Youth homicide, robbery, and rape arrest rates in 1999 are actually lower than they were in 1983, prior to the violence epidemic. The report said the reason is clear. Weapons carrying and use in violent crimes have declined. At the same time, however, rates of arrest for aggravated assault remain nearly 70 percent higher than in 1983. And, despite a string of school shootings across the country, the report says children are less likely to be killed at school than at home.
Schools nationwide are relatively safe.
While arrests are clearly down, the teenage years are still violent years for many children, Satcher said. For every youth arrested in any given year in the late 1990s, at least 10 were engaged in some form of violent behavior that could have seriously injured or killed another person, according to the several national research surveys in which youths report on their own behavior. The most critical risk factor for violence for your children is the behavior of their peers. And it says jail is not a good place for teens, even violent ones. They are also more likely to be victimized, physically and sexually.