Youth Violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Youth Violence - Essay Example However, violence amongst youths is the widely recognized form of violence in the society. Throughout the world, media present reports on almost daily a basis about violence being perpetrated by youths in schools or as gangs in the streets (Lane, 2004). Youth violence does not only affect the victims but it also leads to significant effects to the families of those affected, their friends and the communities (Rutherford, Quinn, and Mathur, 2004). The effects of youth violence are not only viewed from the number of deaths, disabilities and illnesses caused, but it also affects the quality of life. Violence perpetrated by and against young people leads to increased costs of welfare and health care, causes a decline in property value, disrupts some services and causes a breakdown of the social fabric (Rutherford, Quinn, and Mathur, 2004). Webber and Plotts (2008) explain that youth violence cannot be isolated from other problem behaviors exhibited by young people. Violent youths general ly commit more types of crimes and exhibit a range of problems including truancy, drug and substance abuse, school drop-out, cheating, high rate of sexually transmitted diseases and reckless driving (Ryan, Pierce and Mooney, 2008). Nevertheless, teachers should be aware that all violent youths do not necessarily show the problems outlined above and neither do all young people having such problems have to be violent. According to Lane (2004), there is usually a close relationship between youth violence with other types of violence. For instance, a child who goes up witnessing violence at home or is sexually or physically abused may grow up with his mind set that violence is accepted as a way of resolving conflicts. Additionally, if a child grows up in an environment where s/he is exposed to prolonged armed conflict may lead to such a child to develop a mind set of terror and this can increase rates of violence (Lane, 2004). In developing a plan to manage youth violence, it is critica l to understand the factors that lead to such behaviors and its symptoms. This paper has been prepared as a guide for teachers to understand this behavioral disability. Particularly, the history of the youth violence, its cause, statistics and symptoms will be discussed. In addition, strategies that can be used by teachers to manage this disability will be discussed. The History of Youth Violence Youth violence is described as the harmful behaviors which start during a person’s early age but continue into early adulthood. A young person can either be a perpetrator, victim, or witness of violence (Webber and Plotts, 2008). This form of violence includes an array of behaviors such as hitting, bullying and slapping all which cause high emotional harm. Furthermore, youth violence may be perpetrated through assault and robbery causing significant serious physical harm which may lead to death. Recognition of youth violence as a behavior disability has a long history (Ryan, Pierce a nd Mooney, 2008). Youth violence is recognized as both social and public health behavior problem. Previously, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia were the main causes of deaths in the United States. Once the government has been able to put infectious diseases under control, cases of suicide and homicide begin to rise causing significant number of deaths. From 1965, suicide and homicide have consistently been ranked among the fifteen top causes of death in the United States (Ryan, Pierce and Mooney, 2008). Suicide and homicide cases perpetrated by mostly the youths and minority groups in the society reached alarming levels in the 1980s. Further increase in rates of suicide and homicide increased at the beginning of the 20th century with rates of suicide among