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CSPV
Fact Sheets
| The Youth Violence Problem |
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- Recent school shootings (e.g., Littleton, CO,
Springfield, OR, Paducah, KY, Jonesboro, AR) are
atypical of youth violence.
- During the 1990s most adolescent homicides were
committed in inner cities and outside of school.
- On a typical day, 6 or 7 youth are slain in this
country, mostly inner-city, minority youth.
- Males are overwhelmingly the perpetrators in homicides
involving youth, accounting for more than 90% of
incidents involving those 10-17 years of age.
- Handgun homicides committed by young males (15-18)
between 1980 and 1995 increased by more than 150%.
This increase was fueled entirely by the use of
handguns.
- While the national and Colorado trends are similar,
the recent youth homicide rates in Colorado are
about half the magnitude of the national rates.
- Youth are three times more likely than adults
to be victims of violence. One quarter of youth
violent victimizations involve the use of a firearm.
- Nationally, 5% of students reported feeling too
unsafe to attend school at least once in the thirty
days preceding the National Youth Risk Behavior
Survey. In Colorado, 4% of students reported feeling
too unsafe to go to school.
- Nationally, 20% of high school students reported
carrying a weapon (e.g., gun, knife, or club) at
least once in the thirty days preceding the National
Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Approximately 8% reported
carrying a gun, and 10% reported having carried
a weapon on school property on one or more occasions
in those 30 days.
- Despite the prevalence of gun carrying in schools,
school shootings still remain relatively rare events.
Since 1992, approximately 190 shooting deaths have
occurred in American schools (both student and faculty/staff).
While clearly a serious issue, it must be noted
that these 190 school-related deaths represent only
about 1% of all youth killed with guns at the present.
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