REPORTING ON VIOLENCE

Basic Data

Violence Among Youth

Victims:

The U.S. Department of Justice defines teenagers as 12 to 19 years old and young adults as 20 to 34 years old.

Perpetrators:

The California justice system defines a juvenile as any individual age 17 or younger. However, someone as young as 14 can be tried in the adult court system and sentenced to the California Department of Corrections and housed in the California Youth Authority (CYA), the agency responsible for incarcerating juveniles. Someone as old as 24 can be incarcerated as a juvenile in the CYA. The CYA can accept juveniles younger than age 12, but most offenders that young are kept in the community under county probation supervision.

Violent crime:

Murder (willful killing of one human being by another), suicide (killing oneself), rape (physically forced or psychologically coerced sexual intercourse, which is an act of vaginal, anal or oral penetration by the offender, including penetration by a foreign object, and, by definition, victims are female), aggravated assault (an attack by one person on another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury).

Note:

In this section, there will be few comparisons between California statistics and national statistics. This is because of the variations in how states count juvenile crime. For example, in some states, juveniles 16 or older arrested for felonies are counted as adult arrests. In California, these youth would be counted as juvenile arrests.

GENERAL

Victims by age and race

In the United States, juveniles are much more likely to be killed or injured by crime than are other age groups. Teenage black males are most often the victims of crime, at a rate 20 percent higher than teenage black females, who are the second most likely victims of crime.

• Juvenile Crime-Outlook for California, Legislative Analyst's Office, State of California, May 1995.
  
• Legislative Analyst's Office, State of California, 916-445-4656

Data from 1997 indicates that victims of both male and female youth crimes are predominantly other youth.

Homicide, leading cause of death

In California, 361 young people under the age of 18 were homicide victims in 1997. Sixty-six percent of these homicides were committed with a firearm; and 86 percent of the firearm homicides were committed with a handgun.

Arrest rate by sex, United States

• Crime in the United States 1997, Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, published November 22, 1998.
  
• FBI press office: 202-324-3691, FBI

Arrestees, percentage of all violent arrests, California

In California in 1996, juveniles accounted for 14.6 percent (22,099)of violent crime arrests.

Arrestees, juvenile violence

In California in 1993, 24 percent of all juvenile arrests were for violent offenses. In 1988, juvenile arrests for violent crime accounted for 17 percent of all juvenile arrests. Between 1984 and 1993, juvenile arrests for violent crime increased more than 50 percent.

• Juvenile Crime-Outlook for California, Legislative Analyst's Office, State of California, May 1995.
  
• Legislative Analyst's Office, State of California, 916-445-4656

Offenders, county facilities and probation

In California, 97 percent of all juvenile offenders are handled by county probation departments. In 1989, more than 66,000 youth were on probation and being supervised by counties. Based on the number of beds, California counties house more than 6,000 minors in juvenile halls and 4,000 minors in ranch and camp facilities each day.

• Juvenile Crime-Outlook for California, Legislative Analyst's Office, State of California, May 1995.
  
• Legislative Analyst's Office, State of California, 916-445-4656

Offenders, California Youth Authority

CYA currently incarcerates 9,198 young men and women, about 3 percent of the state's juvenile offenders; 68 percent of these youth have been convicted of violent offenses.

HOMICIDE

Victims, rate of increase

In the United States between 1985 and 1990, the homicide rate for all juveniles increased 92 percent, and for black male juveniles the rate increased 184 percent over the same period.

Victims, black

Among black juveniles in the United States in 1996, homicide was the single leading cause of death.

Victims, homicide vs. motor vehicle deaths

In the United States in 1996, for all juveniles, death by homicide was the second leading cause of death after motor vehicle fatalities.

Arrestees, rates

In California, juvenile arrest rates for homicide were below those for adults until 1989. Since then, the juvenile homicide rate has significantly exceeded the adult rate. Juvenile arrests for homicide hit a low in 1985 (under 8 per 100,000), increasing 125 percent through 1993 (to 18 per 100,000).

Arrestees, rate by age group, 1984 - 1995

In the United States, the homicide rate for people ages 10 to 17 rose from 5.4 per 100,000 in 1984 to 14.5 per 100,000 in 1993. In 1994, the rate dropped to 13.2 per 100,000 and to 11.2 per 100,000 in 1995.

Arrestees, rate by age group and sex

In California, youth and young adults (through age 29) account for almost three-fourths of those arrested for homicide. Almost 20 percent of those arrested for homicide are 11 to 17 years old, and an additional 16 percent are either 18 or 19 years old when they are arrested for homicide. Of those arrested for homicide, just over 94 percent are male and just over 5 percent are female.

