Brief Summary
Brief Summary of Youth Violence: In 1994, the Center for Disease Control identified violence as “the #1 health problem of a child born in the United States today”.
Intentional Injuries: (http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/youthviolence/)
- In 2007, 5,764 young people ages 10 to 24 were murdered—an average of 16 each day
- In 2008, more than 656,000 young people ages 10 to 24 were treated in emergency departments for injuries sustained from violence
- For youth 10 to 24 years of age, homicide is the leading cause of death among African Americans and the second leading cause of death for Latinos
- Juveniles accounted for 16% of all violent crime arrests
- 39.3% of males reported being in a physical fight in the previous 12 months
School Violence:
In a 2009 nationally representative sample of youth in grades 9-12
(http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/youthviolence/)
- 19.9% reported being bullied on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey; the prevalence was higher among females (21.2%) than males (18.7%)
- 15.1% of male students and 6.7% of female students reported being in a physical fight on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey
- 9.8% of males reported carrying a gun on one or more days in the prior 30 days
Child Maltreatment: (http://www.acf.hhs.gov)
- CPS estimated that 772,000 (10.3 per 1,000) of children were victims of maltreatment
- A non-CPS study estimated that 1 in 5 U.S. children experience some form of child maltreatment: approximately 1 percent were victims of sexual assault; 4 percent were victims of child neglect; 9 percent were victims of physical abuse; and 12 percent were victims of emotional abuse ( Finkelhor D, Turner H, Ormond R, Hamby SL. Violence, abuse, and crime exposure in a national sample of children and youth. Pediatrics 2009; 124:1411-1423 )
Exposure to Violence: Has been implicated in a broad array of adverse child health and mental health outcomes. (van der Kolk, B. 1996. The complexity of adaptation to trauma. In B. van der Kolk (Ed.), Traumatic Stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body, and society (pp. 183‐205). New York: Guilford Press), including:
- Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders
- Compromised social, behavioral, and educational functioning
- Hyperarousal and difficulty in modulating affect
- Aggression towards self and others
- Social attachments and character development disturbances
- Impairment of basic trust and the establishment of interpersonal relationships
