Youth Victims and Perpetrators of Serious Violent Crime

Violence affects the quality of life of young people who experience, witness, or feel threatened by it. In addition to the direct physical harm suffered by young victims of serious violence, such violence can adversely affect victims' mental health and development and increase the likelihood that they themselves will commit acts of serious violence.95, 96 Youth ages 12–17 were more than twice as likely as adults to be victims of serious violent crimes.97

Indicator BEH4.A: Rate of serious violent crime victimization of youth ages 12–17 by gender, 1980–2003

NOTE: Serious violent crimes include aggravated assault, rape, robbery (stealing by force or threat of violence), and homicide. Because of changes, data prior to 1992 are adjusted to make them comparable with data collected under the redesigned methodology.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Supplementary Homicide Reports.

In 2003, the rate at which youth were victims of serious violent crimes was 18 crimes per 1,000 juveniles ages 12–17, totaling about 446,000 such crimes.

Serious violent crime involving juvenile victims went up between 2002 and 2003, from 10 per 1,000 youth in 2002 to 18 per 1,000 in 2003. However, rates still generally declined from their peak in 1993 of 44 victims per 1,000 young people. From 1993 to 2003, the rate of serious violent crime against youth decreased by 60 percent.

Males are more than twice as likely as females to be victims of serious violent crimes. In 2003, the serious violent crime victimization rate was 25 per 1,000 male youth, compared with 10 per 1,000 female youth.

In 2003, Black youth were somewhat more likely than White youth to be victims of a serious violent crime and three times as likely as youth of other races to be victims of serious violence. White and Black youth had higher rates in 2003 than in 2002, while the serious violent victimization rates were similar for youth of other races.

Older teens (ages 15–17) were more likely to be victims of a serious violent crime than younger teens (ages 12–14) in 2003. Both age groups had higher rates in 2003 compared to 2002.

Additional data can be found in the following related report(s)
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm#Programs
http://www.fbi.gov

The level of youth violence in society can be viewed as an indicator of youths’ ability to control their behavior, as well as the adequacy of socializing agents such as families, peers, schools, and religious institutions to supervise or channel youth behavior to acceptable norms. One measure of the serious violent crime committed by juveniles is the extent to which at least one juvenile offender is reported by the victim to be involved in a crime.

Indicator BEH4.B: Serious violent crime offending rate by youth ages 12–17, 1980–2003

NOTE: The offending rate is the ratio of the number of crimes (aggravated assault, rape, and robbery, i.e., stealing by force or threat of violence) reported to the National Crime Victimization Survey that involved at least one offender perceived by the victim to be 12 through 17 years of age, plus the number of homicides reported to the police that involved at least one juvenile offender, to the number of juveniles in the population. Because of changes made in the victimization survey, data prior to 1992 are adjusted to make them comparable with data collected under the redesigned methodology.

According to reports by victims, in 2003 the serious violent crime offending rate was 15 crimes per 1,000 juveniles ages 12–17, totaling 375,000 such crimes involving juveniles. While this is higher than the rate in 2002, it is a 71 percent drop from the 1993 peak.

Reports by victims indicate that between 1980 and 1989, the serious violent juvenile crime offending rate fluctuated between 29 and 40 per 1,000 juveniles, and then began to increase to a high of 52 per 1,000 juveniles in 1993. Since then, the rate has, in general, trended downward with a rate of 15 per 1,000 juveniles in 2003.

Since 1980 serious violent crime involving juveniles has ranged from 19 percent of all serious violent victimizations in 1982 to 26 percent in 1993, the peak year for youth violence. In 2003, 21 percent of all such victimizations reportedly involved a juvenile offender.

In more than half (57 percent) of all serious violent juvenile crimes reported by victims in 2003, more than one offender was involved in the incident. Because insufficient detail exists to determine the ages of each individual offender when a crime is committed by more than one offender, the number of additional juvenile offenders cannot be determined. Therefore, this rate of serious violent crime offending does not represent the number of juvenile offenders in the population, but rather the rate of crimes involving a juvenile.

Forum on Child and Family Statistics
http://www.childstats.gov/amchildren05/beh4.asp
2005