And, programs are now available to help parents and children who have not had such experiences develop the skills they need to do well anyway. Still, violence of all kinds is an ever-present reality in the lives of children and youth nationwide. Few events have done more to focus attention on the need to address violence against youth than recent school shootings, but gun violence is not a problem that can be solved in isolation. 2 Shootings seem to occur in environments where gender-based bullying, dating violence, hazing rituals, and abusive behavior toward gay and lesbian students and others perceived as unconventional are facts of daily student life. In truth, sexual assault and other forms of interpersonal violence may affect many youth more directly than the tragic shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas or Littleton, Colorado.
Sexual assault is a crime that endangers the health and lives of youth at alarmingly high levels.
Fifty-four percent of these women had been assaulted before the age of 18, and 22 percent had been assaulted before the age of 12. 4 Boys and young men are also targets of such violence. The same survey found that three percent of the men responding had been sexually assaulted during their lifetime. Other research indicates that the percentage of boys and men who have been sexually assaulted may be four percent or higher. But in the Spring of 1999, another development helped to re-focus attention on the need for communities to effectively respond to aggressive and violent behavior against and among children and adolescents.