to resolve conflict.

United Nations found that family violence is an international problem.

New symbols and role models of masculinity need to be developed in most nations.

School violence

survey of 11,000 students at 200 public and private schools in 20 states, 34 percent reported being assaulted while at school or riding on a school bus.

Communities

Shaw and McKay emphasized the role of neighborhoods and communities in creating social problems like violence.

Community-based violence reduction programs recognize that children do not choose where they live.

Treatment or "get tough"

1. Poll by Los Angeles Times, one-third believed that more effort should be to rehabilitate, while two-thirds supported greater emphasis on punishment.
2. More than two-thirds of adults feel that violent youths should be treated the way violent adults are treated.
3. Between 1992 and 1995, 41 states passed laws making it easier for juveniles to be tried as adults.

Krisberg

reported that some violent juveniles can change their behaviors by participating in programs which emphasize intensive counseling, advanced job-skills training, and intensive follow-up.

1994 Gallup poll

only 30 percent said that a teenager found guilty of murder should be spared the death penalty.

1994 Federal Crime Bill

increases the penalties for youthful offenders involved in gang-related drug dealing or violent crimes

Local Communities

1. curfews and truancy "sweeps"
2. no teens at the mall unless accompanied by an adult (on Friday or Saturday nights)
3. no cruising
4. no sales of eggs or toilet paper to youths after dark
5. ban of spray paint and large markers to youths

Imprisonment

1. given the poor record of imprisonment as a way to change the behavior of adults, we should probably expect no more for juveniles
2. incapacitation is the best we can hope for from incarcerating juveniles