ate among young males in the United States is roughly 20 times higher than homicide rates in most other industrialized nations.
While the outcomes of violent behavior are the most dramatic, they are far from being the only adverse outcomes of criminal behaviors by young people in the United States in the contemporary period. The downward trends periodically reported by governmental agencies in relation to criminal behavior by young people tend to be received skeptically by the general public for two major reasons. First, the downward trends typically are based on percentage reductions that, when translated into absolute numbers, reflect little change in the actual frequency of criminal behavior by youth. Second, the character of the reports by government agencies of trends in criminal behavior by young people tends to shift, depending more upon whether the government is seeking reelection (downward trend reporting) or increased funding (upward trend reporting) than upon what may actually be occurring in the neighborhoods and on the streets of the country.
The purpose of this study was to investigate trends in criminal behavior generally and violent behavior specifically committed by young people in American society. Further, the study purpose included the examination of explanations for criminal behaviors by young people. The objective of the investigation and examination was the development of recommendations for the solution of the problem of youth criminal behavior in the United States.
The data required for the conduct of this study were secondary in character and were obtained from published sources accessible in most academic libraries. A qualitative approach characterized the analysis of the data collected. Qualitative analysis facilitates an exploration in depth of potential relationships between variables and enhances the possibly of the development of a plausible explanation for a cause and effect relationship...