Victims, gang-related, U.S.

According to 1997 FBI statistics, 6 percent (864) of murders were classified as gangland killings or juvenile gang killings. Less than 1 percent (105) of murders in 1997 were classified as "brawl due to influence of narcotics." One percent (240) of murders were classified as "brawl due to influence of alcohol."

Victims, gang-related, California

In California, gang-related homicide is not accounted for separately, but it is listed as an underlying circumstance to homicide. Reporters can request the data from the California Department of Justice. It takes a day or two for researchers to do a special computer run for the information.

Victims, gang-related by age, California

In California, gang members are responsible for the deaths of 32 percent of homicide victims between the ages of 6 and 17; strangers are responsible for 15 percent; friends and acquaintances for 14 percent; family members for 7 percent; others for 6 percent; and the remaining 26 percent is unknown.

• Violent Injuries to California Youth, Report No. 7, Emergency Preparedness and Injury Control Branch, California Department of Health Services, September 1996.
  
• Robin Jones, Office of Health Information and Research, California Department of Health Services, 916-657-3057

YOUTH AND GUNS

Victims, firearm homicide vs. motor vehicle deaths by age group

In the United States in 1996, in the 15 to 24 age group, firearm homicide was the second leading cause of death, following motor vehicle crashes. In the same age group, firearm suicide was the third leading cause of death. In the 5 to 14 age group firearm homicide was the third leading cause of death.

Victims, firearm homicide rate by age group

From 1984 to 1993, the firearm homicide rate for youth ages 15 to 24 increased 80 percent. For persons ages 35 to 64, death rates from firearms decreased by 7.3 percent.

• Wintemute GJ, Trauma in Transition: Trends in Deaths from Firearm and Motor Vehicle Injuries, Sacramento, CA: Violence Prevention Research Program, 1995.
  
• Violence Prevention Research Program, University of California, Davis, 916-734-3539

Note: 1993 import data were provisional. 1994-1995 import data not available; assumed to constitute same proportion of total as average for 1989-1993. Export data not available before 1973, and exports have always been relatively few, therefore ignored.

Victims, nonfirearm vs. firearm homicide rate

The overall homicide rate increased rapidly during the late 1980s and began to decline in 1992; in addition, nonfirearm-related homicide rates decreased, and the percentage of firearm-related homicides increased. During 1985-1994, the percentage of firearm-related homicides among all homicides in the total population increased from 60 percent to 72 percent, and among persons 15 to 24 years old, the rate increased from 67 percent to 87 percent.

Students and weapons, male vs. female

In the United States, 20 percent of high school students carried a weapon during the 30 days preceding the 1995 survey. Overall, male students (31 percent) were more likely than female students (8.3 percent) to carry a weapon. And 4.5 percent of students had missed at least one day of school because they felt unsafe at school or traveling to or from school.

SUICIDE

Rate by age group

In the United States from 1979 to 1994, among children ages 10 to 14, suicide increased 112 percent to a rate of 1.7 per 100,000. Rates among teens ages 15 to 19 were 11.1 per 100,000.

• Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1997.
  

Rate by race

In the United States from 1980 to 1992, suicide rates climbed most rapidly among young black males in both the younger teenage group (among 10- to 14-year-olds, a 283 percent increase) and the older teenage group (15- to 19-year-olds, a 165 percent increase). However, 90 percent of all suicides in 1992 were among whites.

• Suicide in the United States 1980-1992, Violence Surveillance Summary Series, No. 1, 1995, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  
• Office of Health Communications, 770-488-4902

Relationship to other causes of death, by age group

Years of potential life lost before the age of 65 (YPLL-65) measures premature mortality. By calculating the years between the age at death and age 65, this technique weighs more heavily those conditions that kill younger people. In the United States in 1992, in terms of YPLL-65, suicide was the fourth leading cause of death for those 10 to 14 years of age and the third leading cause of death for those ages 15 to 24.

SEXUAL ASSAULT, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, ROBBERY

Victims by age group

Juveniles report being injured as a result of a criminal act at a higher rate than adults and the elderly. Someone 16 to 19 years old is 25 times more likely to be injured as a consequence of aggravated assault than someone over age 65 and four times more likely to be injured than someone between ages 35 and 49. Juveniles, ages 12 to 19, report more injuries due to robberies than all those age 25 and older.

Arrestees, juveniles vs. adults

In the United States between 1993 and 1997, arrests for aggravated assault increased 4.5 percent for adults and decreased for juveniles by 5.4 percent.

• Crime in the United States 1997, Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, published November 22, 1998.
  
• FBI press office: 202-324-3691, FBI

3/11/99