The Incidence of Violence Affecting
Youth
After their peak in 1993, national crime rates, in-
cluding juvenile crime rates, declined. Between 1993
and 1997 victimization from serious violent crime
dropped 25 percent for adults, from 4.2 to 3 million,
and 33 percent for youth, from 1,230,000 to 830,000.
While this decline is encouraging, overall rates of vio-
lent crime remain alarmingly high. For instance, vic-
timization rates for youth under age fifteen in the
United States dramatically exceed those in other in-
dustrialized countries, particularly when firearm use
is considered. Juveniles are twice as likely as adults to
be victims of serious violent crimes and three times as
likely to be victims of simple assault.
Juvenile Homicide
Juvenile homicide is the most severe and disturb-
ing type of youth violence. The distinction between
homicide and nonlethal violence may be somewhat
arbitrary, however, because similar actions can pro-
duce either lethal or nonlethal outcomes.
Juvenile Victims
At the beginning of the twenty-first century in the
United States, homicide was the second leading cause
of death for youths age ten to nineteen. Homicide is
the first leading cause of death for black male youths.
Of all murder victims in 1997 (18,200 victims or 7 per
100,000 people living in the U.S.), 11 percent (2,100
victims or 3 per 100,00 juveniles living in the U.S.)
were under age eighteen. Most juvenile victims (71%)
were male black youths. Although black youth com-
prised only about 15 percent of the juvenile popula-
tion, they were five times as likely as white youth to
be homicide victims in 1997. This is a decrease from
1993 when the ratio was seven to one, but the ratio re-
mained high compared with the early 1980s. Juvenile
homicide rates for Latino youth appear comparable
to those for blacks; for Native Americans the rates of
violent victimization are the highest.
Despite some published reports, students are
safer at school than elsewhere. Compared with non-
urban youth, urban youth are at greater risk for vio-
lent victimization, including homicide, in any setting.
All children are at highest risk for victimization in the
hours immediately after school.
Firearm use among youths is a serious issue.
Homicides of youths age fifteen to seventeen are
more likely to involve firearms than for any other age
group. In this age group, 86 percent of all homicides
involved firearms. Rates of firearm-related juvenile
homicide increased dramatically between 1987 and
1993, from about 800 victims (41% of juvenile homi-
cides) to about 1,700 victims (61% of juvenile homi-
cides), and showed some decline along with other
crime statistics to about 1,200 victims (56% of juvenile
homicides) in 1997. However, the rates of juvenile
homicide with a firearm have continued to exceed
those where no firearm was used.Juvenile Perpetrators
Patterns of violent crime committed by youths
generally mirror those for the general population. Ju-
veniles committed approximately 12 percent of all
murders in 1997. It is estimated that in 1997, of
18,200 murders committed, about 2,300 murders
were committed by juveniles. Unlike murders com-
mitted by adults, 44 percent of all murders by juve-
niles involved more than one perpetrator (often
including a young adult). Ninety-three percent of ju-
venile murderers were male, 56 percent were black,
and 88 percent were between the ages of fifteen and
seventeen. Juvenile murderers are more concentrat-
ed in urban areas and are usually the same race as
their victims.Violence and Gangs
Gangs are active in urban, suburban, and rural
areas. Most gang members are male (92%) and nearly
half (40%) are under age eighteen. While the number
of gangs and gang members decreased in the late
1990s, youth gangs remain responsible for a dispro-
portionate share of all violent and nonviolent crime.
Rates of violence are significantly higher for gang
members than for non-gang members, and the rates
are higher during gang membership than before or
after.Violence and Drug Use
Surveys of high school seniors show that the risk
for perpetration of and victimization by violent and
nonviolent crime is higher among students who use
illicit drugs. Using multiple ‘‘hard’’ drugs was associ-
ated with the highest rates of violence.Juvenile Suicide
Although not interpersonal violence, suicide is a
form of violent death affecting youth. While suicide
risk, contrary to homicide risk, is higher for adults
than for juveniles, adolescent suicide gets much more
attention. Seven percent of all suicides in 1996 in-
volved youth age nineteen and under. For every two
young people murdered in the United States, one
commits suicide. Youth suicide victims are over-
whelmingly male (8 of 10), white (8 of 10), and teen-
age. Suicide rates for black male youth are parallel to
but lower than those for white males. Females are426 VIOLENCE