NationalNationally, from 2004 through 2008, juvenile arrests for murder and non-negligent manslaughter increased by 19%.
In the U.S. in 2008, there were 16,270 homicides. 1 in 10 were juveniles. Over half of those murders were the result of arguments. In 2009, 63 out of every 1,000 school-aged youth in the U.S. reported being victims of violence. During the 2007-2008 school year, 85% of public schools reported at least one act of crime or violence. There were 1.5 million acts of crime or violence committed against school-aged youth, and 1.1 million school-aged children were victims of crime or violence outside of school. 23% of public schools report gang presence. In the academic year 2007-2008, urban teachers reported an increase in the number of physical threats made by their students, and both urban and suburban teachers reported a greater percentage of actual attacks. |
ChicagoSince 2008, a total of 247 young people between the ages of 18 and 20 have been murdered in Chicago, nearly as many as the 286 under the age of 18 who’ve been killed during that span.
In Chicago, nearly 700 children were hit by gunfire last year — an average of almost two a day — and 66 of them died. That number is up over the previous year, even though the overall number of homicides in Chicago fell last year to a 45-year low. In 2010, 1,109 school-aged youth were shot, and 216 of those were killed. Nearly half of Chicago’s homicide victims are young people between the ages of 10 and 25. In 2009, 65% of all violent crime arrests were of youth 25 or younger. The consequences of violence on youth are disproportionately concentrated among African-Americans in our most economically challenged neighborhoods. Violence is heavily concentrated in certain areas, particularly on the South and West sides of Chicago. In two police districts, 7 and 11, more than 2,400 violent crimes per 100,000 people are committed every year—more than twice the city’s average. These two districts alone account for 25% of the city’s violent crime. |