But it is important to remember that the incidences of violence committed by youth are isolated and infrequent. This observation is not meant to diminish the grief of those violated, but to provide a perspective that defies the increasingly common perception of schools as armed camps. The same with drug busts. Of course, the situation for American youth has worsened in recent decades. One of eight young people in that age group become victims of violent crime, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics Report cited in the January 1996 Middle School Journal.
Crimes committed by youth also are on the rise.
Self-destructive behaviors suicide and suicide attempts, sexual intercourse, and drug abuse are prevalent among young adolescents in rural, urban, and suburban communities. The Public Agenda Foundation reports that teachers and the public agree that persistent troublemakers should be removed from class, that students should be kept on campus during the school day, that drugs including tobacco products should be banned on school grounds, and that kids caught with weapons or drugs should be expelled. Fully 81 percent of teachers say that the worst behaved students get the most attention in school. In focus groups, teachers regularly talked about the one or two unruly children who are so disruptive that they siphon off the teacher's time and keep other students from learning. The picture for young adolescents is not entirely bleak.