Why has explanations for the rise of youth violence confused criminologists?

Running head : YOUTH VIOLENCE

Youth Violence

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Youth Violence

Youth violence in the United States is a major social problem that will inevitably get worse . Criminologists and state authorities are more concerned on the issue of youth violence than adult violence because the crimes involving the youth are becoming more violent and are continuously increasing the number of juvenile offenders (Zimring , 1998 xi . During the mid 1990s , the increasing rate of violence involving the youth alarmed state authorities that committee hearings in the

br Congress had been scheduled for it . In one of the hearings Representative Bill McCollum said that even though there is a decline in rates of violence , the increasing rate of violent crimes by young offenders are alarming (cited in Zimring , 1998 , xi

In a report published by the Office of the Juvenile Justice and Prevention Program of the U .S . Department of Justice , there are nearly 2 .2 million arrests of persons below 18 years old (Snyder , 2008 . This involves theft , arson , robbery , murder , drug abuse , weapons law violation and rape . In this year alone , almost one of very eight crimes recorded in the United States are committed by juvenile offenders (Snyder , 2008 . There are also more than 619 ,453 offenses , of which 181 ,468 youth offenders arrested , recorded from various schools in the country for a five-year period from 2000 up to 2004 (Noonan Vavra 2007 . Of those recorded , the age brackets of the offenders are : 38 .0 percent - 13-15 year olds...