This research presents a brief examination of the phenomenon of criminal youth violence. The initial discussion of criminal youth violence traces the patterns of such behaviors in the United States from 1945 through the early-1990s, while the second discussion compares criminal youth violence in the United States with that occurring in Japan.
Patterns of Criminal Youth Violence in the United States: 1945-Early-1990s
Violence in the United States reached epidemic proportions in the early-1990s (Mason, 1993, pp. 1-3). Crime in the United States, particularly violent crime, has been a major concern of the American population for decades. A particularly troublesome factor in recent years has been the increase in the proportion of all crimes which are perpetrated by young offenders (Silverstein, 1994, p. 14). Persons under the age of 18 years old are responsible for approximately 32 percent of serious property crimes which are cleared by arrest and for approximately 17 percent of violent crimes so cleared (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1994, p. 241).
In the instance of serious crime committed by young offenders, the types of crimes and the characteristics of the individuals committing the offenses are largely known. A national study found that approximately seven-percent of all juvenile delinquency referrals to juvenile courts involved violent crime (McCord, 1991, pp. 211-228). Research has also determined that more than one-half of all serious offenses committed by juveniles were committed by approximately eight-percent of the juvenile population (Phillips and Votey, 1987, pp. 73-90).
Criminal behavior by young people represents a growing social problem in the country (Phillips, 1991, pp. 555-574). This behavior ranges from vandalism to property crimes and to crimes of violence including murder (Drevitch, 1994, pp. 4-5). Another trend in youth crime is the use of children under the age of 12 to perform criminal acts f...