ABSTRACT
Violence in our society is rapidly developing into a major public health problem. Exact rates of violent behavior are not completely known due to the under-reporting of violent crimes to police agencies. We have witnessed varying rates of violent behavior by adolescents during the past two decades. Between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, there was a marked increase in the rate of juvenile violence, though this rate seems to have reduced in the past few years. The rate increases have been postulated as being affected by the number of juvenile gangs, access to weapons, including guns, use of drugs (especially crackcocaine), as well as other local factors that influence rates.
