While youth violence is down nationally, public anxiety still runs high. The tragic multiple killings in Pearl, Miss., Paducah, Ky., and Jonesboro, Ark., have renewed this anxiety and raised many troubling questions about lethal violence outside the urban context. The answers are not easy to come by.
Some experts blame inadequate supervision, while others fault the media.
Perhaps one overlooked factor in these recent incidents is the impact of the gun subculture that exists in rural communities, particularly in the South. Firearms, which are used for such activities as hunting, can be fairly commonplace in households in rural areas. Kids grow up with these weapons around the house and may even be trained to use them at a relatively early age. In the vast majority of cases this likely promotes responsible gun use. However, in a small handful of cases this may contribute to situations like the mass slayings that occurred in Jonesboro.