What Are the Types of Youth Violence?

Homicide

• Homicide is the willful killing of one human being by another. The homicide rate is closely related to the rate of weapons carrying; as the use of firearms decreases, so do arrests for fatally violent crimes, the U.S. Surgeon General reports. When it comes to homicides committed by youths, their victims are other youths 27 percent of the time. Across the world, homicide rates are higher for male youths than for females.

Robbery

• Robbery is the taking of anything of value from a person by force or threat of force or violence. Because robbery often involves the display of a weapon, robbery rates, like those of homicide, are linked to the rate of carrying weapons, the U.S. Surgeon General reports. Overall, the use of firearms has been linked to the expansion of the drug trade, which resulted in an increase in the number of guns in circulation among youths.

Aggravated Assault

• Aggravated assault is an attack by one person on another where the offender uses or displays a weapon or the victim suffers severe bodily injury. Compared with homicide, aggravated assault among youths is less likely to involve the use of firearms, the World Health Organizations says. As with homicide, male youths are the most likely to be victims of aggravated assault. The rates of injuries resulting from such crimes increases dramatically during mid-adolescence and young adulthood.

Rape

• Rape is the carnal knowledge of a person forcibly, against that person's will or where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of mental or physical incapacity or youth. The demographic group at the highest risk for rape is young women, ages 14 to 18, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services reports.

Violent Crimes Reported by Youth

• Many incidents of youth violence aren't reported to the police, either because the victims don't wish to inform the authorities or because they feel unable to do so, the London Community Safety Partnership says. For this reason, statistics on youth violence are measured using statistics compiled both by law enforcement agencies and surveys that ask young people in confidence about violent crimes they've either committed or suffered, the U.S. Surgeon General states.