Re: Looking for some random information

[Dave Myers]

>3) I read in an intro psych textbook a claim based on some 1998 data that
>"youth violence is rising dramatically in the USA." I also thought I had
>heard, based on more recent data, that this claim is mostly a media artifact,
>that most violent crime in this country is either adult-adult or adult
>perpetrated on child. Can anyone help me out with some reliable data?
>
>Nancy Melucci
>On the road in NYC

I just happen to have numbers on historical trends in U.S. 15 to 17-year-old violent crime rate (compiled for me by an FBI statistician).  The violent crime arrest rate per 100,000 was . . . 226 in 1960 . . . increased 4.4 times to 977 at its peak in 1994 . . . and was down to 739 in 1997 (still triple the 1960 rate).  Juvenile violent crime continued its late-90s decline through 1999, though I don't have the 15 to 17-year-old data handy.

Hope this helps, Nancy

Dave Myers
www.davidmyers.org