NCJ Number
132171
Date Published
1988
Length
202 pages
Annotation
The House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families held a hearing in March 1988 to address the epidemic of gang warfare and violence among youth.
Abstract
The opening speaker noted that violent juvenile crime increased by 9 percent between 1984 and 1986, that juveniles are becoming more dependent on drugs, and that gang violence has begun to appear in cities with no recent history of gang activity. A factsheet presented at the hearing pointed out that violence is a major cause of death among adolescents and young adults, that teenagers are disproportionately victims of violent crime, that a high percentage of youth are killed by firearms, that juvenile delinquency is strongly correlated with child abuse and family violence, and that youth detention is increasing and costly. Presentations were made at the hearing by such officials as a juvenile court probation officer, the director of the National Crime Prevention Council, a university criminologist, the director of clinical psychiatry at a New York Hospital, and a supervisor at Community Youth Gang Services in Los Angeles. Prepared statements of these individuals and supplemental materials focused specifically on gang methods of operation, school-based gang and violence prevention, leisure activities of youth, effects of gang involvement, socioeconomic dimensions of violence, government and private sector strategies to deal with gang activity and criminal violence, and economic and employment needs of youth. 3 figures