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Preventing Youth Violence: Opportunities for Action is a publication of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

What is Youth Violence?

Youth violence is when young people aged 10–24 years intentionally use physical force or power to threaten or harm others.

Why Focus on Youth Violence?

Opportunities for Action focuses on preventing youth violence because the need for action to reduce youth violence is great and effective action is possible. Attention to all of the interrelated forms of violence that impact youth—child maltreatment, suicidal behavior, sexual assault, and teen dating violence—is beyond the scope of this resource and might require different prevention strategies.

Youth Violence: A Leading Cause of Death and Physical Injury for Young People

Youth homicide in the United States is a significant public health issue. In 2011, 4,708 (7.3 per 100,000) youth aged 10–24 years were victims of homicide. Homicide is the third leading cause of death among young people aged 10–24 years, responsible for more deaths in this age group than the next seven leading causes of death combined (see Figure 1). For each young homicide victim, we lose an entire lifetime of contributions to families, potential employers, and communities. The number of youth who are physically harmed but do not die as the result of youth violence is significantly higher. In 2011, we saw that for every young homicide victim,there were approximately 142 youth with nonfatal physical assault-related injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments. A total of 599,336 youth aged 10–24 years (928 per 100,000) were treated in U.S. emergency departments for nonfatal physical assault-related injuries in 2012. This means that each day approximately 13 young people are victims of homicide and an additional 1,642 are treated in emergency departments for physical assault-related injuries. Violence-related Behaviors Reported by Youth

Official data from death certificates and emergency departments are critical to helping us understand and address youth violence, but they only tell part of the story. The full extent of the violence that youth perpetrate and experience as victims goes far beyond these data sources. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by CDC in 2013 indicates that 24.7% of high school students reported having been in at least one physical fight in the year before the survey. Nearly 18% of high school students reported they carried a weapon (e.g., gun, knife, or club), and 5.5% reported they carried a gun at least one day in the month prior to being surveyed.

Youth violence also occurs in schools and negatively impacts students’ ability to attend and to participate fully. In 2013, nearly 20% of high school students reported being bullied at school, and 6.9% said they had been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year. Furthermore, 7.1% of high school students reported missing at least one day of school in the past 30 days because they felt unsafe either at school or on their way to or from school.

To read the full report on the Centers for Disease Control website, click here.

Video: CDC STRYVE: Creating Healthy Youth, Families, and Communities

Source: CDC.gov