In the past few years, shockingly violent acts perpetrated by young people have figured prominently in newspaper headlines. On the morning of May 9, 1995, a homeless man in New York City was burned alive by five youths, ranging in age from twelve to nineteen. Shortly thereafter, a three-year-old in Los Angeles was accidentally killed by gunfire when the car she was riding in with her older brother was ambushed by a gang of juveniles. The same year, a five-year-old in Chicago was thrown out of a fourteen-story building after the youngster refused to steal candy for his twelve-year-old murderers.
Such stories have added to the general public’s growing fear of a rising tide of violence among today’s youth. Many experts argue that statistics on teen violence lend credence to this fear. According to James Alan Fox, a researcher in demographic criminology, while the rate of murders committed by adults over.....
This is a free excerpt of 150 words. This section contains 644 words. This
article contains 66,760 words (approx. 223 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Youth Violence Access Pass.
