earning activities (Boehms, 1997).
This chapter has presented the problem statement and ancillary information. The following chapter develops a narrative of the overall issue.
A narrative of the youth violence issue is presented in this chapter. The narrative extends the issue to school-based disruptive behavior.
Criminal anti-social behavior on the part of youth in the in the 1990s is shockingly high and increasing in frequency. 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 cleared by arrest. 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. Approximately seven-percent of all juvenile delinquency referrals to juvenile courts involved violent crime. More than one-half of all serious offenses committed by juveniles were committed by approximately eight-percent of the juvenile population.
Between 1985 and 1992, to illustrate the character of the problem, the proportion of persons arrested for the offense of murder who are under the age of 18 years old increased from approximately eight-percent to approximately 15 percent. The violent crime arrest rate for all persons increased from approximately 210 per 100,000 population in 1985 to approximately 290 per 100,000 population in 1991·an increase of 38 percent over the period. At the same time, however, the violent crime arrest rate for persons aged 10-to-17 years old increased from approximately 305 per 100,000 population in 1985 to approximately 465 per 100,000 population in 1991·an increase of 52 percent over the period and an increase that stated from a higher base level. By any reckoning, the youth violent crime problem is serious and growing worse.
In absolute numbers the teenage and young adult populati...