dealers at a suburban high school dress ostentatiously in expensive preppy clothing, attend rock concerts and “raves,” drive good cars, and openly brag about the amounts of money they make in their business, despite the constant presence of police patrols, who appear totally ignorant of their activities.
A well-known high school football star is arrested for the armed robbery of a group of friends in a local fast food establishment. For the school administration the only important question raised by his act is: should he be allowed to play in the first game of the season?
A group of upper middle class teenagers get drunk on New Year’s Eve and decide to “torch”the local high school, causing $3 million in damages and resulting in the suspension of all school operations for over a year. One parent claims that this act was a legitimate free-speech protest against a “repressive” school regime — which failed to provide an indoor smoking area for the arsonists!
Members of a ring of elderly homosexual child abusers and pornographers — linked regional-and national by E-mail—hang out at shopping malls attracting young men with promises of gifts and money. They are apprehended and convicted, but refuse to divulge the fate of one of their victims, who has disappeared without a trace.
A class of 4th and 5th grade karate students is being briefed on a serial rapist known by police to be operating in the vicinity of their school. The instructor finishes his presentation, and students’ hands begin to go up. Within a few minutes, 4 out of 5 of the girls in the class have told their classmates of male relatives and family “friends” — sexual predators — who their parents have warned them to avoid!
In an anti-abuse training session, a martial arts instructor gives suggestions on how to cope with threatening adult behaviors. From the back row comes the plaintive question: “What do you do when the person bothering you is your father?”
THE SITUATION
These few relatively commonplace examples from only one person’s experience and knowledge illustrate the increasingly vicious world surrounding a large percentage of American children today, and the apparent inability of authorities to cope with this situation. The schools, the streets, the shopping malls, and even the once sacrosanct home, abound with threats to our nation’s most important resource — our children. Law enforcement seems to be blind, or hobbled by courts, and standards of right and wrong seem infinitely negotiable. There is no indication that this world is going to miraculously change for the better at any time soon!
CRIME STATISTICS
Examples similar to those above, and worse, are everywhere. The real magnitude of the problem is unfortunately quite difficult to estimate, because of numerous problems with crime statistics produced by government, academic, and advocacy groups. These problems result to a large degree from inaccurate or incomplete reporting. It is estimated, for example, that 46% of all violent crimes, 44% of all rapes, and 36% of all crimes are never reported (and these estimates may not be valid either!). Further, there are differences between the ways that states define and report various kinds of crimes that make them difficult to summarize. There is also a tendency not to collect data on crimes committed by members of lower age groups (e.g., below age 12), in which children and youths are victims or perpetrators. There is also the lamentable tendency for all federal statistics to be intentionally altered to support requests for increased departmental funding, or to support the political agenda of political parties or administrations. This tendency is matched by non-government advocacy groups’ practices of grossly exaggerating the frequency of certain types of crimes to justify their own existence as advocates. Data on missing children, for example, gives the impression that these children are all victims of unknown kidnappers, when, in fact, many have gone willingly with family members fighting custody battles in increasingly capricious courts, or are voluntary runaways. Statistics summarized at national, state, or local levels also blur significant differences in types and frequencies of crimes between states or cities and their suburbs.
Finally, while over 50% of reported cases of child abuse cannot be substantiated, there is also anecdotal evidence of an opposing tendency for some of the worst kinds of child abuse to be underreported; for example sexual abuse of children, which often involves family members and carries a high degree of public disapproval. In such areas, statistics may show only the tip of the iceberg due to reluctance of children to report such crimes and the unwillingness of child advocates to run the risk of serious legal retaliation by defendants if complaints of abuse cannot be fully substantiated.
THE PREVALENCE OF CRIME
Let’s examine some of the more reliable information available from various sources, to sketch the dimensions of the problem of child safety.
FAMILY VIOLENCE
Figures show that the American family is increasingly violent: offenders tend to come from within the family and circle of acquaintances of the victim, and the predominant causes seems to be domestic disputes or arguments,
CHILDREN AND CRIME: Victims and Perpetrators
The late teen-age component of society is also becoming increasingly active in crime. For example, FBI data shows that persons between the ages of 15 and 24 account for an unusually high number of arrests for auto thefts, arson, and driving under the influence of alcohol, United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) tables show that murder per 100,000 teenagers has risen dramatically in the 14-18 year age group. They further show that children under age 17 are victims of nearly a quarter of the murders committed by these youths. More than 75% of all juvenile homicides in the US were committed with guns, and 33% of the murder victims killed by guns were under 19 years of age. In the minority communities, the situation is much worse: gunshot wounds are the leading cause of death among black youth. Nearly two thirds of all rapes were committed against girls 17 years old or younger, and about one third take place in the victim’s own home.
CRIME IN SCHOOLS
In school, the situation is likewise hazardous: USDOJ tables show that about 9% of all students report either being physically victimized or having their property destroyed at school. The tables also report the easy availability of alcohol and marijuana at a large percentage of schools, as well as the presence of gangs in a sizable percentage of schools. While gangs are most frequently reported by lower income children in urban or suburban areas, there is also a significant amount of gang activity reported by students from higher income families and students in rural schools-old socio-economic and geographical stereotypes are breaking down! USDOJ tables show that many students, particularly either at school or on the way to school, again, particularly the younger students, are most vulnerable.
ABUSE AMONG CHILDREN
The early onset of alcohol and drug abuse among children is clearly documented. A surprising number of children took their first drinks or had their first experience with narcotics before age 10. It is noteworthy that alcohol and drug use occurs mainly at home or in the home of a friend, but 2% of the older students (i.e., those in 9th grade and up) also report using drugs or alcohol in school.
CHILD ABUSE
Data collection on child abuse compiled by the National Center of Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) since 1976 shows a significant increase in rate of reporting of 331%. About 54% of these reports cannot be substantiated by investigation, but that does not mean they did not occur: nor does it mean that the substantiated cases represent all the cases of child abuse. Many remain unreported. Even with only 41% substantiated or “indicated” (i.e., there is good reason to suspect that abuse occurred) 993,000 children suffered abuse of one type or another during 1992, the last year for which we have data. While the largest number of victims suffered general neglect, 37% suffered physical or sexual abuse. Seventy-nine percent of all victims were least able to defend
